My body began to creak as my eyes became receptive to the sunlight flowing into my room.

I snuck a quick glimpse at the window after a very sleepless night and saw the beauty of the rising sun. The reds, the yellows, and the oranges all beautifully blurred together and I saw hope in the new day. The events of the past couple weeks had been especially hard on me. I swung my legs off the bed and stretched out my creaky joints, feeling new life course throughout my veins. When I finally made it down the stairs, I found something to alleviate the darkness of the thoughts that had begun to take over my mind. A giant window on the ground floor faced out to the breathless ocean, the cyclic drone of the ocean waves coursed throughout the room. And for the first time in a couple weeks I was overcome with a sense of peace. The balcony door was open so I made myself at home, grabbing a front row seat to the magical sunrise above the ocean.

I reminisced once again and realized that this moment right here is exactly what I am fighting for.

With the results of a most peculiar presidential election out just a couple weeks ago, American has been divided. Both the propaganda used in the election and the specific population classes targeted by both parties has created a rift in the United States. There are many that fear for their future with a Trump presidency and there are many that stand by Trump and have been empowered by his election to the highest United States office. My largest concern with a Trump Presidency is its impact on the environment. Just a couple days ago I received a most troublesome message from my sister. My sister works in the Colorado Federal Center. She notified me that several coal mines were being reopened that were formerly closed during the Obama administration. Just after a mere week of winning the election, coal mines were already being reopened. I did not know how to respond, I packed up my school bag and tried to drown the thoughts out of my head. But no matter how much I put myself to work or how much I tried to run from her words, they weighed me down.

In the scientific community, global warming is a proven fact. Even with just a hint of common sense, the principles of global warming whether human or non-human related are indisputable. Ancient humans lived throughout an ice age and migrated to America across the Bering Strait. Does the Bering Strait still exist today, is America still covered by ice sheets, do you see either the Wooley Mammoth or the Saber Toothed Tigers still roaming around today? And the answer is no to all of those questions. We do not live in an ice age, and the fact that the world was once in an ice age, and now we are not in an ice age is enough observationally to demonstrate the validity of global warming. Our planet is changing whether you like to believe it or not, climate change is not only an issue for our generation but the fundamental challenge towards securing our future and the future of the generations that follow us. We often look at capital as a piece of paper, the amount of money in an economy or a system; however, it is time we included natural capital into the equation. Clean air, clean water, and biodiversity are natural forms of capital that deserve to be prioritized. The earth is going to continue warming at this point. Our best option is to slow the rate of warming which requires a fundamental change in thought and lifestyle.

When my sister told me about the re-opening of the coal mines, I was disgusted. Out of all the things that needs fixing, our generation of carbon emissions is high on that list. The earth is dying and we are the infection. We’ve seeped the land of all its natural value, polluted the airs with our factories, and acidified the once clean and pure ocean. As I look out upon the water today, I see something worth fighting for. Hearing the crash of the waves, I notice that we are close to the tipping point but still have time left. In all the chaos of the presidential election, I mourn for our environment and hope people will start to realize the cost we have on our natural environment. The coal mines may be firing up again, but I know there are still people out there who care. Let us continue to use our voices and observe the truth from the world around us. Even in the dark, the light still shines. And with the light there is still hope. I watched the sun rise across the vast ocean today. The battle for human and natural security has just begun. Things are truly bleak right now.

But no matter how dark it gets, do not forget about the light.