Concerning Our Climate…

Annabelle Frazer

Writer, Annabelle Frazer, models a shirt representing her home state of Florida.

Throughout my minimal years in this world, one of the most heartbreaking, frustrating realizations I’ve been pushed to make about the demographic of my area, is the lack of empathy towards the youth’s concern, confusion, and fear towards the quality our future holds. Yet ironically, the most polarizing, crucial topics which beset my comfort and ease as a teenage girl nearing the inevitable circumstances of adulthood, happen to be the very concerns those in power choose to neglect.  

In this era overflowing with division and rage, one of the most noticeable habits presented by those who refuse to open new doors, is their resistance and apprehension towards open discussion. Even more discouraging, is their refusal to embrace the valid concerns of our generation.

And with their refusal, they bring denial. 

I’m highly aware that conversations surrounding the state of our climate are not taboo. I’m aware that many people are just as burnt out from the constant turbulence of resentful debates, as they are from the concept as a whole. I’m aware of the mass amount of misinformation being mistaken as proven data. Yet being only a seventeen year old girl, I’m not sure how I can open sealed eyes to the significance of our environment. 

However, if there is one thing that I hold incessant certainty of, it’s that the smothering environment which has begun to infiltrate our planet – more specifically – our country, is the reason for the sinking pit in my stomach, which tightens each time another colorful cyclone appears in the rectangular graph of our coasts, as the colors and statistics on the map eb and flow with each term. I’m certain that I’m debating whether or not it is safe to reside in Florida, after seeing the catastrophic destruction continuously inflicted by hurricanes rising in category. 

I’m sure of the devastation I feel knowing that fifty years from now, the town where I have resided growing up may not even exist above sea level, layered beneath blue skies. Instead, the red, smoldering flames continue to ignite the rural domains where tranquil nature and wildlife once thrived. And lastly, I’m sure that I’ve been questioning whether or not it’s appropriate, safe, and smart to consider a family in the future. As a seventeen year old student who chooses to acknowledge the lack of progress directed towards the current environment, knowing the climate that awaits my future family, it’s a daunting contemplation. 

I’m certain that my right to a safe educational environment is no longer viewed as a priority. In a nation where my classmates and I are more likely to be fatally injured by a firearm than we are to be a victim of a motor-vehicle accident or congenital disease, it’s my hope that change could be conceivable. Yet as of this April, Governor Desantis delivered a response lacking all authority, instead solely demonstrating the irresponsible ignorance of our legislation.

 On April 23rd, rather than acknowledging the roaring cries of national protests demanding action, or the perpetual headlines featuring victims lost to other mass shootings, and taking responsible action against the sales and productions of firearms, our governor instead sign a bill into action, permitting the open carry of firearms, without requiring a license or prior training. 

Receiving education in a state where greater attention is paid to the literature I read and the media I consume, rather than the ceaselessly rising fatality rate of American students within the security of their own classrooms, is the largest injustice to education I know. In legislatures’ counterproductive attempts to ensure the safety of our children, they discredit and prohibit material they deem as unsuitable for a classroom setting, too mature for young minds. 

And to that, I question, after eleven consecutive years spent practicing monthly active shooter drills from the time I learned to tie my shoelaces, why is some of history’s most prominent material responsible for the sculpting and empowerment of cultural revolutions, where they decide the line must be drawn? 

In the current state of our environment, where an undeniable imbalance of temperature is swirling on our coasts, destruction and devastation are inevitable. It’s a helpless feeling knowing that you didn’t do anything to contribute, and knowing that you can’t do much to stop it. Even worse, it’s a helpless feeling knowing that this downpour is not exclusive to Florida’s climate.

As a teenage girl, I’m certain that my worries should consist of whether or not my school’s basketball team will win their home game, what design my prom dress will be, and where I’d like to apply for college. I’m certain that at seventeen years old, I should not be losing sleep over the “what ifs” that continue to dominate my independence and confidence as a teenage girl.

As a teenage girl, I watch silently, kicking my feet in the air, as the right to my bodily autonomy is being taken away from me. As I decipher my plans for the future, daydreaming of the day which I may pack my bags, watching the ravaging flood of the Supreme Court’s decisions continue to surge into domains far from familiar has proven that these catastrophic circumstances are not only limited to the warming coasts of our nation.

 Nearly one year ago, just after the news of the overturning of Roe V. Wade was announced in the United States, I recall scrolling through the idle screens of Instagram, just as any other teenager would after an exhausting day. Succeeding a relieving feed full of funny cat videos, sunset selfies, and cheesy clickbait articles, I scrolled to a video of a young woman crying in the front seat of her car. Intrigued like anyone else would be, I turned the volume up and listened. 

The physically upset woman began retelling an encounter she had moments before with her doctor in the state of New York. 

With her hair messily done up in a bun, and her eyes red from tears, she described how she suffers from a chronic migraine condition, which in order to prevent debilitating pain, must be treated with a strong pain medication. She then went on to entail details about her doctor refusing to provide her with the prescription, claiming that it may cause an interference with her fertility as a “child-bearing age adult,” in relation to the recent abortion ban. To this, the young woman replied that having children was not in her future plans, and that medication was her last hope at providing relief for her chronic pain. Her doctor then allegedly continued to refuse her the prescription, justifying the lack of treatment with the hypothetical possibility that the young lady could become pregnant in the future. Defeated, she left the clinic, and continued to record her experience moments after in the privacy of her car, before posting it to her public account, @pogsyy on Tiktok. 

You might want to check it out before that right is taken away as well.

When an exhausted young woman has no other outlet for her voice other than social media, it’s a concern. But it’s particularly alarming when a social media platform intended for humorous entertainment becomes a more transparent source than the majority of mainstream news outlets broadcasting across the nation. 

Understanding that if I were to be taken advantage of, a terrifyingly probable possibility, my right to a future of my own autonomy would once again be put second, is an extremely unnerving reality.

Understanding that my right to a fair and safe education is often seen as nothing more than debate material, is a vastly unsettling truth. 

And understanding that the climate which awaits my future, both politically and physically, is one of the largest dictators concerning the quality of my life even years down the line, will never seem fair.

I may only be seventeen. I may have much more to learn from life. I wish I could say that this rapid imbalance of our climate was unpredictable. However, if there is one thing at this age that I am positive about, it is that the neglect I and so many others lacking the privilege of a formal voice face about our fears from those who should be the first to listen, is one of the grandest mistakes those in power can make. 

And so, when those who show zero will to listen, understand, and respond to the pressing issues which continue to simmer and burn in this melting pot of a country ask, “What about your future?” I’d do nothing less than agree with them, and question, “What about it?”