Title
Liv’s Climate Story
Name
Liv
Place
Eugene, Oregon 97401
How are you sensing climate change?
It was September 8th, 2020. My 20th birthday. I was planning on celebrating with a few friends and going to the river close to my college campus. As nature is my happy place, I was ecstatic to spend the first moments of my 20’s outside. I never could have predicted how the day was actually going to go.
Around this time was when the horrible wildfires in Oregon started happening. I was staying current with the news and my family about how close the fires were getting to my location and figuring out possible evacuation routes. I was ready for the last case scenario but was really not expecting it to actually happen. I feel like so many people have that mentality of “well it’s not going to happen to me” when it comes to climate change events and natural disasters.
As I was getting ready to go to the river I took a quick peek out my bedroom window. Usually, I do this to check the weather and see if I need to bring a raincoat, but this time all I saw was dark grey clouds and an almost orange/red sky. It looked like we had been transported to a different planet. But sure enough, we were still in Oregon, and the engulfing smoke was the culprit of the hell-ish looking sky.
I became quarantined in my house for the next couple of weeks with no AC and no chance of opening a window. Not having fresh air or being able to go outside took a huge toll on my mental health. I learned to appreciate the days with blue skies more. I was one of the lucky ones. I didn’t have to evacuate, my house remained intact, and all of my loved ones were safe. I can not say the same about many others.
Climate change is real and fastly approaching. Fire seasons are only going to get worse.
How do these changes make you feel?
This experience has really light a fire (no pun intended) under me to make effective changes to protect the environment and our planet.
Collection
Citation
Eugene, OR 97401, USA
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