Deveena’s Story #2
Everything is happening all around, and now it is too late to stop the ruin of our world with climate change.
Everything is happening all around, and now it is too late to stop the ruin of our world with climate change.
But little did I know, I would come to find out that my entire home state Kerala was flooded, and the flood didn’t only ruin my childhood home, but had also taken the lives of my friends and family friends back home.
Over the past few years, I have been experiencing and noticing the appearance of climate change.
Today was notably filled with emotion and conversation, because of the historic rainfall from Hurricane Ida the night before.
I’m scared for where humans are leading this world, I’m worried about the future of our planet and our own future.
I am sensing climate change through the increase in extreme weather.
They make me feel sad and upset that local leaders are so glib about impending threat.
They make me feel sad and worried for my mama’s home, and my family’s home, and if future generations are going to have the same Earth we want them to have.
Some people had to swim out of their second story windows in the middle of night, while others went on rescue missions in the boats they kept in their garages.
As subway stations swelled with water and cars floated down the streets, the hustle and bustle of the fast-paced roads quieted to an eerie silence; it felt as if the gray clouds of the regularly scheduled rainy season had come back on their own accord.
However, last year when I returned home for Winter Break from Penn and walked outside of Union Station, the first thing I noticed was how warm it was outside. It felt like spring and I was very concerned right away because I thought about how hot it was the past summer.
It is often towns like my own –the low income, Indigenous, and sidelined areas– that see the brunt of the pollution and the brunt of detrimental climate disasters.
As I drove around my hometown, I noticed many stores closed for repairs and tons of damaged cars resulting from tornadoes that struck this area during the storm.
Although not surprising, Jamaica makes such small contributions to the production of emissions, yet it reaps the consequences.
I remember my father teaching me about a drainage room in our basement and to alert him immediately if the water level in the room was significantly higher than normal. At first the thought of water rising in the basement scared me, but over time the fear faded. However, one day when I was in elementary school Hurricane Sandy came and changed everything.
The mountains are part of spiritual life [across the Indian subcontinent], but mine is a story of when spiritual life is muddled by climate-driven geopolitics. In 2018, between high school and college, my parents decided I should make a pilgrimage to the holiest of mountains, Mount Kailash, which is also sometimes famously called “Mount Meru”.
Most of the beaches on the entire south stretch of the island were full of foul-smelling and unsightly sargassum seaweed.
Listen to the companion audio
Some paths along the water, usually 10 or so feet from the shore, were being threatened by the encroaching waves.
Bogotá used to be much colder, and with constant rain (volume and frequency)…
In 100 years, my hometown will have the same climate at Richmond, VA!
I’ve sensed climate change in many ways. Bay Head is a costal town, and was hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy…
Growing up in Seattle, I remember playing outside in all seasons. Seattle’s temperate, rainy climate was…
Beijing used to have a colder winter than Philadelphia. I felt that it has been warmer and warmer since my college…
I saw my Aunt and Uncle’s beach house and the neighborhood I grew up visiting every summer underwater during Hurricane Sandy.
Moving here to Staten Island was a big change of scenery. Considering Queens being such a jammed up place…
During my time in Staten Island, I have experienced the devastating outcomes of climate change. From Hurricane Sandy (2012) which destroyed many…
wet/lots of areas that used to be dry + now are always wet…
Hot summers, cold winters, heavy rainfalls.
Storms feel stronger – more rain. Stress about changes ahead…
Imminent drowning of my family’s community.
There was heavy rain in the summer this year, for the first time in the ~30 years my grandparents have lived in this part of Turkey.
Climate change used to be something that environmental experts discussed in the news.
In 2019, it rained 3 months worth of water in 3 days. The Roman-era bridges…
drought threatens ecosystems as well as peace within communities.
I am sensing the climate change through increasing occurrences of…
More floods + droughts destroying our farming lands…
I moved to Sewickley 5 years ago. It used to be a temperate suburb…
Here in Philly, you can smell climate change.