On January 7th, in Los Angeles, California, the Palisades Fire ignited and lit the once beautiful hills of the city ablaze. The fire spread rapidly, destroying anything in its wake. People’s family homes are skeletons of their former selves, charred and shattered. Small businesses are littered with ash, and their once shining, neon signs are scorched with darkness. The owners of these places were ordered to evacuate, being forced to pack up their belongings and leave their memories and hard work behind.

While the exact cause of the fire is still being investigated, one thing is known for sure: The fire is able to spread so promptly because of high winds and a severe drought, both of which are results of climate change.

As someone born in the 21st century, my peers and I have only known a world in which the threat of global warming is always looming over our earth. As young children, we were already being assigned the role to save the planet. We learned in school about the importance of recycling and saving water and even took field trips to museums and conservation sites to further our “Go Green!” education.

Growing up in a dying world (a world that some won’t even admit is dying), is frightening, to say the least. As young people, we’re often asked “What will you do when you grow up?” But the truth is, we may not be given the chance to answer that question, because our Earth may be too damaged to support them. We can only answer with dreams that may be hopeless in the face of such destruction.

Thousands of structures have been destroyed, and 25 people have lost their lives. This vast amount of destruction and misery has been caused by only one fire incident.

Now, I can’t help but imagine what the world will be like when the Earth is blanketed with fires, when all of our homes are being razed, when all of our beautiful surroundings go up in smoke. I can’t help but think about the sheer amount of suffering that will occur if we don’t acknowledge this issue, and do everything and anything to fix it.

Jaden Barrero, a senior at Verrado High School with a major interest in Ecology, feels affected by climate change and its destruction every day, so much so that it’s inspired him to take action and dedicate his future to the issue.

“Climate change has affected my future tremendously — I mean personally I’m planning on devoting my entire life to the issue, that being conservation, sustainability, etc.”

Barrero then went on to unpack how his upbringing in a world that is essentially going up in flames impacted his view on nature, and how we as humans treat the planet that provides us with so much and asks for so little in return.

“As a kid, I’ve always loved nature, but when I reached enough consciousness to realize what climate change was, I’ve always tried to see what I could do, and now, what others along with me can do. With that being said I’d still like to say that I believe that individual contributions to climate change mean virtually nothing in the face of large corporations and whatnot.”

Barrero raises a fair point, in the notion that contributions from singular individuals don’t compare at all to the impact environmentally ignorant companies have on our Earth. And yet, many of us as young children in school were led to believe that taking too many showers and leaving the lights on in unoccupied rooms was solely leading to our world’s doom.

It feels like our whole environmental science curriculum was manufactured to cover for these greedy companies that prioritize profit over our world’s health. The blame was shifted away from their ridiculously heavy carbon emissions, their endless burning of fossil fuels, and their clear-cutting of forests, instead placed upon the shoulders of impressionable kids.

Despite coming to this realization long ago, I still occasionally find myself feeling guilty for using the lights in my room so often, feeling guilty for washing my hands a second too long. Now, being conservative about water and electricity usage is still a valid practice, but the real change that needs to occur has to be made to these companies’ reckless usage of our resources.

Growing up in the era of climate change is stressful. While the future has always been indefinite, it feels even more so as we march towards apocalyptic destruction. The question of how much longer our home will be able to sustain us is daunting, so much so that some refuse to face reality. However, the environment of this crisis is also creating a new generation of leaders that will advocate for our Earth, and fight for its right to live.

Even though we weren’t always presented with factual information about climate change growing up, many of us have become conscious of the crisis, and its causes and effects. And with this knowledge, we can continue the fight against climate change, and secure the future of not just ourselves, but of our Earth.