Irish Times Letter Writing Competition Winner

 "Dear World,

What can I say?  Our home is on fire.  We are facing mass extinction and an environmental disaster.  Climate change is real, and it is happening now.  It is popular to say that climate action is about the little things everyone can do in their lives.  And while I agree to a point, this threat is bigger than any of us individually.
We need a global response, with our world leaders taking responsibility.  From my perspective, it feels like you have a habit of pushing this problem on to us young people.  I am hurt by this.  But if we are to be successful in this, we cannot be pitted against each other.
So, I would like to take this opportunity to extend an invitation to all of you to join the fight against climate change.  The fight of a lifetime.  Welcome.  I will have to live with consequences of how you choose to act for my whole life.  Our lives are in your hands.  However, climate change will not just affect young people and future generations, it is affecting every person who is alive right now.  The countries that contribute the least to global warming are affected the most by it, but even in wealthier countries we are feeling the effects of devastating heatwaves, fires, floods and harsher winters.  No one is immune from the effects of climate change. 
If, at the moment, you don’t consider environmental action to be the biggest priority, I beg you to rethink your values.  Economic growth will mean nothing if we are suffering and dying due to extreme weather.  You need to stop burning fossil fuels.  We need to make a complete and just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy.  Because if we don’t, we will have failed.  The clock is ticking."
Tirzah Hutchinson Edgar

This letter was first published in The Irish Times on Oct 23, 2021. You can see the original article here


This letter was one of the winning entrants in the Dear World Letter Writing competition in The Irish Times. As more than 190 world leaders prepared to meet in Glasgow in October for the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), The Irish Times wanted the children of Ireland to write to them, outlining their hopes, fears and solutions to the climate crisis and the action they want to see our leaders take. High School pupil Tirzah Hutchinson Edgar was one of the winning authors.