Photo illustration by Leo Laine
Climate change is perhaps the most pressing issue facing our world today. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm our atmosphere and the impacts affect our everyday lives. Extreme flooding and scorching wildfires displace millions and cause heavy casualties. Yet, this imminent problem continues to be pushed under the radar by people in power and large corporations.
During this workshop, we had the resources and each other to combat this by speaking on topics we are passionate about. The Eclipse spotlights people and organizations making positive changes in a moment of darkness.
Much like an eclipse – a rare, natural phenomenon where the light of the sun can be seen radiating around the moon – this newspaper provides a platform for young people with valuable voices to bring to light these beacons of inspiration.
When conducting our respective interviews, we let the experiences of others flourish into entire stories. We spoke with people from a variety of backgrounds and age groups about the tangible efforts they are making to combat climate change. Using our voices as young journalists, we can magnify the impacts of their actions to create the kind of difference we hope to see.
A collective problem requires a collective solution. Generational disconnect, political polarization, and systemic disregard have delayed impactful climate action to a point of no return. However, with intergenerational collaboration, we can confront the irreversible damages we have caused and prevent our environment from worsening.
During an eclipse, the Earth, sun, and moon perfectly align, even though they are each physically separated by almost 100 million miles. With a population of 8 billion innovative and ambitious individuals, we already have the pieces we need to align and address the problem we created.
By Michelle Wang and Victoria Dolan