I just put my winter coat away, because yesterday I was sweating in a tank top. But this morning I had to pull it back out since today it’s almost freezing. The weather is as indecisive as a 9th-grader before a school dance. Global warming is no longer just knocking on our door, but it’s about to break it down.

Today marks the 49th anniversary of Earth Day and how are we celebrating it? By continuing to destroy it. Imagine celebrating your anniversary with someone you love, someone you think cares about you, and instead of taking you out to a nice restaurant and paying for dinner, they blow smoke in your face and take $50 from your purse; this is how we’re treating the earth on Earth Day.

Earth Day is an internationally recognized holiday, and still, we throw trash into rivers. At the rate that we are burning fossil fuels and increasing carbon emissions, we need to look into what we can do to solve the problem. As the generation that will see the escalating effects of climate change and will take on the initial impact of the damage done back in the day by our grandparents, we have to act now. Soon we are going to be living without clean water, clean air, or a clean conscience.

Although a cliche, the thought that our children will not have a safe place to live is terrifying, but it is not one that many people concern themselves with. It’s a thought that most people ignore since they think that it won’t be during their lifetime. Surprise! Yes, it will. We’re going to have the impact of global warming dumped onto us within the next decade. This means you’ll have to replace your SPF15 with SPF150, because you won’t have the ozone to protect you anymore.

It is really a simple concept: when someone is sick you let them heal, you don’t force them to run a marathon. Shouldn’t we treat our planet the same way?