Dear future president,

As we all know, our marine life is an essential part as of our ecosystem. Without it, our world can and will slowly come apart. In the United States, at least forty percent of our rivers are way too polluted to be used for fishing, swimming and or to be a suitable home for our aquatic life. Sadly, our lakes are much more worse with over forty-six percent being extremely polluted. Every year, according to www.dosomething.org, over 100,000 sea mammals and 1 million seabirds are killed each year due to pollution, and with your power, I hope we can crush those numbers into something that is much lower.

Although some may argue that what we are already doing for our earth is enough, it’s not. Some of the pollution acts we have in place are outdated and definitely could be improved. Our mission could start there. Since the Clean Water Act of 1972, our lakes have been improved, but in this century, that act has practically been left untouched, and is seriously outdated.

Runoffs are said to be one of the main factors to water pollution. Storm runoffs is usually rainwater that flow over the surface and isn't able to soak into the ground. Most of these runoffs usually occur in urban areas when storms are super heavy. Runoffs can occur when sewage system become overwhelmed,causing the untreated waste to flow into nearby waters. According to www.csmonitor.com/Environment, cities such as Milwaukee, Washington D.C, and Philadelphia have started a movement called the ”green infrastructure” which helps cities reduce runoffs. I believe that we should start to encourage the bigger cities such as Chicago and Seattle to try and reduce the amount of waste that gets into the water due to runoffs.

By allowing ourselves to ignore the factors that our world is indeed falling apart, we will affect our very own bodies. If we let ourselves carelessly throw our waste into the water, we could come across different deadly diseases. Humans can and will be exposed to harsh diseases such as hepatitis by eating seafood that has been poisoned with the water pollution. Unfortunately, we are not the only ones who are suffering from water pollution. Numerous areas, such as Haiti, are being exposed to disease outbreaks such as cholera from the result of drinking water from poor treatment systems. Now remind me, what exactly happened in Flint, Michigan?

Unfortunately, in Flint Michigan, authorities horrendously failed to test and monitor the water treatment systems, leaving Flint with undrinkable lead-filled water which can harm anyone who drinks it. This is an example of FAILED and neglected water treatment systems, right here in the United States. The Flint water crisis is still active today and is an extreme example of what can happen when water quality is ignored. 

If we continue to let ourselves be careless of the world around us, we could lose everything and everyone we ever cared about. I believe we all need to come together and finally do something about the pollution that is happening to our home. Change is tough, but it can happen with your help. We all need to come together and become the change we want to see in our world/environment. 

Sincerely, Jennifer

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