Benjamin B. Illinois

Use of Renewable Resources

We need to reduce our carbon emissions and the only way to do this is to reduce our dependency on non-renewable resources

Dear Mr. Trump,

I am a fifteen year old student at Metea Valley High School. I have my whole life ahead of me but there are some issues that could stunt my ability to live to my full potential. Here is some history about my topic. About 150 years ago the average temperature was about 57 degrees fahrenheit and carbon levels were at 290 PPM(Parts Per Million). This means that per every 1 million O2 particles, there are 290 carbon particles in the atmosphere. Today, the average temperature is 58.5 degrees and levels are reaching 400 PPM and quickly rising. It is a shame, but because these numbers seem so small, there is a lack of interest on the topic and it is usually put into our mental “trash bin”. A positive is that I know that I am dealing with a smart and reasonable man. You understand that there are extreme, yet necessary, actions that need to be taken to preserve the luxurious life that we, as Americans, are so privileged to live.

Getting back to the topic, we need to reduce our CO2 emissions and the only way we can do this is to increase our use of renewable resources. Not only will the use of renewable resources decrease our Carbon Dioxide emissions, but, they will also create a lot of jobs in the U.S. economy and other economies throughout the world. According to a 2014 study by Renewable Energy World, Hydroelectric(water) has produced almost 300,000 jobs, Solar(sun) with 143,000 jobs, and wind with another 54,000. Those are just a few of the many types of renewable energy sources. Others include Geothermal, Biomass, and renewable fuels. Including these, about a total of 705,000 new jobs have been created by renewable energy sources.

A study was done by Dr. Mark Jacobson of Stanford University, and he concluded, “per degree celsius increase” in the global temperature, 20 thousand additional deaths occur annually. Dr. Jacobson describes this relationship as “cause and effect” rather than just a correlation. This only makes the topic more important because it shows the large loss of life that has occurred. But death is not the only effect of our Carbon emissions rising. Other health issues such as asthma and lung disease are revealing themselves as be a threat to us. 

Metea Valley High School

Metea Valley Sophomore English

All sophomore students at Metea Valley High School wrote letters to President-Elect Trump, voicing their issues on ideas that are important to them. These letters were part of a three-week project, where we learned about rhetorical situation; types of claims; types of evidence; and embedding quotes.

All letters from this group →