“I wish everyone could come together to fight the climate crisis instead of leaving it to my generation to speak up.”

As an adult I truly feel the frustration of this quote from a young person in our North Country community. For a second year in a row the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival had to close off the Ice Palace before the carnival was over because it was melting. The lakes are dangerous this winter because the ice is too thin. 2023 was the warmest year the entire Earth has had. Scientists agree that global warming is human caused. There is so much that municipalities, states, and countries can do to slow the warming of our Earth. We must make the changes now.

Last summer North Country young people were invited to enter an essay contest describing their dreams for their community. The quotes above came from some of those essays.

(This letter is one in a series sharing the thoughts of young people in the North Country. The quotes are from an essay submitted to the contest “My Dreams for My Community” sponsored by the Community Engagement Project of Adirondack Voters for Change and the Adirondack Center for Writing.)

Sue Abbott-Jones

Saranac Lake