A note from the tree…

You know when I was younger, I was quite the unstable thing. This happened far before your time, but I remember it well. They came in cycles, periods of ice and episodes of fire, and yet strangely they were natural, controlled by nothing but time and the space around me. Thankfully the changes came slow, giving those with me time to adjust to the change. I thought I had more time before the next wave of heat, but it’s approaching much faster than even I can adapt to. This…. It is not natural.

The climate has been experiencing drastic changes, including altered weather patterns and temperatures across the globe. Although it was normal for the climate to change across time, the rapid surge has been primarily due to human activities, most especially the burning of fossil fuels. From my observations, climate exacerbated weather events have increased by 6x in East Asia and the Pacific region over the past 50 years (UNICEF, 2023). 

When burned, fossil fuels release methane into the atmosphere, resulting in heat retention and the greenhouse effect. With more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, more heat from the sun is absorbed and emitted towards the Earth’s surface (NASA, 2019). There seem to be a greater likelihood of heat reactions occurring in the atmosphere. Methane and oxygen can result in combustion, splitting into water, carbon dioxide, and further heat. This long term rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere further provokes this unnatural climate shift (Environmental Protection Agency, 2025).    

Unfortunately, fire is not our only problem. In addition to the direct burning of fossil fuels, when food waste ends up in landfills, it decomposes anaerobically (or, if I have this right, without oxygen), resulting in the production of methane (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2011). While I may not be the best at math, I’ve noticed food waste accounts for nearly 5x the amount of emissions released from aviation (AWE International, 2024). This means, if we shoveled together all the wasted food in the world and considered it country, it would be the third-largest contributor to greenhouse emissions (United Nations Environment Programme, 2021). By countries, the largest contributors to this pile are industrialized Asia, followed by the rest of Asia and North America. 

In addition to hurting me, you also end up hurting yourself:

While it may seem like the distance between you and the environment is infinite, climate change directly impacts humanity, both physically and emotionally. 

Young children seem to face a disproportional negative impact by the climate crisis, as 90% of diseases resulting from climate change are likely to affect children below the age of five. By 2040, roughly one in every four kids will be living in areas with extreme water shortages. 2050, an additional 24 million children will become malnourished. Even when looking past basic physical needs, the growing mind will suffer as the education of around 38 million children is disrupted every year. (Save the Children, 2021).  

Gen Z, who were amongst the first generations to have social media access from a young age, has been raised in an environment of climate anxiety. Around 40% of 16-25 year olds have fears about the future and are reluctant to have kids (Yale Environment 360, 2022). For all the life I’ve given, I cannot blame them, who would want to bring a child into a dying world? Additionally, in both children and adolescents, extreme heat has been found to be associated with a rise in mental health problems (UNICEF USA, 2025).  

For those who stood on this world the longest, the rise in air pollution can increase the risk of heart attacks, especially for those who are obese or diabetic (Environmental Protection Agency, 2016). Climate change has also evoked a sense of moral distress and grief in older generations, who have lived through changes in temperature, weather patterns, and natural disasters. 

What can you do?

Minimizing food waste and the burning of fossil fuels would always go a long way, as would reusing materials. Reusing an item not only prevents another item from being added to a landfill, but it also saves the energy cost of creating a new one. If a refillable glass water bottle is used just 25 times, 93% less energy is consumed compared to a single use water bottle. The reuse of materials has already seen success in Japan, as reusing and recycling 603 million kilograms of used clothing reduced approximately 6.6 billion kilograms of CO2 emissions. 

Thank goodness for all the kind scientists and reporters, predictability and time was never my forte.