planet as Earth becomes warmer and the
ice in Greenland and Antarctica melts
our oceans are rising higher and higher
this is an issue that is going to define
our generation and it will be up to you
and me to solve the problem tonight I
would like to talk to you about how you
can help right now no matter how young
you are but before I tell you how you
can get involved I want to show you
something
well you’ve actually already seen it
it’s me I’m 5 feet 2 inches tall
most scientists predict that Seas will
rise 3 feet by the time that I am about
sixty years of age this is 3 feet in
relation to my body scientists also
predict that by 2100 seas could rise 6
to 10 feet that’s here and way up there
I would be submerged that’s a huge
problem that I need your help to solve
to explain how you can help how you can
find your passion I want to explain how
I found mine I was born here in Miami
and I split my time between the city of
a few million people on the shores of
the Atlantic Ocean and a 1,000 acre
island called no name Keith that is just
43 solar-powered homes on it I guess you
could say that my life is surrounded by
water and that’s where my love for
marine biology and nature comes from my
interest in the environment led me to
write illustrate and publish three books
on ecology topics when I was in
elementary and middle school and about
two years ago
I began working on a new book this one
geared towards young adults about
climate change and along the way I have
met many wonderful people including
scientists business owners and policy
makers
all of which who have taught me about
the science of sea-level rise and that
work something that I call the
sink-or-swim project is why I am here
with you tonight what initially began as
research for a book evolved into an
educational initiative in which I
present lectures about sea-level rise to
schools all over South Florida to
elementary middle and high schools
colleges even adult groups I also just
did one by Skype to a school in India as
part of the project I have written and
illustrated a comic book entitled where
did all the polar bears go that tells
the story of what might happen if we
don’t solve this problem if you are in
attendance tonight you will receive a
copy of this comic book and I hope that
you will share its message with your
friends the toy bears and penguins that
I have designed are used as a metaphor
about the problem and what might happen
if we don’t change our behaviors I’ve
also created a website Miami Sierra’s
calm that is filled with information and
ways to get involved even a blog that I
write it responds to all of this to the
sink-or-swim project and Miami Sierra’s
calm has been amazing and what I have
learned and what I want you to know is
that no matter your age you can make a
difference in your community and what I
have also learned and this is extremely
important is that kids get it we
understand that smoke pouring out of a
factory or a power plant or a car is
unhealthy we understand that we have to
change our behaviors before it’s too
late
in this picture for example although
only in third grade these children had
over 30 minutes of excellent intelligent
questions after my recent talk at their
school like I said kids get it now
before I am with you tonight I need to
also tell you that there are some real
challenges toward solving this problem
and perhaps the biggest one is politics
if you and I are ever going to solve
this problem we must demand that our
leaders help us even though I don’t have
a vote let me give you an example of
what I have
to show you that even children have a
voice miami-dade County has a seven
billion dollar budget that’s the money
that our government spends on all sorts
of things each year and it’s a lot of
money but when I first saw our mayor’s
proposed 2016 budget a budgets so large
it takes up three books and is almost a
thousand pages long I learned that it
mentioned climate change in just one
sentence near the end of the third book
and did not plan to allocate any money
towards the problem not even one dollar
I was so upset over the lack of action
by our government that I decided to
write some blogs about what was
happening and I’m happy to tell you that
people read them a lot of people and
they encouraged me a teenager to keep
demanding that our government help so I
attended the County Commission meeting
and I spoke in front of the entire
Commission and mayor I told them that
people want to see their leaders working
on sea level rise solutions I also
demanded that the mayor of ices budget
and allocate one million dollars towards
the problem and do you know what he and
the rest of the Commission did as a
result of people rising up and speaking
out like I did he agreed to budget three
hundred thousand dollars and created
Miami Dade’s first chief sustainability
officer now three hundred thousand
dollars is not nearly enough nor is the
1 million that I asked for but it is a
start and it proves that each of us has
a voice by becoming involved by
demanding change people will listen even
if it is a child talking or blogging or
tweeting but time is running out we need
to get started now South Florida’s
environment is one of the most fragile
on earth if you and I don’t solve this
problem our coral reefs will become
extinct and places like Miami Beach the
Florida Keys and the Everglades will
disappear underwater forever
so I need your help I need you to become
involved to speak up and out because the
time has come for our generation to
solve this problem to change old habits
by getting rid of fossil fuels to set
politics aside to invent new
technologies the time has come for our
generation to decide whether we want our
planet to sink or swim thank you [Applause]