By Tria Donaldson

The hills surrounding Kamloops used to be covered with strong, healthy lodgepole pines. Each year, I watch as more and more of them turn from green to red to brown.

In just one year, over 50 trees on my university campus were removed after they were infested by the mountain pine beetle.

The mountain pine beetle epidemic in British Columbia is one of the most visible consequences of climate change to date. The beetle is usually killed off by long periods of cold weather in the winter. But there hasn’t been a cold snap that has lasted long enough to stop the beetle’s devastating march across our forests.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt in every corner of the globe. In Australia, rainfall has been decreasing steadily for 40 years. They are in the midst of a long-term drought that is severely effecting their farming.

In the small island nations of the Pacific Ocean, like Tuvalu, people watch as the oceans rise and wonder when the seas will claim their homes.

And all over the world there has been an increase in extreme weather events: hurricanes, flooding, tropical storms.

All of this is just the beginning.

According to leading climate scientists, like James Hansen and Andrew Weaver, the world must approach carbon neutrality by 2050 if we are to mitigate the worse impacts of climate change. Over the next 40 years we have to revise and rebuild our world to create a just economy powered by clean energy.

2050 may seems like it’s a lifetime away, but it is actually in my lifetime. In 2050, most of today’s students and I will be approaching retirement. Creating a carbon-neutral future is literally the work of our adult lifetimes.

My generation was raised on Captain Planet and FernGully. The importance of recycling and turning the tap off when you brush your teeth was made clear to us at an early age. Now we are faced with the reality that the stability our climate, and therefore our way of life, is uncertain. Our very future depends on the choices we all make in the next eight to 10 years.

In the face of this uncertainty, young people all over the country are stepping up and taking on the climate crisis in a big way.

In their schools and communities, young people are organizing improved recycling services, community gardens, and idle-free zones. Youth are taking the lead in envisioning what their schools, their communities and their country will look like, and how they will operate.

Youth are mobilizing, meeting with our elected officials and demanding that they take steps to protect the environment and our future. We are at the international climate negotiations reminding the politicians that we are the future and that they are accountable for their decisions.

Youth are developing innovative solutions all over the place. A group of University of Saskatchewan students built a windmill on campus as a demonstration project. Students at the University of Victoria are looking at how their institution can help develop regional climate solutions for alternative energy, sustainable transportation, and food demand.

And every day, youth are making the decision to change their lifestyles, and make carbon-smart choices.

As youth we have a huge stake in the outcomes of the climate crisis: we are fighting for our future. It is about much more than whether or not we will ever get to see a polar bear. It is about our right, and the rights of my children, to have access to clean air, to clean water, and to a healthy world.

Youth have the passion, the drive, and the know-how to contribute to solutions. And we definitely have the optimism and the imagination we need to build a carbon-neutral world.

It may be too late for the pine trees around Kamloops, but it is not too late to stop the climate crisis. Join the fight, and help preserve the world for your children and mine.

Tria Donaldson is the B.C. Sustainable Campuses coordinator for the Sierra Youth Coalition.