Guidelines for the Global Warming Essay Contest:

• What types of initiatives can the Florida Keys community take to ensure its long-term sustainability in the face of global warming?

• How can we more effectively utilize/create alternative energy sources to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels?

• What kinds of measures might we adopt in our community to combat this challenge that would be applicable statewide, nationwide, and globally?

1^st Place - Kyla Radziejewski, 11^th Grade

If melting ice caps and a twenty-foot sea level rise seem as likely to happen as Key West with no chickens, think again. Think of the generations to come, think about future family members who want more than a picture of this place we call home, think of the Southernmost Point being in Georgia, think of the beauty of our coral reefs, think of your envious friends who live in Maine who won’t be so envious in twenty years. Never stop thinking, no matter what those politicians tell you. Start telling them, tell elected officials to slow climate change. Americans have been given fish, taught how to fish, but that is not enough. We need to find out who owns the ponds we fish from, because they control how we fish, and these people need to know that money will still be made from you when they start using alternative energy sources. Make sure Mayor Morgan McPherson has signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. And check out www.cleanenergy.org to help guide your journey to responsible energy choices. Get the word out to your senators and representatives to support important global warming bills that help keep those friends of yours living in Maine winters envious.

2^nd Place - Margaret Kehoe, 11^th Grade

Key West High School should also take its part in the fight against global warming. It will affect our lives a lot more than many other cities across the U.S.; not only will hurricanes be stronger from warmer waters, Key West may no longer exist if water levels keep rising. A global warming organization should be created which brings awareness in our own community to a new level, taking part in awareness events, protests and marches and much more. These actions could bring about huge changes in the Keys if they are taken seriously.

Living in Key West, there are many new ideas that can be implemented in the war against global warming. Our parking lot is almost always full, with no need. Given, many have to travel from up the Keys, so a car is necessary, but with the vast number of people who live up the Keys, carpooling should be a more often used tactic. It can save gas, money, and unnecessary cars traveling on the highway. For those of us who live in Key West, kids should travel to and from school not in cars, but by walking, bicycling, skateboarding, long boarding, rollerblading, and many more. Perhaps if Key West High School made it an option to opt out of Team Sports or Physical Fitness class if you get to school without a car so many days out of a year, it would be a motivator for kids to do so. Or maybe an elective Global Warming class could make this an assignment. Recycling should be mandatory in all classrooms. Endless reams of paper and plastic bottles are thrown away, when instead they could be recycled. There are endless possibilities.

3^rd Place - Monica Bertram, 11^th grade

There are various measures that can be adopted, which are also applicable on the global scale. It is through our actions that will provide the largest influence: we cannot wait for “others to remedy the evil.” Also our votes will present the urgency of our situation, “cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence.” Our city’s leaders should be influenced by our voice and actions to meet new city standards, such as the ones set by the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement. Additionally, our vehicles should have standards implemented to support better gas mileage. Our investments should be in companies that ensure to promote the awareness of climate change. Furthermore, we can support foundations such as the Kyoto protocol which is a treaty for mandatory emission limitations. Last, we must set goals that we wish to strive for. “A goal properly set is halfway reached” (Abraham Lincoln.) When our actions meet our goals, our endeavors will prove to be potent. If there is a will to change the current perception and trend of global warming, there is a way.

When you increase your knowledge, you see how little you know. Global warming is undeniable. The greenhouse effect is inarguable. Glaciers melting is irrefutable. Although humans have caused ample amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, it is not too late to take an initiative to change the effect. If we don’t react, our environment will.