You know, even when you’re oozing optimism from your tear-ducts, you sometimes have to admit that our planet is in pretty bad shape. And where in the youth we should have hope for the future, it appears that in Borneo, there is none.
Even if we stop doing everything that is bad right now, the destructive effects of our environmentally unsound practices of the last 100 or so years, will continue to damage the planet for at least the next 2 – 3 decades. IF we could stop everything right now that is, which, of course, we can’t – so we try to instill in the youth what needs to be started today.
But how is that going? Apparently not great. Even hardened journalist are so despondent that pretty grim things are being written in the news room. Of course, these harsh-but-honest comments you will never read in the news paper.
Strolling through the news room recently, I stepped on this crumpled piece of paper. Is this the grim reality we face? Is this the news that should be written about exactly how uninspired, perhaps uninformed, our youth is? Names have been changed.
Kota Kinabalu: From the way our secondary school students are doing, looks like our planet is doomed.
25 students of SMK [edited] have demonstrated just how uninterested they are in environmental efforts, but have taken up green projects anyway so they can cut class.
A boy [edited], 17, says that he wants to be an organic farmer someday, but when asked why, his only answer was ‘to save the world’.
When asked what kid of measures he is taking to ensure the world is saved, he said ‘I don’t throw rubbish everywhere – lah’.
It is clear that our current generation of world leaders are unable to solve this crisis. From what is coming out of local schools, it seems like the next generation won’t be able to either.
What does doom taste like? I think I have some in my mouth.