School essay and poem competition-Coming together against climate change |04 July 2009

The organisers said they were surprised by the large number of entries and the high quality of the work they received this year.

We are publishing here the top winning poems and essays sent by the ministry.

Koste Seselwa, Unite Against Climate Change

Tick Tock! Tick Tock!
Like the sound of a desperate clock
Which never stops
Climate change
Is really affecting us

This issue brings horror
In this world full of terror
In the mind of the youngsters
As they sit and ponder
On the impact this monster
Can bring to their future

The greed of powerful countries
The aspirations of those living during this century
Inventions of new technologies
And the so-called safe technologies
Will not take us anywhere
But closer to the final hour
As it’s the case for that desperate clock

Like the sound of a desperate clock
Which never stops
Climate change is really affecting us
Every second, every minute
Sea level rises
Temperature increases
Flooding and landslides intensify
Our biodiversity changes
Yet very few care

Stop your crazy inventions
Slow down your ambitious uses
Use of aerosol sprays won’t slow down the process
Cheap, modern deluxe equipment
will simply aggravate the problem
Do we want to see another coral bleaching process?
Our islands submerged?
Or more diseases emerging?

Come together Seychellois
Come together the world
Let’s join forces
And help bring about changes

Go for forestation instead of deforestation
Make use of cheap renewable energy
Instead of expensive non-renewable ones
Though time flies, like the ticking desperate clock
To help combat that terrible monster
Called climate change

By Teffy Jean, Diedre Rene and
Elvira Dindwall, Praslin Secondary.

***

As a young Seychellois, why are you concerned about climate change?

“One of our priorities is climate change. Our struggle to limit its extent and effects requires collective and global effort and political commitments,” said President Michel.

A remarkable quotation to show my concerns over the issue of climate change. Being in a small country, which will be the first to be affected as result of this problem, I find the need for all of us to come together to eradicate that silent invader.
 
In Seychelles, climate change is already a reality and this issue is a matter of urgency. The larger industrial nations such as the United States, China and India to name a few, must realise that their actions are putting small nations like us at grave risk. We urge countries like the US to sign the Kyoto protocol to lead the way when it comes to reducing greenhouse emissions.

Why should I be concerned? Seychelles is one of the countries that contribute the least to climate change yet we see ourselves as one of those small-state countries that will be affected. 

According to national scientists, the influence of climate change will be felt in many aspects of life in Seychelles. They have projected that the sea level will rise by 5mm per year over the next century. So that means that the sea level could rise by nearly half a metre by the end of this century.

Thus, we will be forced to move and take refuge in higher land areas, leaving behind what we have sown in the lowlands during all these years. Such activity will mean cutting down more trees, which will surely result in the extinction of our rare fauna and flora. It will lead to more environmental problems.

This will top up the problem as temperatures will keep on rising, causing the sea to become warmer, thus causing our corals to bleach. That rich habitat where marine life thrives in abundance will surely be affected.

Again, we might foresee a future full of disaster. Our ecosystem will be disrupted and may reduce the availability of fish and other seafood. More money will probably be wasted on importing food that was once obtained locally. Won’t that drag us deeper into that abyss of economic crisis that we are now facing?

The tourism industry will also be affected as visitors won’t have much to explore in our underwater world. Warmer temperature will increase vector-borne diseases and eventually result in loss of lives. 

To conclude, as a young Seychellois who longed for a better and safer country and a brighter world, the need to join forces to combat climate change is there. Come together Seychellois. Come together the world.

Stop those emissions and come up with free, safe solutions. My hope is that the experts in future meetings come up with better solutions that will help in saving our planet from climate change.

Wolfgang Germain
Praslin Secondary
Essay competition

***

Let’s Unite and Work Together

I don’t want to see a lonely earth
Without the singing of the birds
Without fish swimming in the ocean
Without good sources of water
Let’s unite and work together
To keep our planet safe and sound

Artic sea ice is melting
Sea surface temperatures are warming
Extreme drought is increasing
Even ecosystems are changing
Let’s avoid the release of smoke
That is making the earth choke

Most endemic plants are crying
Fighting to survive in this world
Dying to breathe clean air
Trying to withstand the pouring rain
Together we can help them
Let’s unite and care for them

There will be no life on earth
If we don’t come together as one
Fight together, work together
Share our ideas with each other
Understand our mistakes and work on them
And land a helping hand for our next generation

Eloise Pierre-Louis
Mont Fleuri Primary School

***

Sanzman Klima I Fors Nou Koste

Nou lemonn pe pas dan en gran sanzman
Letan pe vin deplizanpli distorte
Nivo lanmer pe menas bann teran plat
Pe senm lafreyer parmi la popilasyon

Kalamite natirel pe plis ki ogmante
Dezertifikasyon pe propaze
Bann dega ki nou pa pe espekte
Ki’n pran lavi bokou malere

Bann pti leta zil ban losean i dan troub
Nou bann bizou granit e koralyen pa pou ganny eparnye
Nou lakot i kour gran danze
Lavi kotidyen pou ganny afekte

Itiliz prodwi ki apropriye
Servi bann sours lenerzi pli sen
Les laverdir ede
I primordial edik sitwayen demen

Debout pep larsipel Sesel
Tou kous sosyete annou kolabore e azir koman enn sel
Viv avek bann nouvo prensip pour nou fitir zenerasyon
E ki pour nou pti zil nou a kontinyen annan lafyerte

Rosabella Mangroo
School for A Level Studies

***

The Plea

This world, Our World
How far have we come?
From a place of pure fresh air
To a smog, carbon-filled atmosphere
Temperature increasing
Polar ice melting at an alarming rate
Humans’ homes and those of other living creatures
Are being engulfed by flames
Or submerged in water
Are we realising the causes?
Or do we find it difficult
to face the consequences?

Species are crying out to you
Developed countries
Please, please listen!
Sign the protocols
Stop burning coals
Can you hear the millions
dying of hunger?
The many who are
drowning in the rising water?
Millions who are homeless?
You don’t seem to see the homeless
You couldn’t seem to care less?
The outbreak of strange diseases
Will it ever cease?

I cry out to you,
leaders, of those
well-developed countries
Stakeholders fighting to
save our small country
Ambitious Seychellois men
and women seeking luxury
Which yet brings about lots of injuries
Listen to the cries of this young generation,
Let’s stop those emissions
Go for safe, renewable energy
As they will be reliable and
appropriate in cases of emergency
Listen carefully!
Otherwise a skeleton planet would be
your legacy and our inheritance

Come together Seychellois,
Come together the World
Together we can make that difference,
Let us work together to save
our world from climate change
For a better tomorrow for you,
me and the generation to come.
 
Brian Souyana
Praslin Secondary

***

Let Us Unite Against Climate Change

I’m a young Seychellois who is very concerned with the environmental management and the sustainable development of my country. Not to forget there is this one issue that should be the concern of everyone – climate change.

I was alerted when I was taught about climate change in secondary school.  During those times I also saw this revitalising movie, An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore, discussing global warming and the environment which turned me into a fan of his and I also felt the urgency for a change in our ways of living.

Acting now doesn’t mean we will turn the tables straight away...it is a matter of saving what we have left for if we don’t, in years to come our children and grandchildren will think we were a group of brainless people who could not save the kind of world they would love to live in too, when in fact we have everything we need to change that.

What are we waiting for? Perhaps some are still doubting, but let me hark back to last month when the largest piece of the ice shelf broke in Antarctica!

Dear friends, climate change provides a potent reminder of the one thing that we share in common, planet EARTH!  Some of us act as if we have another planet to live after this one is depleted when, in reality, WE DON’T. 

As a small island state, we are not contributing the most to the release of greenhouse gases (GHG) into the atmosphere yet are among the first to pay for the consequences.

Slowly but surely sea levels are rising, threatening our coastal developments and the livelihood of communities. Normally, due to our proximity to the equator, we are not supposed to experience cyclones but in 2006 we did, when cyclone ‘Bondo’ hit Farquhar by surprise. What else is yet to come?

This year, most countries took part in the largest demonstration ever – the Earth Hour. I really do wonder if the policymakers got the right message from this. If not, they are avoiding seeing the reality, which is the rest of the world urging them or, better yet, just waiting for them to get on board as climate change is not a battle one country can win acting alone.

Big nations like China experiencing rapid industrialisation, not caring about the amount of GHG they are releasing through their consumption of fossil fuels, is a very worrying matter. In addition to that, the USA refuses to change its lifestyle so as to adapt to the changes while our lives on the small islands are at stake. 

Years have gone by, treaties, debates and meetings are still being negotiated. Negotiating what? More negotiation and less action. As someone said: “Our life is not negotiable!”

Here again in Seychelles we need to promote more use of the renewable energy with which we’re endowed – solar for street lights and houses. We must encourage more rain harvesting, and the inclusion of climate change in the school curriculum up to post-secondary level is also very important for we are moving to a stage where there will be a need to adapt to the new changes. Future farmers need to learn new methods of farming so as to adapt to climate change. Our architects have perhaps to go back to our tradition of building houses on pillars as it has been predicted we will experience more frequent flooding. There’s also a need for national efforts to rehabilitate the coast with mangroves so as to protect our beaches. 

It is up to us, the young people, to communicate that sense of urgency and to push for action that it demands while the world leaders are still struggling in negotiations and policies.

If we choose to procrastinate in our actions, our future will be worse than predicted. I personally don’t want to be a refugee of climate change. Do you?

Vanessa Roseline
School for A-Level Studies

***
Lefe teknolozi

Letan i pase
Teknolozi i avanse
E nou lavi i evolye
Me, eski nou konsyan ki pe arive?

Nou later pe sofe
Nou klima pe sanze
Nou plannet pe ganny brize
E lemonn pe koule

Menm si nou en pti pei
Nou osi nou pe ganny afekte
Toulezour nou tann bann nouvo maladi
Koze par polisyon dan ler ki nou espire

Alor Seselwa
Annou koste e donn lanmen lager kont sa
Wi, annou koste e donn lanmen
Protez nou pei kont okenn dezas

Carah Loveday
La Retraite Pimary