Hi!My name is Linda and I'm 15 years old. Up until a few months ago, I never used to care about my carbon footprint or climate change. I didn't even know what co2 was! That all changed due to an incident that happened 2 months ago and this is the story that changed my life.
[[Backround]]when I was 13 years old, my class went to a candy factory to learn about large-scale industry and production. We saw tonnes of plastic being proccesed and shaped, coloured and changed into candy packaging.
They gave us a huge bag of candy each at the end which really cheered me up and I was munching on the soft apple ones I asked my teacher:
'We know the ingredients to make the candy but how do they make the plastic?'
I don't know Linda, do some research when you get home.'
[[Research]]I did do some research but it seemed too complicated so I shut down the laptop and went to bed.
The next morning, I saw on the news pictures of volcanoes and ice bergs melting and a concept called 'climate 'change'.
2 weeks later we went on a trip to Malawi as a family and I met a boy called Akachi. We were instantly best friends. Their village was beautiful and really calm but he took me to an isolated area of their land. It was dry and the crops were dead. He said a drought might come soon and they don't have enough food or water to keep them alive if that happens. I was determined to help Akachi.
[[Change]]I spent days doing research and I made lots of changes to my life. I'm now vegan and don't use any plastic, I save water and food when I can and use renewable energy. I started a project to help prevent climate change for people to donate to and some of that money went to africa, specifically Akachi's village. I hadn't heard from him ever since our trip but I was sure he was fine due to all the money I sent.
[[Disaster]]{{Akachi had died. So had his entire village. I found out when I went to visit him last week. I was so confused because I sent them money to buy food and water to keep them alive. They said that the money sent was taken by another village by mistake and they didn't know how it happened.
I lost my dear friend due to climate change.
I was going to change things and make sure no one gets hurt again.
But how could I with so little power and money?
I will get people to join my project and I'll make social media pages and I'll do presentations in my school.
I will find a way to change things.
[[The End]]It's been 3 months since the death of Akachi and his village and a lot has changed since then.
After expanding my project and making it into a company/charity, it now has 2.3 million followers on instagram alone and it's called the 'Okiro Trust'.
Okiro is Akachi's last name and he is now well known around the world for being a 'victim of climate change' and he is an inspiring story.
[[Extras]]
[[Another Incident]]I was wallking by myself through Akachi's isolated village and remembering the lovely memories of us walking together and playing in the dirty ponds before they went dry. I heard someone shout my name:
'Linda!'. It was Akachi.
The village that took the money WAS his village afterall! They moved to a nearby location where there was a well to water the crops. As soon as the well went dry, I started sending them the money!It has now been 6 years since my company expanded and I'm 21 years old and a succesful businsess woman. I own 3 0% carbon restruants and a chain of echo-friendly/sustainable supermarkets. This includes:
Non-plastic recycled packaging.
Sustainable ingredients.
Vegan or non-factory farmed products.
No machinery used in the building process.
Reused plates,cutlery and coffee cups.
30% of profit goes to climate change research.
Me and Akachi are now married and have 3 beautiful children. We are working hard everyday to protect them and their future generations from the death of climate change.