Mattawan Middle School students submitted these letters to the editor to the Kalamazoo Gazette.
Jacob Bodzianowski, Mattawan
Water pollution is an impending problem that is reaching throughout Michigan and Water pollution has been a problem since the earliest civilizations when they bathed and dumped waste in the water. About 780 million people lack access to clean, healthy water, that's one-ninth of the Earth’s population. We must fight against water pollution at every chance we get to save of world from destruction.
Water pollution is a severe problem due to the fact that 3.4 million people a year will die from water-related diseases. Sadly humans contribute quite a lot to this problem. One thing we do is when we dispose of waste created by factories the waste might runoff into a near by river and poison the river. Another way humans develop this problem is through leaking septic tanks. Thankfully there's hope for us all, all we have to do is be water responsible such as don’t take 30 minute showers or turn the tap of when it is not in use and finally do not dump chemicals down the sink. If you want to drink fresh water without doubt follow these steps.
Noah Nye, Mattawan
Deforestation is a growing issue all around the world. Deforestation is the act or cutting down large groups of trees for uses such as paper, cardboard, firewood etc. Deforestation needs to stop because we needs trees for oxygen, trees absorb and filter all of our carbon dioxide, and many species of animals live in trees and are killed during deforestation.
People in Michigan should be concerned about deforestation because this problem is only getting worse. Deforestation is growing because we keep buying and wasting paper. We need to do more reducing, recycling and reusing. If we conserve paper more than that can just mean one less tree being cut down and that may lead to one less animal dead.
As many people and places in the world are trying to help, it is now our turn to step up and help solve this terrible issue. Although this problem is increasing we must try harder to stop it. Deforestation is killing animals, cutting off our oxygen, and leaving more carbon into the atmosphere. I would like to reverse the problem and make it more trees and less deforestation.
Andy Thelen, Schoolcraft
I’m concerned about the wolf population in Michigan. It has risen substantially in the past decade.Probably because we haven’t been hunting them and keeping the population at a steady and safe rate.The wolves are killing beavers and cattle.
First of all, the beavers are in charge of keeping an ecosystem, (the pond) alive. We need the pond because we go there to fish for food,and we make memories. The ponds also attract deer and other game that we can hunt for meat. With the wolves killing the beavers, we are losing food and precious memories, along with an entire ecosystem.
Furthermore we are losing cattle which is a big export for Michigan. By losing cattle we are losing fresh milk and meat, and people could lose their jobs if they can’t keep their cattle safe from the wolves.
We need to hunt the wolves because they are hurting our ponds, our food, our memories, and we could possibly lose an entire industry because of these wolves. Help out Michigan by hunting wolves to keep our economy safe.
Jaden Mabin, Kalamazoo
Imagine, you are an animal and you live in a nice fine tree home, and then you hear the ugly sound of a chainsaw. You come outside to see what is happening , and you see that humans are cutting your house. So, you run away leaving your house. Deforestation needs to be stopped right now before it gets worse because, it kills tons of animals. It is one cause for global warming and increased greenhouse gases.
Deforestation is the permanent destruction of forests in order to make more land available for any reason. Millions of acres are lost each year. We should be concerned about global warming because deforestation is a major factor in global warming. Global warming is gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. Trees absorb greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide.
We can easily solve the problem. Obviously, we can start to reduce, reuse and recycle. Even though tons of people have heard about this, some people forget or don’t even care about it. We can start using less paper and take up more room on paper. We can start planting more trees and use less wood. People are contributing to the problem by, deforestation is usually done to make more land for housing, wood, cash crops, buildings, roads, etc. Deforestation needs to be stopped right now before it gets worse.
Justina Santora, Kalamazoo
We have a water pollution problem and we need to fix it immediately. Water Pollution is a charge in the chemical, physical, and biological health of a waterway due to human activity. This is a problem in our Great Lakes because people are swimming in the water, drinking the water, and our lakes are threatened from eutrophication.
Water Pollution is affecting the health of our organisms in and out of the water. Due to runoff from the farmers, industries, and people living close to the water there are too many nutrients in the Great Lakes. Our lakes are getting smaller causing eutrophication. Eutrophication is having too many chemical nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus in the lakes. The lakes end up having too many plants and the dying off of some species.
Ways we are making water pollution worse is by using pesticides that are seeping into the water from farms, sewage disposal and industries dumping toxic waste into our waters.
There are ways that we could make the Great Lakes better. First we could stop using pesticides. Farmers use pesticides on their crops and pesticides make their way into the lakes. Pesticides are bad for the lakes because if someone were to eat pesticides they would die.
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