Victoria Alonso
Saint Joseph Hill Academy, ‘19
“Not only has learning about climate change impacted my life view, but it has also impacted my future. I am now planning to become an environmental engineer to combat climate change.”
Victoria has lived in Staten Island with her parents and two brothers since being adopted at birth from San Antonio. She is a violinist, a painter, and a passionate advocate for equality; she attended the Women’s March with her best friend, Chase, “who makes me feel that I could change the world with every action that I make.” In September Victoria will start college at the University of Miami. The title of her Climate Speaks poem is “From the perspective of the moon.”
From the Perspective of the Moon
I watch as the Earth continues her rotation every day
Every twenty-four hours is a new opportunity to change for the better
But her people never do
They sit in silence
As I watch them dump their tons and tons of garbage into her shimmering sapphire oceans
They set fire to the seas as they burn their fossils to make fuel
I weep as the sun sets and I return to watch the Earth’s wildlife suffer
To observe as they slowly suffocate in the smog created by the people
I feel that I am the only witness to this silent extinction
Each night, I write a eulogy for the once colorful corals
Whose ghostly glow is visible from thousands of miles away
I say my last farewell to the massive sheets of ice
Salute them for the sacrifice they have made
As they leave their once frozen home to make the ocean their grave
I lament as I watch the humans decimate their forests
And I wonder what sound the trees make as they fall
But lately, I have heard the screams of the young
They are breaking sound barriers
Telling the people in power that their beautiful Earth needs to be salvaged
That she’s dying, and they are the ones at fault
They say that when the sun’s rays shine
They want it to be on the reefs and forests and animals they have saved
When night falls and I behold my earth
I hope I can proudly look on her and shine in relief
That her future will be saved
Soon enough
