TEXTOS DE ESCRITA CRIATIVA
Green revolution - Project READ ON
THE CHRONICLE OF A WATER MOLECULE BY MIGUEL CARMO
Once upon a time, there was a water molecule called Aqua that belonged to a huge glacier in Antarctica. For the ones that are not aware, all glaciers are families of many water molecules.
Every year, Aqua, a pretty normal water molecule (at least it is constituted by an oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms), goes on vacation away from her family: it evaporates with some of her cousins towards the holiday destination, the clouds. When the trip is over, Aqua returns to the glacier, precipitating in the form of a crystal, and celebrating her return with all the family members. Every water molecule, of every single glacier, does this sometimes, which results in the well-known “water cycle”.
This time, however, although Aqua enjoyed her peaceful time away, when she was preparing to leave, something felt different, something was different. She precipitated, like she always did, but once she reached her glacier, she realized most of her family members were gone: her parents, her siblings and some of her cousins. Aqua became very fearful and anxious. She found her cousin Wasser and asked what had happened. “They all melted, because of the increase in temperature and were washed away by the ocean” – he said sadly.
Aqua looked at the big ocean, heartbroken, because she had lost her family and her home. How could someone let the planet get to this state, destroying so many homes like it had happened to her.
Isn’t it worth it fighting against global warming?
I HAVE A DREAM BY MARGARIDA CORREIA
I have a dream that one day climate change will not be a problem. That one day, glaciers will not melt, making the sea levels rise, and killing the animals that live in them. That forests will not burn for endless days and millions of animals will not die. That the holes in the ozone layer will not increase.
But this dream will not come true unless we all change. Fortunately, young people are becoming extremely active in the war against climate change, striking and demanding politicians to take effective actions to decrease this tremendous problem. Never before has this issue been discussed as now. People are finally aware that this is a real problem!
Nowadays, people are more eco-friendly. They recycle, use less plastic, shop more consciously (in eco-friendly brands) and use public transport. They embrace the Green Revolution.
People are becoming more and more concerned with the planet due to the action of the younger generation and actually taking action. That gives me hope that we will solve the problem that is climate change.
COUNTDOWN TILL CHRISTMAS BY TIAGO CHINITA
It was the 1st of December of 2039, the entire world population was now suffering the consequences of Global Warming. James, a young 14-year-old boy, was worried to see these changes but also confused about the fact that no one seemed to care.
There no longer existed the Antarctica or Greenland and many animal species such as the Polar Bear were extinct, although James's main concern was the fact that now the ocean occupied over 81% of the world. At school, because he didn’t have any friends, James tried to spend most of his free time improving the school’s environment by picking up trash and reducing the pollution that surrounded the area. One day, James's class was interrupted by two enormous men who were looking for him. At first, he was scared but after he saw one of the men smiling at him, he allowed himself to relax.
Once they were alone and far from any classroom, it was explained to James that they bodyguarded a very powerful and respected person that could use his help. James was confused and even thought they were joking with him until they clarified everything.
"Look, kid, as we were saying, we bodyguard someone very important who thinks you might come in handy in her operation", said one of the guards.
"What? How could I be of use to anyone?" interrupted James, but soon stopped because of the bodyguard’s reaction.
"Our leader knows all about your hidden talent that is to program, and she is a big fan of the way you treat the environment, that makes you a perfect match for the team", the bodyguard explained.
"How does she know about my secrets?" James asked.
"Trust me, our leader knows everything", said the other bodyguard as he took over the conversation. "Before you ask what team we were talking about, we would like to show you who our leader is, that is if you are willing to participate on this mission or, better said, if you are willing to do whatever it takes to save the earth from dying", he added.
Of course, James didn’t think twice and accepted the offer and was gasped to see that his new boss was Greta Thunberg. Greta was known worldwide for trying to save the world when she was younger but, unfortunately, she failed. Now, as a fully-grown woman, she decided to try again, but this time with a little help. Greta created a company called “Environment Feed” to help the environment in any way possible. Apart from that, she secretly organized a team to fight people and organizations that would harm the Earth for their own well-being.
The next day was the 3rd of December and James was ready to meet his new boss and team. The team’s only goal was to save the environment before the 25th of December so everybody could have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
GREEN SPACE BY DUARTE BATALHA
We don’t want to lose this place
Its been as fast has a race
There is more and more pollution
We have to find a solution
Because we need the green space.
Climate changes
have been increasingly drastic
We should make a green revolution
It's so much plastic
We really need a solution
Everyone knows
Consumerism is a bad lifestyle
And life goes
We will smile
Seeing this green space
We have to change that
If we want our planet alive
Because he isn't like a cat
He only has one life
A BIODEGRADABLE IDEA BY MIGUEL FERREIRA
The world is constantly changing, and I think we’re all aware of that. Everybody speaks about climate change, I am sick and tired of hearing it, but apparently, there are still people that think that global warming is a hoax. But unfortunately, it's not the only problem on Earth. Being Portuguese, I feel obliged to speak about the pollution of the oceans, since Portugal is mostly surrounded by sea. Water pollution consists essentially of 95% plastics and microplastics, mainly in the Mediterranean Sea, where the data are catastrophic. The absurd amount of plastics in the sea makes me think of ways to avoid and correct water pollution, such as water filtration in industrial areas before being launched into the sea and the use of existing inventions to clean coastal areas. These were just a few ideas, but there are many more because changing the world is not difficult, it only takes courage.
THE LITTLE SAPLING BY ANA ALVES
It was another dark and cloudy day in the big city. The traffic lights were stronger than the weak sunshine of the dawn. The air was filled with a thick and dark layer of dust and pollution, the concrete was dark and wet, due to the rain that fell during the night.
Her name was Melanie, she was late for school, but for the first time in her life, she wasn’t nervous. She was lying on her bed, with her tinny fingers crossed over her chest, breathing slowly and thinking, thinking like a seven-year-old child shouldn’t:
“Where are those 'trees' the teacher had spoken about? Why was she crying? Where did we go wrong? Why are they so scary?”
She could hear the heavy footsteps from her mom at the hallway, it was just a matter of time until she found out that her daughter was late for school, but she wasn’t scared.
The only thing this little girl feared was those tall woody giants, with several arms filled with green leaves, she only saw them in old pictures, but she was terrified of them.
The door opened, the little girl’s mother came in; she was serious. Melanie didn’t even know that her mother was aware of everything, and when I say everything, I mean that she knew what they had lost over the years. They’ve focused so much on evolving that they forgot about all the other species in the planet, and now her seven-year-old girl was terrified of trees.
They were both sitting in the car, her mother couldn’t talk, she didn’t even say a simple “Good morning, honey” . Every second, of every hour, of every day she remembered that there was no turning back to these soulless monsters the humans had become...until now.
They were travelling through the same roads has every day, this time a little bit quicker, because they were late. Melanie was looking at the grey landscape painted by tall, cold buildings when she started shouting:
"Mommy, look! Green!" Her mother looked quickly, she wasn’t expecting that her little girl was right, when she realized that there was something green erupting from the gaps of concrete at the sidewalk, she stopped the car ignoring all of the others that were left behind her.
They both ran to the sidewalk and fell over their knees admiring the little sapling that was able to grow and reach the surface.
Her mother was crying, everyone was gathering around, they were all smiling and crying, that was the proof that they had a second chance to do better, it was what they needed.
"Is this a baby tree, mommy?" Melanie asked. Her mother smiled tenderly, kissed her forehead and said: "Yes, sweetie, it’s a baby tree."
And from that day on, the city wasn’t just concrete, tall buildings... it had trees. Melanie wasn’t scared anymore, she loved them.
AT WHAT COST? BY TOMÁS MUCHAGATA
Hello, my name is Juan Garcia, I live in Chapingo (Mexico), it is 1947 and I’m one of the Mexican farmers involved in the Green Revolution project.
As for this project, Norman Borlaug and his researchers want to fight against starvation all around the world, during and after WW II. Mexico has been chosen to be the crib of the Green Revolution, and that’s where I come in, they want to develop and offer Mexican farmers new equipment and skills so that they can transform developing countries into self-sustaining ones. They also want to use science to create new “mutations” of foods like rice and wheat, and to use technology to make the productions of these foods easier, more efficient and reliable.
At first, my partners and I didn’t trust the researchers and in what they told us because they wanted to change how we had been working for many years and changing was a little scary in the beginning, but we decided to collaborate and gradually they gained our confidence.
After some months of hard work, it actually worked out, we were finally able to produce food to feed everyone thanks to the project. The research that Norman Borlaug and his team have conducted was very helpful to many poor countries that were dealing with starvation.
Everyone has been happy with the results, but about two weeks ago, the water in our city started to taste “different”. One day the researchers explained that the chemicals used to keep the plants healthy for the mass production were actually polluting our drinkable water. We didn´t know what was happening in the laboratories, we were only doing what we were told. I and my city were very concerned about our health, but we realized that there wasn’t another method to keep feeding us.
The Green Revolution was a project that was supposed to help developing countries to get rid of hunger during and after WWII, and it was a big success in Chapingo, we were finally able to turn into a self-sustained city. But at what cost?
THE LONELY FREEDOM BY RICARDO GIL
As entered my shack, I felt empty, well at least more than usual. It has been years since the incident happened. The day where I lost everything. My family, my friends, my pets, my home devices to make my life easier. Now that I think about it, it has been five years exactly since I got trapped in God knows where. I decided to take a bath in the nearest river. I guess even in my loneliness at the very least this God-forsaken land has the most beautiful views I have ever seen. The rivers are clean like a glass or an aquarium through which you can see everything , the forests are gigantic, wild animals roam free, the light resonates with the forest giving life to everything. Maybe the emptiness in my heart is not from my longing for my country, my home or my lost family, but the fact that I never actually accepted the reality of things. I guess living in the wild made me realise a lot of things.
It made me realise what the true essence of nature and the human being is about. While having the need to make a fishing rod from string and canes, having to make bows and traps to hunt, making a shack out of wood I cut the leaves I find on the ground and need to go every day to the river to get drinkable water. I had a feeling that I had forgotten long ago. It made me feel alive. The danger and wonders of living each day being one with nature. Feeling the wind blow through your skin, the leaves falling in your body while you rest for a while, and at the end of the day the heat of the bonfire you made heating and calming your mind and soul for the night, and the thrill of waking up the next day and seeing that even if slightly, the view changed, that is what being happy is. I was just too focused on the past to realise that leaving society, even if forced to, was a blessing. In the cities and in modern society, you can never truly be free, there is always someone controlling you or your actions, controlling your culture, your beliefs, what you eat and what you say, everything is judged and in that concrete jungle we call home there is almost no nature to be seen.
Here in the wild is when I learned that we humans take everything for granted. Our food, our water, our woodfire. We take out and don’t give it back, and by doing so we disrupt the balance of nature.
I felt empty, not because of the past but because I didn’t want to embrace the breath of the wild. And if given a chance to go back, I would refuse because I have become a free being.
GREEN THOUGHTS BY MARGARIDA CABRAL
How can we change the world
If we can't change ourselves first?
People think that it is easy
And we still fight each other
To deal with our differences
And we don't even realize
That our time is getting shorter
Change could be hard in the moment
But it is looking for a better future
We just have to start moving
And ask ourselves, “what are we doing?”
Our Green Planet is turning grey
And we do nothing
It's so selfish, I think,
That our good lives come first
But actually, if she dies, we all die.
And our good lives
Are going to end in the dark.
We started a revolution
Because we are losing things that keep us alive
But it's not so hard to understand
That we don’t need to lose them
To start caring about.
I also agree
to tell our kids to stop fighting
And to teach them what love is
Because the respect for the others is
Also a big part of a healthy biosphere.
If Earth dies, we all die
So help Earth!
We just need to be better humans by respecting the environment and each other.
Start loving, start caring,
Stop violence and all bad things.
Plants, animals and humans are all alike.
They are life.
Green thoughts
How can we change the world?
If we can´t change ourselves first
People think that it is easy
And we still fight each other
To deal with our differences
And we can´t even realize
That our time is getting shorter
Change could be hard in the moment
But it is looking for a better future
We just have to start moving
And ask ourselves “what are we doing?”
Green Planet is turning grey,
And we are doing nothing.
It´s so selfish, I think,
That our good lives are first than Earth’s.
But actually, if she dies, we all die.
And our good lives
Are going to end in the dark.
We started a revolution
Because we are losing things that keep us alive
But it´s not so hard to understand
That we don’t need to lose it
For start caring about.
I also agree
to tell our kids to stop fighting
And teach them what love is
Because the respect between humans is
Also a big part of a healthy biosphere.
If Earth dies, we all die
So help Earth!
We just need to be better humans by respecting the environment and each other.
Start loving, start caring,
Stop with violence and all bad things.
Plants, animals and Humans are all alike.
They are life.
LET'S START A REVOLUTION! BY SOFIA LOPES
I don’t travel much, I’ve visited Spain several times, I’ve been to France twice and I’ve been to Jamaica when I was simply too young to remember; however, I can recognize that, some years ago, if you asked someone outside Europe if he, or she, knew Portugal, the person would probably nod politely while saying with a thick layer of insecurity over his face: “Oh Portugal! Yes… Cristiano Ronaldo…”
Over the years I was able to see, slightly delighted I must admit, my country grow. It is mostly known as a tourist destination due to its wonderful beaches, pleasant weather and unique culture.
As I left my long and happy childhood behind and realized that I was about to enter the most dramatic stage of my life, adolescence, I recognized that Portugal wasn’t as insignificant as before, but even if it still was the little country where Cristiano Ronaldo is from, even if people still thought that we were that little isolated land belonging to Spain, would that give me the right to do nothing while I watch my planet die? I don’t think so.
I’m not asking for you to give up your dreams, careers and obligations just to take care of the planet, the only thing I’m asking, I mean… wishing, is that everyone does their part as a global citizen, a little contribution every day can make a difference, recycle, try to spend less water, whatever it’s more convenient to you.
We are no longer isolated , we are global citizens. Our culture has spread over the years, and if you like to be a global citizen for some matters, why not for everything?
We must start acting as responsible human beings and join hands in the endeavour to help the planet. The future belongs to more people than just our children, if we all work together, we can be in it too, immortalized as the generation that actually did something.
I already recycle, collected rubbish from the beaches, try to use less electricity, what about you? Do you want to have a future? Then forget our differences and work as one. Let’s start a Green Revolution!