NEXT UP! 3 94 Good news for a change Dear Earth, If the news is anything to go by, you are falling apart. Forests are being chopped down; water is drying up where it is needed or overflowing where it isn’t. Animals and their habitats are endangered. Please, pretty please, is there any good news out there? Yours sincerely, Concerned Human Dear Concerned Human, First, I should declare that I am completely biased – I am the Earth and, as such, I do not wish for my climate to be changed and for all animals to end up, well … gone. I understand your concerns, but as I am sure you know, human actions are a little out of my control. I cannot reduce their impacts. I can only react – with typhoons, droughts, floods and the like. However, hope springs eternal. On this fine Earth (me), thankfully, there are those whose efforts are doing good for a change. Now, before we begin, I want you to imagine your lungs. Lots of lovely breathing goes on there; a great deal of converting carbon dioxide into oxygen; an awful lot of keeping you alive. The forests of this planet are my lungs. So it really makes me happy when people do the stand-up thing and don’t hack away at my lungs. What is even better is when people regenerate forests. Let me tell you about one such person: the inestimably dedicated Jadav “Molai” Payeng, now known as India’s Forest Man. Mr Payeng is from Majuli Island, which is the world’s largest river island, in Brahmaputra River, India. The river is fed by monsoon rains and the Angsi Glacier of the Western Himalayas, a glacier that is melting faster as our climate Before reading How do you feel about the condition our environment is in? Freewrite for a few minutes. further reading concerned – áhyggjufullur biased – hlutdrægur concern – áhyggja an impact – áhrif drought – þurrkatímabil hope springs eternal – vonin deyr aldrei an effort – viðleitni to convert – umbreyta to regenerate – endurnýja inestimably – ómetanlega
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