Hi, there my dear reader! My name is Dora and I am a time traveler, no I can’t tell you when you’ll die or who will win the next Super Bowl. My job is simple, and that is to travel back in time and teach people how their actions are harming the environment. Today you will learn about the stories of Mei, Mark, Raphael, and Luke. I hope their stories can inspire you to be aware of the global factors that are contributing to climate change. Now, let’s start with the tales of Luke. 

T H E 

D US T 

B O W L

Howdy y’all! I’m Luke and I live in the great ole big panhandle in the state of Texas! I live for the great land of farming and obviously my darling wife and my two sons. I like to plow my land now that my great pal John Deer created this new steel plow which only made my job easier. One strange day this lady approached me and as soon as I saw her clothes I could tell she wasn’t from around these parts. 

“Haven't seen you around here much, I’m Luke, who are you may I ask?

“Hi Luke, I’m Dora! If I’m not mistaken, did I hear you speaking about the steel plow?”

“Yes of course! It’s a great investment if your husband is looking into this, I can sure talk to him for you ma'am.”

“No, thank you. I hold my own, but let me show you the great effects of the old steel plow.”

“What do you mean by effec…” I started but all of a sudden Dora had touched my shoulder and we had seemed to be in a whole new place. “Where are we?” I asked.

“You are in the future, it is the year 1931.”

“You're crazy!”

“Sir, look for yourself,” she said as she held a newspaper in my face. I was clearly in disbelief, but then these large gusts of wind started blowing sand everywhere all over us. We covered our faces and walked into a sturdy house-looking shed.

“Why would you bring me here? Are you trying to kill me?”

“No, of course not, all that sand is because of your steel plow. Look out that window, do you see that young boy about to run into his house?”

“Yea, wait is that me, that boy looks just like me, but I don’t remember  a storm or whatever this is.”

“Well it's known as the Dust Bowl, but you are right that's not you, but it's your grandson which is why he looks so familiar. He was out trying to help your son, his uncle, by taking him some food, but he's on the way back because his uncle's house has blown away, they are unaware of where he is at this moment.”

“Oh no! Please tell me everything you know”

“Don’t worry, your son will be fine, he went to stay at his friend's house because his roof had a leak when the first storm hit. The Dust Bowl was caused by all the people using the steel plows and loosening the land holds causing all the sand and soil to fly into the air when there was a drought. All this caused so much pollution, new infections, and killed thousands of people. This was a result of all the new technologies, I think it is great, but I think we need to find a way to help our planet as well.”

“I completely agree with you, and once we go back I will do my absolute best to limit the changes and new things I use”

“That’s not completely necessary, I just mean be aware of how often you do something, then also when new technologies come into play be sure that they don’t release too much carbon dioxide and other gases because that's equally if not more harmful for our planet.”

“Thank you for sharing all this, take me back right away, I want to start making a difference for the planet, let us take this leave” I responded as Dora. took my shoulder we went back in time  in which I realized how important it was and began making changes immediately! Save our planet with me!

T H E 

P A R I S

A G R E E M E N T

I’m Mark and I am going to tell you about my interaction with Dora that occurred back long ago before the Paris Agreement had been signed. I am just your typical taxi driver in the big state of New York and I go driving all over the state for multiple hours. So one long day when I was in Columbia some women hauled me over and as she got in she said “one long trip down to Madison. I thought I could just make some good money and get some cash on the way back. About 5 minutes into the ride Dora lowered the music and asked, “how long have you been driving this taxi for?” I wondered why the sudden question but I responded with pride “I’m an old man, but I have been driving others for almost 30 years now almost 9 hours a day, but sometimes I just drive around for fun… why do you ask?” Dora began to write something down, she continued to scribble as I drove down the road. 

Finally, she responded, “Do you know how harmful that is to the environment?” 

I thought to myself for a moment, “Yeah so what, I just release a little bit of gas to the environment, so does just about everyone else in the world.” 

Shocked, Dora responds “That right there is my point, you consume almost 210 miles for the trip I am taking which takes about 4 hours, so in a total day you would consume almost 450 miles per day. That's almost 13,500 miles a month, imagine the number of miles for a year.”

“Why should I care”

Gasping Dora replies “Why should you care?!?! If all cars were accounted for it would create almost one-fifth of the world's emissions along with causing so much more damage to the planet such as with climate change or global warming.”

“What's global warming?”

“Global warming is the heating of the Earth. Basically, all these gases we have been releasing, cutting down of trees, and releasing carbon dioxide has led to a major temperature change as the Earth is getting hotter every day.”

“But the temperature is the same every year.”

“It appears to do so, but it truly is changing drastically. Every year the Earth heats up 1-2 degrees. Eventually, over time, this begins to build up and becomes what is known as climate change and all the gases being released into the atmosphere creates global warming which is literally the world heating up.”

“Wow, I never knew that, wait then why did you ask me for such a long ride if you are against it?”

“To do this…” All of a sudden she clicked her pen three times, Click! Click! Click! And somehow my taxi cab had turned into an open-roof convertible car and everything around me looked so much more and somehow Dora was now driving what was my car.

“Welcome to 2015 in New York City” Dora announced.

“Wha... How… Where… You're lying!:”
“You're speechless, I know, but look at that billboard or we can stop at the newspaper or just check your new iPhone in your pocket. I’m actually a time traveler trying to help save the world from the irreversible damage that has already been done.”

“So you took me out of my era?!? But wow this iPhone thing is pretty impressive! But take me back right now!”

“I will, but first let me show you this…” She replied, then we stopped in front of a tall glass building-crowded too in fact.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“This is the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Today, they are going to be announcing the signing of the great Paris Agreement!”

“Yay. Go Paris. WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES PARIS HAVE TO DO WITH ME! Take me back home”

“I just wanted to show you, hold on for just a bit please.”

Unwillingly, I listened as to what other option did I truly have. Then she explained the concept to me. The Paris Agreement was an agreement between multiple countries that all agreed to decrease global warming in an attempt to decrease climate change. 

“Wow! Now I get it. I feel, I feel like I need to help this cause right now…”

“Exactly! This was the major push that everyone needed to make a real difference which created a  sense of urgency in everyone's actions at this point.”

“Wow who knew!”

“I did! And that's all I am going to share with you about the future, but I hope you realize that when it comes to protecting the environment, every contribution matters. Moreover, the Paris Agreement works to help those who don't have the resources to help themselves."

“What do you mean?”

“Many underprivileged people would not have the opportunity to help this cause or be saved. For example, if situations continued they would have struggling situations all over the world for people who could not keep a roof over themselves or get a damaged water pipe that could cause infectious diseases.”

“Wow, you are so right. Thank you for opening my eyes to all of this!”

“My pleasure! Now we can go back to your time and implement these changes so we can save your planets. It was nice to meet you!"

D E F O R E S T A T I O N 

THE AMAZON RAINFOREST