What is a Op-Ed ( Opinion Editorial)?
- An Op-ed is a narrative essay that points out the writers opinion and thoughts about an issue that they chose to write about.
“When thinking about wildfires, chemical spills and even driving a car , we never really think about the consequences of what may happen if we don’t act on our own actions.”
– Emily Behar
Example of Op-ed:
Global Warming!
I think we can all agree that the topic of Climate Change can be very controversial.
My sister lives in a state with a very warm climate that is surrounded by valleys and mountains, Southern California. Many people and animals inhabit the area. In the passing years, the climate changing has affected areas like this and other places around the world. For example, we all know about the forest fires that have been happening for many years in the California area. In the past 3 years there have been over 7,600 forest fires that are caused by the arid temperatures, which are increasing year by year. This makes the plants dry enough to easily catch fire, aiding their spread. These wildfires affect this area and others by destroying people’s homes and causing unbreathable air, which costed the state of California, only in the last decade, an average of $3.7 billion a year trying to fight fires. This does not include the cost of rebuilding, treating casualties and restoring safety to the area.
The most recent example of Climate Change would be a train crash in Ohio, causing a massive spill of toxic chemicals into the surrounding environment. The derailment caused chemicals like Vinyl Chloride, Butyl Acrylate, Ethylene Glycol, and Isobutylene. These chemicals do not belong in our air, water, or soil and can drastically affect an ecosystem negatively. Sadly, that’s exactly what happened! The New Republic states residents in the Ohio area, and a bit further have been experiencing “burning and itchy eyes, sore throat, rashes, and even severe migraines”, which is part of the aftermath of the train derailment. Officials have taken over the clean-up, which had people asking the question “How?”. I did a bit of research and to answer the question “how” officials started to burn the chemicals, creating a toxic plume of air.
When thinking about wildfires, chemical spills, and even driving a car, we never really think about the consequences of what may happen if we don’t act on our own actions.
What are we doing to do to save our beautiful Planet? We as humans of this earth have tried various methods to clean and protect our planet from the dangers of natural and manmade interference. It has taken years to find ways to fix these issues. For example, one thing we can do to help is cut back on the use of gas-powered objects (cars, planes,) and any other form of gas fueled transportation. But this seems to be not enough to stop or even slow down our earth from warming. Some other things we can try are planting a tree, recycle more, try going for a walk instead of using your car, and change your lights (Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.) We need to keep trying and not stop just because we don’t care, or we don’t see anything working. This is our planet, and we need to protect it, of us and for generations ahead of us.
Cite:
Thakker, Prem, and Tori Otten. “Life after the Ohio Train Derailment: Trouble Breathing, Dying Animals, and Saying Goodbye.” The New Republic, 12 May 2023, newrepublic.com/post/170570/life-ohio-train-derailment-trouble-breathing-dying-animals-saying-goodbye.
