The world was once an unlit candle. Now, the earth is burning. The wax has disappeared. I’m shouting but Mother Earth is shouting louder.

Is It Too Late for the Earth?

The world was once an unlit candle
Starting off with a lot of wax and a strong foundation of resources
Perfect and naïve to the journey it would go through

Humans have lit a match to the candle and the world is now on FIRE. LITERALLY.
The once astonishing Amazon rainforest will not survive for future generations
Instead, it will be a shocking memory of something that used to be breathtaking

Did we not think this through?
Did we think the world would turn into fires that spread onto heavenly fresh nature and trees?
The fires now flare with all their glory, burning down trees and bark with their dangerous colorful
bursts of orange flames

What have we done?
The once magnificent, colorful community dwindles into thick gray billows of smoke into the sky
The once green and exotic environment is ruined by the color of darkness
As we try to blow the strong flame out, we can’t
These are the results of our lack of thinking

What have we done?

The wax has disappeared and there is no getting it back
What do we do now?
I’m shouting but Mother Earth is shouting louder

Are we listening now?
How do we protect the candle?
Whatever is left of it?

(For more stories on the climate crisis and the state of the Earth, click here.)


Ariella Metovic is in her first year of high school at the Hewitt School in New York City, where she was born and raised. She enjoys reading and writing fiction as well as non-fiction articles. She plays on Hewitt’s top tennis team.

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ScienceEnvironmentO Earth, what have we done? What do we do now?