Whitlam Institute

What Matters 2019 Tasmania Finalist Entries

2019 What Matters? Finalists

Earth Matters - Sarah Heynes

Earth Matters

Winner Year 5/6 Tasmania

Sarah Heynes

Year 6, New Town Primary School

Such a filthy state I am in, these animals called 'humans' make such a mess. How could they do this to me? I supply them with the bluest of blue waters, the greenest of green grass, gorgeous golden fruits of all kinds. They cut down my trees that give fresh air, pollute the water they drink, destroy the air with fossil fuels, so many problems, and it is as if they don't even notice what I have given them! Or at least they won't until they don't have it.


As if it couldn't get any worse, the sun is burning my poor surface. It's boiling down here! And if you ask me, it's not helping the artic either. The poor polar bears will have nowhere to go! Some animals need salt water, if all my ice burgs melt, sea levels will rise along with decreasing salt in the water and still nobody does anything!


I try and think of ways to show them I need help. But nothing works. Sometimes I try warning them by making rivers and oceans rise, or making the wind strong, I just get so mad sometimes and my ground shakes, the sad thing is when I do this, sometimes my plates shift and make a huge wave. I never try and purposely hurt anybody, but nothing works, it's like they don't care! At this point I'm down right mad!


They have these big factories that make, what they call 'Plastic'. It gets in my oceans and rivers, making my beautiful blue waters a disgusting place to be, the sea is suffocating! I can't even bare to think about the animals. Turtles are getting straws up their nose, birds are eating and getting plastic tied around themselves, sea animals are mistaking plastic for food it is terrible down here!


There's a place where all the plastic that has survived the large, blue ocean, all come to meet, it's a terrible sight to see, water bottles crippled and broken, and balloons ripped into little pieces, plastic bags floating around hitting other plastics, straws that had survived through the somewhat dead ocean. My ocean used to be beautiful and alive! Now do you see why the creation of plastic is terrible? I created a beautiful place to live, and they were determined to destroy me.


It pains me to know that someday, I will be the ugliest, dirtiest, filthiest planet in the solar system. I helped them live. I helped them survive. I tried warning them but they wouldn't listen. But if they don't start making changes, my existence along with their existence, will come to an end, quicker than expected. And if any of these creatures can hear me, please, look after me.