Helen Maunga
Three years ago, my daughter Aleena wrote this poem:
Where will I go, the sea is rising
Where will the animals go, the sea is rising
Where is the beach, the sea is everywhere
Where is the playground, beneath the water
What will I do
What can you do
What can be done
Stop burning rubbish
Stop using plastic bags
Stop greenhouse gases
Recycle, reuse, rethink, relocate, rubbish
It didn’t win any prizes but it touched my family’s inner soul. I am not an expert on climate change. I am a victim of climate change. I live on a small island in the Southern part of the Pacific Ocean called the Cook Islands. It is a country merely 3 metres above sea level and experiencing the impact of climate change every second of the day through the drastic changing climate patterns that have brought the havoc of tsunamis, cyclones and rising sea levels.
