Dear Jacob,

It is currently 3:51pm on a gloomy Tuesday afternoon, up here in SJ. As you know, climate change has always been a topic of discussion growing up, but as a teenager climate change was definitely not a topic I invested my time, energy, or research in. I feel like now, a junior in college, about to turn 21, I have not only educated myself more on climate change, but opened my eyes, and made myself more aware of the changes I see in everyday life because of Climate Change. While these environmental changes might not always be easily noticed day to day, I have finally realized and digested the fact that, we have been living the consequences of our world’s actions. An issue I have everyday that plays a huge role in climate change has to do with the trash…. Let me tell you, I have never taken out the trash or been surrounded by this much trash ever before. Now right off the bat, moving from a urban/suburban area to living in Downtown San Jose, right away I noticed an increase of dumpsters. Almost every street here in downtown has at least two huge dumpsters that are always being overflowed or rummaged through like it’s a treasure chest. Also, first moving into my apt, between me and my three other roommates, we would take out the trash at least 2 times a day, which is incredibly sad and disgusting. Since then, as a whole apt, we have reduced our use of plastic and tried to decrease the amount of trash we accumulate in the apt each week. It has been a struggle, but overtime it becomes a habit and it feels so much cleaner at home. All this trash that piles up in landfills creates carbon dioxide and methane that contributes to the greenhouse gasses that are emitted into the atmosphere. Although this is only such a small issue contributing to this huge problem, but ever small change counts right? I hope by 2050 America, has gotten their you know what together and has more regulations, laws, and mandates for our society to follow that has helped slow down climate change. I hope by then, although we have more than my lifetime to make changes to our lives to save our planet, I hope America is looking greener then ever, fossil fuels have been eliminated, electric cars or a more advanced eco friendly cars are used, hundreds of thousands of trees are planted and restored, and well the list could go on an on. But just, remember to continue making small changes to help save our planet, because I hope my small changes have made the future of 2050 just a little bit brighter.