An Open Letter to Donald Trump
Dear President Trump,
My name is Dianni Flores and I am a student attending Summit Shasta in Daly City. In my English class, we have been in the process of completing a project about how America should or should not be involved in war. In this project, I have been learning about war by reading several articles and stories about war and the effects that occur in our environment from war. Many issues have been occurring in our environment now a days. For an example, in this article by Sarah DeWeerdt is called “War and the Environment”, it is about the issues that we are dealing with in our society from the war. This can be able to show the effects that are occurring in our environment. It asserts, “Over the course of two months at the end of 1996, for example, Mayi-Mayi rebels killed almost the entire population of hippopotamus on the Rutshuru and Rwindi Rivers.” This indicates that it’s not only affecting humans but it is also affecting our animals as well. War is affecting our environment in various ways and we need to prevent that. This is important because we need to understand the damages that occur in our society and environment.
Our project asked us to consider the essential question, on “Should the US intervene in international conflicts? And if so, at what point is intervention warranted?” During a research from the article “The U.S is now involved in 134 wars or none…” talks about the wars that the United States in currently fighting against. It says, “By that definition, the United States is at war in five places right now: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. (Update: A US-led coalition is now bombing Islamic State targets in Syria.” The fact that we are involved in war right now indicates how there are citizens suffering from the destruction that the war is causing. Through this project, I realized that war causes lifetime damages to our environment and effects the citizens health, so we should stop fighting. I wanted to write to you, specifically, because you are the President of the United States of America and The United States Constitution makes the President the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
My research has made me see that having a war in America can cause lifetime disasters to the environment. First off this is important because the homes that the people live in are destroyed and the citizens are not able to have a stable life. I know this is true because in an article called “Environmental effects of warfare” is about the effects that can occur when there are wars. It states, “The application of weapons, the destruction of structures and oil fields, fires, military transport movements and chemical spraying are all examples of the destroying impact war may have on the environment.” This indicates how it can harm the innocent people. In my reading, I also learned nuclear weapons that can harm the society that the citizens live in. Chemical weapons harm the environment because they can cause destruction to the houses of the citizens and can cause toxin in the air.
Many citizens might argue that being involved in war can benefit from saving people from harmful leaders. In October 13, 2015 Ana Swanson wrote an article called, “Why trying to help poor countries might actually hurt them”. It is about the poor communities and countries who are damaged from the war. In the article it says, “According to Deaton, and the economists who agree with him, much of the $135 billion that the world’s most developed countries spent on official aid in 2014 may not have ended up helping the poor.” This shows the amount of money that was given to the poor. This shows how the rich was able to spare money to the poor to help them out. This indicates how the war can cause a huge affect on people and can cause damages. However, it is important to consider that ultimately, war can damage the environment and the the health of the citizens. While this is a serious problem, reducing the amount of weapons used in war might be an action we can take to solve it.
Thus, I strongly encourage you to consider to make changes and contributing into reducing the amount of weapons to prevent destruction in our society. This solution will help solve the crisis that the citizens have to be involved within their life. I hope to see the changes in the future.
Sincerely,
Dianni Flores
