In a special edition of “Viewpoints,” below are four submitted columns from young students currently enrolled in our local schools stating some of their concerns, experiences and thoughts about the community they live in.
Just waiting on parent permission before we click Send. So we practiced identifying elaboration in writing (in case we notice any details an Editor might cut).
We also noted what Required Fields we will need to fill in for @newsobserver and @WCHLChapelboro #EESLearnAndLead pic.twitter.com/cwnDTnPPR3
— Tori Mazur (@tori_mazur) January 31, 2020
A Lack of Bike Lanes
A perspective from Wyatt Grine
My concern for our community is our lack of bike lanes. I want this change in Chapel Hill so that it is a safer place for bikers. Bike lanes are not very hard to put in. They don’t cost a whole lot of money and it does not take a lot of people and machinery. It does not take a huge machine that makes lots of air pollution. All it takes is some workers and possibly a small machine. Some may say that you should just add in more sidewalks. I agree with that but according to Chapel Hill Council Member Stegman, putting in more bike lanes is cheaper and does not take as long. Adding in more bike lanes makes sidewalks less crowded so bikes are not on them and that makes sidewalks more walkable. According to FHWA.gov, it takes $5,000 to $50,000 per mile of bike lanes, not as expensive as adding in a mile of sidewalk, which is $485,760 per mile.
This issue is important to me because I bike a lot with my family to get food near the Whole Foods area. When we bike there we either have to go on the road with the cars or go on the small sidewalk. Being on the road can be dangerous for me and my family. I also have a lot of neighbors that bike frequently and it should be safer for them to bike. We bike a lot in my neighborhood, too. There should be bike lanes so it is safe because people use my neighborhood as a cut through and go very fast in their cars through it. There have been a lot of crashes in Chapel Hill. According to Chapel Hill Open Data, there have been 11,266 recorded bike crashes in Chapel Hill.
The town should add in more bike lanes all over Chapel Hill to make it a safer place for bikers. I also think they should have a yearly fundraiser to raise money to add in more bike lanes and other things for the town. I would like them to start in Rogers Eubanks Road because they have asked for lots of things and they either did not get them or it took a very long time, based on an article I read at thedailytarheel.com. If we add in bike lanes they will be able to bike in safety and not be in danger on the road with the big garbage trucks.
I think they should also add them on Franklin Street and by the University of Chapel Hill because there are a lot of bikers there and they sometimes go on the sidewalk where everyone is walking. That is often very unsafe.”What can you do to help?” You can donate money to the town. In the meantime you can bike on bike trails and other safe places and when the bike lanes are done you can bike all over town to get things and not just on bike paths. This supports the town’s Connected Community goal. Maybe we can complete this goal and make the town one step closer to making the best town we can get.
Treating Our Wildlife Better
A perspective from Alexandra Evans
Wildlife animal habitats in North Carolina should be better treated. All animals need food, water and a place to live to enjoy the joys of life! With trees getting cut down, and trash thrown everywhere it has gotten harder for wild animals to survive in their homes. This is a problem because all animals and wildlife either live in trees, on land, in water or all three. Therefore while we are living our life, we need to respect the homes and lives of wild animals.
National Geographic found that the Amazon is losing the equivalent of “nearly one million soccer fields” of forest cover each year, much of which is cut down to make way for agriculture. Along with that, all the animals that lived in those trees are having to find a new home. According to PowerKnowledge life science, bugs, frogs, snakes, lizards, chipmunks, squirrels, foxes, raccoons, porcupines, birds and bats all live in trees.
Since this is happening NC wildlife found that some endangered species in North Carolina are the cape fear shiner, which is found in slow pools and runs, typically around gravel and boulders and the North Carolina flying squirrel, which flies about trees that aren’t being cut down. Why are these animals endangered you may ask? Humans have invaded the habitat building terrible factories setting out fumes and cutting down grasses. Once I saw a gray fox all alone in my front yard probably because it lost its home.
Another issue affecting this cause is pollution. When oil pours into water it can kill fish in the river or get on ducks. Trash can get caught on all wildlife in water or on land and plastic can choke the animal if they eat it. Sometimes a bird will walk around and its foot will get stuck in a plastic can holder. Anecdotally, my parents have always told me not to get Styrofoam everywhere in the house or outside because I have two cats and if they swallow it then they could choke and die, or if deer eats it they can choke too.
Protecting animal habitats represents the Environmental Stewardship strategic goal and objective. Local government officials should ask local woodsmen to plant a tree for every one that they cut down. If that doesn’t work then there should be a fee for cutting down trees. The money made from the fee could be used for planting trees where there aren’t any. To stop pollution there should be a trash can at every park site.
What are you going to do? Just sitting there is not going to help the wild! Go out and hold a trash clean up in the woods, go plant trees in an open spot where there aren’t any. Simply go into your backyard and make a home for wild animals. If you help, who knows, maybe in the future our world will be thriving with life, but the best part is you know that you were involved in making change happen in our community and on our planet.
Our Impact on Our Environment
A perspective from Kayla Outterson
We have been ignorant to the condition of our environment for years and look what it got us! More flooding due to longer and more frequent rain storms, longer and hotter summers, longer and wetter/snowier winters, shorter spring and autumn seasons, poorer air quality (which can affect the health of Chapel Hill residents), and fewer birds and other wildlife; we lose 150 species of plants and animals a day! (in the whole world)
This is important to me because I am concerned about what will happen if the world keeps going on like it is now. I once watched the movie “April and the Extraordinary World”; In the movie, the scientists disappeared so the characters were stuck in the Steam Age and there was so much smoke and nearly no trees. I am worried that if this continues for a long enough time that that is what our world will end up like.
To reduce our impact on the environment we need to buy local food; go to Farmers Markets, go vegetarian, compost,plant trees, plant a pollinator garden, control indoor pests without poisons, and when making energy choices think saving electricity. and seek renewable energy resources such as solar and wind. Also we should reduce auto use or just buy an electric car; and walk or bike.
The Town Council should simplify permitting and inspections to support more solar energy systems; require new development, which requests rezoning/SUP, to meet AIA-2030 energy performance standards which will greatly reduce the impact of buildings; require new construction and renovations of public buildings to also meet AIA-2030 energy performance standards; accelerate the purchase of electric buses for OC and CH transit systems, and install solar PV systems at the transit charging stations; educate the public about the economics of installing solar energy systems and improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Do a better job of preserving our tree canopy; and lobby the GA to raise gasoline taxes, which will encourage the purchase of more fuel-efficient vehicles, and increase the fine for cutting down trees.
I know it’s a scary thought but we don’t have unlimited resources so we need to conserve them.
A Community is The People
A perspective from Elie Singer
I believe that the community is the people, and so the community wouldn’t quite be able to function without the people. The Town Council are just representatives of the town who listen to what we, the people, have to say. After they listen, they act based on the suggestions of the community. We need to take care of the town, and that means taking care of the people, and yet the people haven’t always been taken care of. Take Rogers-Eubanks, for example. They are an all-black neighborhood, and I’m inferring that the Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood didn’t have any bike paths because it’s a black neighborhood. I read about this in an article from The Daily Tar Heel. A similar thing happened with their sewage line. They were promised one for housing a dump in their backyards, but that sewage line didn’t come without years of pushing the government.
This same kind of thing, excluding someone just because they weren’t like you, or me, or both of us. On a global scale, there has been the Holocaust. My people and others were persecuted during this time. They were killed because of who they were. Malala Yousafzai was shot because she believed girls can have an education, and that idea was different to the Taliban. There have been many wars and other non-violence that still manage to set someone apart. Segregation went on for a long time, as did slavery. People have been put down and persecuted.
People are afraid of change and difference, including a person who isn’t like them. They run, or they fight. And this is never right, because those who have received this response are people, and they deserve to be treated just as that: people. Diverse, unique, people. That is what all we are, and that’s all we’ll ever be.
I’d like for the local government to take more action in all of the diverse neighborhoods like Rogers-Eubanks and continuing to get the people there what they need. The Town Council has gotten these neighborhoods what they need in the past. I believe it could have happened faster, though. It took years for Rogers-Eubanks to get the government to put in the sewage line. It’s frustrating that some people think that others don’t have feelings and hopes to have all of this luxury that we take for granted, like bike paths and sewage lines. I believe everyone should be able to walk outside someday without having to worry about getting hurt, or killed. And it’s all just because of who they are, or who they want to be.
“Viewpoints” is a place on Chapelboro where local people are encouraged to share their unique perspectives on issues affecting our community. If you’d like to contribute a column on an issue you’re concerned about, interesting happenings around town, reflections on local life — or anything else — send a submission to viewpoints@wchl.com
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