Sudipa Chowdhury is a junior at Newark Charter Senior High School. She has placed twice in the Delaware Interfaith Power & Light RENEW Essay Contest and now serves as a judge for the competition among its administrators.
In the past two years, beginning as a high school freshman with a strong interest in nature, I have written about the environmental injustices faced by marginalized Delaware populations. I have written about devastating coastal erosions along the East Coast that threaten the beaches I grew up spending summers in. In the past two years, I have attended award ceremonies hosted by Delaware Interfaith Power & Light for the RENEW Essay Contest, and I have heard testimonials regarding these same issues from other students. I have enduring hope that my advocacy and our collective voices in written form will leave tangible marks and encourage powerful bodies to recognize and take action toward the issues we bring light to.
Undoubtedly, that is the impact we made through our participation in RENEW. With recognition from our state representatives, with standing ovations from the Delaware Senate and with our writings posted on walls across Delaware, it was undeniable that our words were enacting change and inspiring others. I myself was inspired by the sight of other students and their writings, as well as by the committed adults organizing this program, to invest in environmental advocacy efforts through joining the Delaware Youth Environmental Summit team and through environmental policy projects of my own.
Despite all my experience writing for the contest, I am still left to question if the impact we made through our earlier works is sufficient for what we ultimately hope to accomplish: forging a better future for our planet as a whole. For this inquiry, I return back to the past two years. In this same time frame, we have experienced continual rises in global temperatures, with 2024 recorded as the hottest year to date; the United Nations estimated that one-eighth of the world’s plant and animal species are faced with extinction; and the frequency of extreme weather events continued to rise, evidenced by the U.S. wildfires, paired with cold fronts. Even looking into the future, the World Health Organization predicts an additional 250,000 deaths per year in upcoming decades from diseases associated with environmental complications, including malnutrition, malaria and heat stress. NASA scientists project a sea level rise of 1 to 6.6 feet by 2100 for the U.S., as well as hurricanes far stronger, droughts and heat waves far more intense, and precipitation patterns far more unpredictable than today’s.
Admittedly, these limited metrics alone provide few positive prospects for our planet’s future, with consistent declines in various aspects of our environment. The possibility of a bleak future, void of greenery and replaced by chaos, may seem more and more probable; however, I continue to retain my optimism for improvement and implore others to visualize a way through our consequential situation by acknowledging the vast majority of people, especially our youth, who are actively ameliorating local and global environmental issues to heal the existing landscape.
In previous writings of mine, I emphasized the profound value of acknowledgment and small-scale efforts. Youth are increasingly becoming more aware of the issues that engulf our world and communities, and are recognizing that environmental initiatives are an imperative first step. But, beyond this, I have seen young people firsthand: how they raise their voices, encourage sustainable practices, speak with representatives to develop eco-friendly initiatives and so much more. These actions, seemingly minor, build up as youth around the world speak out, creating a large-scale impact that I know will aid in our fight to protect the Earth. As the 2025 RENEW Essay Contest opens for submissions, I am hopeful that numerous young students around the state will raise their voices, speak their truths and write their opinions, to be recognized and taken into consideration, as our state, nation and even our global community aim to address the most pressing environmental issues of our time.
Any Delaware high schooler may submit an essay of up to 1,500 words, which must be an original work, to renew@delawareipl.org from Feb. 26 to March 11. The 10 winning essayists will receive a combined $8,000 in scholarships. More details are available at delawareipl.org/dev/renew-2025.
As a final message, I will leave my readers and determined students with a quote from my 2023 essay: “With one step at a time, with each measure we take, and with every solution we come up with, I assure you, we will build up into a force strong enough to break down the walls that barricade us and find a way to protect the land we live on.”
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
