COLORADO RIVER: I MATTER BECAUSE...

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My name is the  Colorado River, but you can call me Colorado. I want to talk to you about myself and my banks. It doesn’t mean that I am in the US state of Colorado. I actually stretch from the Southwestern part of the United States to Northern Mexico. 

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I MATTER BECAUSE I serve as a “Lifeline of the Southwest.” I provide fresh water to around 40 million people and more than 5 million farmland acres in a region of approximately 246,000 square miles.  I know I am pretty helpful to the environment of the Southwest of Us and Northern Mexico. 

 

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With all these good things, it also has it’s bad parts. The biggest one is that I  am really in danger. Now you must be thinking, “ But how are you in trouble or being threatened, dear Colorado River ?”. 

 

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If you are wondering about how I am in danger then, let me give you an answer.  One of them is that I am being threatened severely by human overuse. I know it is sad, but it is the truth after all that I do to help the Southwestern environment. 

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It also doesn’t help the fishes that live in my waters either. They are dying, so fishermen are not catching any fish because the water is very stinky and disgusting. So the fish are going to smell bad. This is why people like you should help us so that children in that era can see my beautiful water when they are adults.  

 

 

Also, environmental issues like the season and global warming can affect my freshwater. There are many people who live in the US and Mexico, so that is also a big issue. They are going to get very sick because my water has been polluted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The people who probably live around me so they have water and not dry throats are getting sick, because of the dirty water, because my water is polluted so they can’t drink from my water. 

 

These are terrible causes to my water and your humanity. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, you must be thinking about how you can help my environment. Now I’ll give you my answer. 

 

1. Have you ever been canoeing? It is fun, but if you drop trash, plastic, or even metal can affect my environment, accident, or purpose so I beg of you to be more responsible for your trash because I am a rive that is supposed to provide water in USA and Mexico and I was not made to be your Garbage can.

2. Make a new product out of this trash. Recycle and Reuse garbage like plastic, cans, and bottles. You see, when people throw the trash into the water, around 1 percent goes to Father Pacific Ocean and Mother Atlantic Ocean. The rest of the 99 percent stays in me and my brother and sister lakes and rivers.So you can stop putting plastic, glass, and metal garbage in the trash, make a new product out of those and reuse them to make other things. That could that might help our entire community, and all of it is because you reused garbage.

3. Do not harm my wildlife. I have fishes, deers, raccoons, sheep, and beavers living in me and drinking from me, so if you harm me, you are also harming them. Like in the last other points, throwing trash in me affects the animals that drink and live in me, and many are dying because of it, so please don’t harm me. I beg of you. You are affecting others by doing it, and soon all of the animal’s population will be dead, so please don’t harm me.

4. Don’t spill oil on me. I know this usually happens to my parents (who are oceans) but I want to secure it will not happen to me or my brothers and sisters' lakes and rivers. Like in my last point about harming wildlife, putting oil in me is hurting my wildlife very badly, and it will kill them all. It doesn’t only affect my wildlife it also affects fishermen and farmers who have to eat my fish for food and survival. So don’t throw any oil in me or my siblings or my parents.

5. Stop overusing me. I know Humans need water to drink from and use it to flush their water. When you use the toilet,  you flush toilet paper into me, and then you suck my water to refill. I know you humans need to do that but don’t overuse it, please and thank you.

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Why are we protecting me and my wildlife? What is the point of doing this? We are doing this because the future generations will see me, and I won’t be just a memory and they can see me too.  

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Please save me because I MATTER!!! 

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Thank you.