District 11, Felix Varela High School

Narratives and drawings by the students of Felix Varela High School.  Click an image for larger view.

Joel Correa, age 16

I was visiting my aunt in New York City. It was a cold morning. The sky was fogged and the sun was about to wake from its sleep. I was standing in front of my aunt’s building waiting for my mother to come out. As I stood there I looked around at the surroundings and I spotted these men pouring dark liquid into the sewer. To me they seemed to be construction workers because they had on bright uniforms. I asked my mother what they were doing. She looked at them and seemed to be shocked, so I asked again. My mother told me to just forget it. Now as this memory comes back, knowing what I know today, those men were pouring oil into the sewer. I’m not a scientist but I know oil isn’t meant to be poured into sewers. I know that oil in the sewers will harm whatever the sewer runs through. This action should have been stopped while it was occurring.

Estefania Negrette, age 17 

When I was 12 years old, I heard that the government would begin to drill in Alaska for oil deposits. When I was 16 years old, I watched a documentary about the building of many oil refineries and highways through Alaskan forests and reserves. Now I am 17 years old and have seen these animals that occupy the territory which we have destroyed for our own benefit. These animals are the rightful owners of this territory which we have intruded upon. We are driving these animals to extinction because too many people are motivated by greed. I am passionate for awareness! I have seen the intelligence of these animals and the need that we have for them to keep nourishing our world. The time has come to give these animals back their territory, not only in Alaska or parts of the United States but everywhere else in the world. Time is of the essence, and the time is NOW!

Amanda Ares, age 17

As I drive down Kendall Drive and look to the sides, I can’t help but see all of the new developments going up all along the road. The developments reach almost all the way to Krome Avenue. This makes me feel really sad because thirteen years ago when I moved here my house was practically in the Everglades. Nowadays, there are so many new homes that I feel like the Everglades is dwindling down, and nothing will be left of it. All of the wonderful nature and animals people from all over come to see are disappearing. People who want to live here because it’s near Miami don’t seem to realize that when they move here the animals lose their homes.

Caren Moncayo, age 17

Hurricanes are the worst environmental disaster that affects where I live. When news came that Hurricane Katrina was heading towards south Florida, I, like everyone else took the necessary measurements to prepare inside of my home, but outside no one seemed to care. There were trees that needed to be trimmed, roofs that needed to be fixed, and debris that would be very hazardous during the hurricane. When the hurricane passed everyone saw the aftermath of their apathy. Fences were broken due to those untrimmed tress, roofs were destroyed, and power lines were down everywhere; and there was so much debris it was dangerous to continue with our daily life. As a result of the hurricane my home and neighborhood is no longer the same. The tree lined streets are now only memories of the beauty that once was, but will never be quite the same. My family and neighbors have decided to keep up with the maintenance to prevent this from occurring again. 

Carolyn Desert, age 16

Not too long ago I was cruising around Krome Avenue with a friend of mine, when we ended up in a “NO OUTLET” zone. It was really bare, no people, no stores, nothing but trash. All kinds of trash: dead cats, refrigerators, TVs, furniture, EVERYTHING. The people who did this terrible thing probably thought it would be a good idea since nobody lives here, but still, it is the environment that they are affecting in a really negative way, they are destroying it. It is everybody’s environment and it should be protected. If we do not stop this illegal dumping soon, the trash will spread everywhere, from the front of our schools, to the entrance of our homes, because the trash from around Krome Avenue will be too much for that area. 

David Gonzales, age 17

This morning I drove to school and in front of me was a semi truck. The smoke coming from it was terrible. I had to close my window. This was bad because my AC does not work, so I had to suffer the heat. All these trucks pollute the air. Soon we are going to get sick just from walking outside. Air pollution is a big problem in the world. 

Eman Bazlamit, age 17

In Palestine, where I am from, the Israeli army is going around and destroying the fields of olive trees. I used to hear about it in the news, but I really didn’t know how it is effecting our environment until I saw a field where the trees had been cut down. I started thinking about so many things when I saw this, especially how people work so hard to build their community and then others come and destroy everything. Olive trees play a big part in our community and environment and the destruction of them really touched my feelings.

Monica Guerrero, age 17

Witnessing the broken trees down by the lonely streets; I see my environment become deceased. I feel as if it would only take one more hurricane to give this sweet Miami, its last goodbye. My hands are tied and have become restless upon so much devastation. Days have passed, yet there’s no change. The streets still whip with much pain. We remain with the nasty odor and the disgusting sight of what Katrina left behind. Very few are those who have taken the initiative of cleaning such filth. Yet there is much to be done. By working together to accomplish this mission of environmental purification, I am certain that as a result this event will only be a part of a bad memory.

Rudy Alcoba, age 17

One day I was driving home and I saw cattle such as cows, horses, and donkeys that were all fenced up. They were confined to a certain space. They could only eat from that certain space, and could not roam freely. They weren’t FREE! And I asked myself, “why?” If they were to roam freely on our man-made streets they would all probably end up as road-kill. And what is the cause of this? Urbanization. Animals are not capable of living in this environment, this man-made environment. As the human population is growing (exponentially) we are going to need more land and the more land we take up, the more land we take away from the natural environment. “We”, meaning the human race, are so “superior” we segregate ourselves from the natural environment in order to create our own environment. But it is not a matter of superiority, because an animal has as much of a right to live as a human. So why were those animals I saw that day caged up? 

Maria Carla Chicuen, age 17

There I was walking through the same streets I had visited in childhood years and refusing to believe that twelve months of absence had distorted my idyllic visions in such a drastic way. My Havana absconded, unable to breath, under loads of putrefaction and rotten materials in nylon bags of brownish tones and piling excrement and dead animals. I felt sick. Life seemed a prey of rebellion, a rebellion that manifested in the exponential growth of garbage…everywhere.

Eric Boruck, age 17

It was late August of 1992 when Hurricane Andrew severely impacted South Florida with high onshore winds that caused large waves and elevated sea levels leading to coastal erosion. I was four years old when I lost my house to this strong category four hurricane. During the storm, I was put in a corner for protection against the strong winds which slammed through all areas of my house. Even though I was young, I vividly remember my father using all his strength to hold the door up. I saw the struggle my parents went through during the hurricane, which ended in hope that everyone was ok. Our house was totaled, the sides of the street were filled with debris, trees were knocked down and waste products flew through the air. It was horrendous to experience a life that had to be rebuilt. For six months we lived in a two bedroom apartment. When I went back to my original routine, I was happily blessed that life was back to normal and people were rebuilding and refining our environment.

Estefania Gonzalez, age 17

On a Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m., 150 students showed up for an environmental school clean-up project called, “Hands all over Varela.” When we were cleaning the gardens at the school we found empty cans, candy wrappers, and food trays. It was unbelievable; we filled a lot of trash bags with garbage, weeds and dirt that we replaced with mulch and we planted the different types of plants our teacher brought. We finished this project at about 12:30. It took over four hours. The “Hands all over Varela” was a success. The gardens looked beautiful and we made it a better environment. Hopefully people will take into consideration how hard we all worked. I think the hard work paid off, and hopefully people will actually care ENOUGH to keep our school nice and clean…. 

Flor Diaz, age17

The lake behind my complex connects all of the complexes in my community. There are trees and plants, fish, ducks, turtles, and several thousand people. With man-made beaches and gazebos, the lake is an ideal place for families to go to and enjoy. However the enjoyment of the “natural” environment has several negative effects for everyone, despite the picturesque setting. When one walks around the lake, there are bridges which cars go over. Under these bridges the setting is less than aesthetically pleasing. The lake water is a disturbing, mucky dark green fog complete with fish and ducks swimming around in the mess. People actually fish atop the bridges for the fish, seemingly unaware of the chaos below. Seeing children swimming in the beaches of the lake and knowing that the lake is connected to that same under-bridge water is repulsing. Getting into the beach water deep enough makes a thick, foggy sand soup around a person’s feet. Litter is scattered around certain areas of the lake. Water from the surrounding households is intravenously streamed into the lake. This disgusting cycle is repeated every day and for the well-being of the community’s inhabitants, both human and non-human, it needs to stop.

Marilyn Flores, age 16

During the last week of August, South Florida was ransacked by the strong force winds of Hurricane Katrina. As I resided in my Kendall residence, I awaited Katrina’s end. I awoke the next morning to a horrific view outside my door. Branches lay all over the road, along with bags, bottles, and any other debris. The feelings of disgust dominated me at the precise moment. As people from my community rushed to clean up their homes, garbage was thrown on the sidewalks outside. The garbage lay on the sidewalk for two weeks, where it reeked and obstructed the road and the access to other residences. I felt appalled that the safeties of the inhabitants of my community, including animals were put in jeopardy. No one made the efforts to bag up the remains and dump the waste into a proper location. The carelessness saddened me, as if it was okay to live within so much filth and garbage. Finally after two weeks, the trash was collected. The collection finally left me at peace with the safe surroundings. 

Giselle Lie-Ten-Soeng, age 17 

It was late August when the news of a massive hurricane circulated through the halls of Felix Varela. As shutters were put up and supplies were gathered, preparation reached its all time maximum. Luckily, Hurricane Katrina did not have the destructive effect in Florida as it did in New Orleans. While everyone was in awe about the horrid situations that the people suffered from, I was more concerned with the environmental conditions that resulted from the explosive hurricane; the toxic chemicals that are going to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico, the marine environment, and most importantly the diversity of fish species. No one was more concerned about the fish population and how it will affect the global society more then me. Every time I witness a picture of Hurricane Katrina, I visualize a polluted ocean with few variety of marine life. The future that Hurricane Katrina has created for the world is devastating, but with enough care and structure, the government and the people will be able to rebuild a new global society.

Jairo Pava, age 17

After Hurricane Katrina hit us in Miami there were a lot of materials that needed to be disposed of. After our family had properly disposed of our waste at the local dump, I observed my neighbors illegally dumping theirs at an empty yard. It angered me that those people were so ignorant and disrespectful towards our environment. They had the means to take their garbage to the local dump, but they would not even think of it. I thought, “What the hell is wrong with them?!” Can’t they understand that they are killing our environment? I had completely lost my respect for those fools. I told them how I felt, and after realizing that they would not take their waste to the dump, my family and I did it for them. I felt good adding my little grain of salt to the clean up process, but I was angered that many more people like my neighbors are still in the world.

Jeffrey Tefel, age 17

For one of my experiments I had to go on the C-31 canal and test the waters of the canal at different locations. I started in Coopertown all the way to the entrance of Everglades National Park. One of my observations was the amount of E. coli bacteria found in the water. Another observation was the activity of people fishing in the canal. This scene sickened me since most of these people will end up eating the fish, which may cause them some type of stomach virus. Also, the amount of E. coli in the water made me feel terrible since some of the areas of the canals were full of trash. Basically the enormous amounts of the bacteria were not caused only by nature but also by the trash and probably some type of runoff from up north on the canal, meaning it is preventable! 

Jelisse Silva, age 16

One day while I was sitting in front of my complex waiting for a friend, I saw a cat strolling by at the edge of a fence. All of a sudden the cat came closer towards the grass, away from the sidewalk; it slowly began crossing the street when this huge SUV sped by obviously not thinking of anything but getting to its destination. As it sped by, the kitty also began to cross the street. And there I saw the disturbing image of the SUV crush the poor kitty and drive away. It made me feel horrible inside, as if nobody cared about the life of this animal. The most disgusting part about it all was that the dead cat just laid there on the street for weeks. Nobody bothered to pick it up. Nobody cared. 

Jessica Camara, age 17

When I had the opportunity to swim with manatees, I thought I would experience a wondrous encounter with these spectacular animals; one I would never forget. Instead, what I saw gave me a pang of shame. They were surrounded by trash, soda cans and plastics hidden in the plants. Some of the manatees had sliced tails and fins from boat motors, and every single one, including the calves, had countless scars on their backs. These docile animals are being hit with rakes and their rivers and coasts are slowly being swallowed by garbage. Now, whenever I think about the manatees, I am filled with a sadness and horrible sense of shame. Because of products that we use every day and are too lazy to dispose of properly, we cause these animals pain and suffering. It was a pain that would always be present in me as well, yet it will always cause me to put forth my maximum effort to try and at least improve the situation of these animals, or they along with many others will be gone from their native homes.

Jonathan Montoya, age 17

I remember when I was on my way to visit a friend over at the open field by my house. I looked out to the open field to gain inspiration, but little did I know that this is the place where people throw their problems away, literally. I trailed and the sight became more horrific than I could ever imagine. Two liter coke bottles and huge bags of chips lay there, washing machines lay there in vanity, along with ovens and mattresses. Some people look at this as the land of opportunity, but we have shown our true colors. We can’t get rid of the un-resolved, they just come back to haunt you. Like they say you treat others how you like to be treated. 

Karen Esquives, age 17

After these recent hurricanes - Katrina and Rita, piles of debris were left lying around the city, along the sidewalks, in the streets, in lakes, etc. What the county did to clean up wasn’t what I expected. The following weeks, the cleanup consisted of piling the debris into small clumps and leaving them along the sidewalks and streets. Weeks passed and the clumps were still left in the same place. Seeing this made me feel like we lived in a nasty and dirty environment. The rotting garbage was a horrible sight that came with a grotesque smell. As a result of these actions, a group of friends and I participated in “Adopt a Road”. This program consists of cleaning a street and removing all the garbage. This event might not clean up the whole city, but a start is a start. 

Katherine Reyes, age19

Everything we do affects us in one way or another. Human nature is selfish. We always want what’s best for us. We don’t pay attention to the consequences because most of the world only cares about getting what they want. We don’t realize that the more the civilization grows and develops the more we’re killing our beautiful planet. I hate seeing so much waste in our streets, in our lakes, rivers, our oceans. Our environment has suffered so much it’s a wonder we can still go outside and play. I feel so angry, sad, and disappointed when I see careless people throwing trash in our streets. I also feel powerless because as much as I want to help it’s not enough to save our environment. One day we are not going to be able to see how wonderful our planet is.

Kristina Alexis, age 17

As I was walking home from school a car drove by and dumped a bunch of garbage on the street. When I saw this horrible act I felt angry because that person had no care at all about how badly he was destroying the environment. Seeing this gets me so mad. I picked up the trash and threw it in the garbage can. I did it because I knew it was the right thing to do, but I was mad because I picked it up even though I didn’t have to. I’m not the garbage person. People who throw trash in the street think they’re the only ones that do it and it causes the environment to get even more destroyed.

Ludovico Pereira, age 17

I have never forgotten the worst day in my life. It has affected me psychologically most of all. My parents and I were taking a road trip back to the capital from my dad’s hometown. On this pouring rainy night the road was as dark as silence, my dad could barely see. Suddenly we went over a bump, so we stopped to check. To our surprise we ran over a dog. She died in an undignified way. I don’t remember what we did with the dog but I have never forgotten that moment. Dogs are man’s best friend, my best friend who is free from human greed. To kill this animal made me feel guilty, angered, and sad. I will always regret my action, the fact that I could do nothing to stop this from happening. These kinds of events could stop if the government put up fences on the roads not just to protect dogs, but other victims of road kill such as dears, rabbits, frogs, and much more. 

Maria Hernandez, age 17

In my country Venezuela, people throw garbage in parks and natural environments. The police don’t do anything about it. Here in the United States people care more. In my school we did a project. We cleaned. I think that every country has their own problems about the environment, but the difference is that some countries try to solve the problem.

Melany Magrone, age 17 

During the summer I worked with my father in a very busy warehouse district. There was a printing company near us that uses a lot of chemicals for their work. One day when we were leaving, I saw one of the employees throwing some type of black liquid that looked like oil into a sewer. I asked my dad about the guy and the black liquid. He told me that it was in fact oil and other flammable chemicals that are used for the printing machines that I saw being disposed. I asked him why they didn’t call those special people that will take the chemicals and dispose of them safely. My dad told me that it was way more expensive to actually dispose of them safely than throwing them away like that. What bothered me was the fact that some of the chemicals may go from the sewer water into the ocean and end up polluting the water that is treated for drinking. What if the water treatment isn’t strong enough to actually make the water that goes back to our homes clean? 

Meliz Martin, age 18

During hurricane Katrina, no one in my community prepared, including me. After several hours of mounting rain and rip-roaring winds, I was thankful for my family and my life. When it was over I ventured out to explore how the rest of the community came out of the storm. What I found shocked me. I had never seen so many uprooted trees. Massive trees that I thought would always be there were helplessly lying on the moist ground. Fences where destroyed, grass was ripped from the ground. Debris lay everywhere. I was devastated. An awestruck sensation came over me as I realized the power of Mother Nature. I felt small and defenseless in perspective to the environment. I wanted to scream; my trees, my grass, my community was in shambles and I can not do anything to prevent it from happening again. I knew shutters would protect my house, but how could I save my trees? This catastrophe made me feel responsible to help restore my community. 

Nastassia Alayeto, age 16

My mother lives in the Redlands, just off of Krome Avenue. Her two-acre lot is kept clean and well cared for, tended nearly every day. In fact, most of the lots out there are kept just as well, if not better. Once you drive down Krome or the back roads of small complexes, however, a far different sight greets your stunned eyes. Just the other day, we drove down Krome and observed several blocks of trash tormenting the area. In some places the piles reached the height of a one story house. Branches, trunks, decaying leaves, aluminum cans, plastic bags, Styrofoam cups; man-made and nature’s garbage alike, plagued the area. Litter from Katrina or Rita that had yet to be retrieved or dumped properly? A personal dumping site for the local inhabitants? A combination of the two? Or was it something else entirely? Whatever the reason, it was an appalling sight causing the once talkative members in the car to remain quiet and still as we drove by realizing the need for reverence, as to the dead. We observed the ghastly sight of the trash silently, imagining the decay taking place and the dying grass hidden beneath, and ultimately the removal of visual pleasure and life through the desecration of the natural world we live in.

Natalia Alvarez, age 17

As I walk home from school, I always know the feeling I’m going to get when I get to the back side of my neighborhood. It’s this feeling I get in the middle of my stomach that makes me feel sick, and mad. I always see the same trash, the trash my neighbors throw out; couches, TV’s, and pieces of wood from kitchen cabinets. Why, why do this to their own homes? I believe we are to be blamed for every natural occurrence that is going on. Our neighborhoods are not dumps!!!

Natalia Penamonsievich, age 17

An environmental problem that is freaking me out is the over-population of ducks where I live. These nasty, ugly, stupid ducks just don’t stop having babies. They don’t live in the lake anymore, they have become accustomed to the concrete, living-out-of dumpsters lifestyle. Most of the ducks in my complex have never even seen a lake. My life is affected not just by witnessing the dirty duck sex every freaking morning, but it’s the duck poop all over the sidewalk and grass that’s the problem. You can’t avoid stepping in that green wet duck poop because if you try to play skip scotch, you’ll fall face first in the steaming pile of bacteria that has taken over my whole neighborhood, and most likely die. I have carpeting on my floor. So yeah, my carpet is the motherland of bacteria and I can’t even walk around my own house barefoot or I know I’ll get sick for at least 3 weeks.

Nathalia Lopes, age 17

I live in an environment that has become a disgusting place with trash everywhere. People dump garbage out of car windows and there are oil spills, etc. I had an eye opening experience recently. I was walking home from school and I had to pass by the lake. As I did, I took a glimpse over the railing expecting to see the beauty of the community we share. Instead, I saw nasty, murky oily green water and a rusted shopping cart with barely enough shine left to see. I continued to walk from the site, disgusted by the turtle I saw pop out of this water with trash on his shell. I wanted to jump in and grab the turtle and take it home to clean it. The worst part is that this lake has areas where children swim in this polluted water. I continued to walk and think of how we are slowly destroying ourselves and the environment we live in only because we selfishly act out of laziness and convenience.

Pedro Salgado, age 16

On my way home from school, after passing a crash site with glass, car parts, oil spillage, and mangled metal, I took a quick venture to my house’s construction site. I found a large dark hill. It was not there the day before, so I checked it out. There was a headless goat, two exploded cars, a washer dryer combo, an oven, microwave, and a lot of garbage all piled up together. Horrified at the quantity and smell of the pile, I called a garbage company to pick up the pile of rot, decay, and nauseating stuff. Two months later, after calling twenty three times I finally gave up and began picking up the garbage myself. I still cannot believe anyone would actually do that to the environment and next to someone’s potential home.

Suzette De Lara, age 17

Driving through the streets throughout the Philippines are signs, “A Walkable City is a Clean City”. There are trash piles toppled over between intersections and in front of road blocks and police stations. There are rusty tin roofs supported with compacted cardboard boxes layered over each other to serve as something one-fifth of the population could hide under as they inhale and absorb the rest of the roadway pollution. There are stray dogs and cats, and children as young as five or six, sitting outside their houses without shoes, their feet covered with mud, debris, and throbbing open infected wounds. These people live in a third world underdeveloped country. These people own a car. These people work solely for its gas and the food they need to provide for their families. But these people aren’t really walking. If “a walkable city is a clean city,” why didn’t I see people walking?

Valerie Georgelin, age18

I was born in Venezuela, a beautiful country with a diversity of animals and plants and natural sites to visit. Well, at least that’s what it used to be. Now, with all the riots and gun shooting going around due to its president and his decisions, it’s not the same. There’s more pollution in the air, making animals and people sick. In Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, you can’t even see any birds around anymore!! People are not noticing that all the different types of chemicals and smokes that stay in the air after the riots are affecting not only the president and his people, but ALSO themselves and the country’s natural environment. Little by little, the beautiful country I grew up in is being destroyed. 

Yolcar Chamorro, age 17

I was coming out of the supermarket with my parents when I saw a woman putting her children, a daughter about six years old, and a boy about four years of age into their car. On the other side of the car was an older woman, probably the grandmother. One of the children had finished eating an ice cream cone and gave the wrapper to the mother. There was a garbage can about five feet away from the woman, but instead of throwing the wrapper in the can, she threw the wrapper on the grass. I felt like telling her she does not have good manners and that she is killing the environment by her behavior. In that scene there were three generations of people who are either uneducated about the environment or just don’t care. Apparently, the grandmother never taught her daughter that throwing garbage on the ground is wrong and illegal, and the daughter is teaching her young children the same message about the environment. A parent is a role model and if the role model behaves incorrectly, what can we expect from their children?