Hi. My name is JB Parker-Biier. and rm a rising senior at Pittsburgh CAPA High School. 

Some of you may be wondering why rm here. why I, as a 17-year-old, would even care about 

this issue. Why would I take time out of my summer vacation to attend a boring, old court hearing? 

On the contrary, I don't find this to be a boring, old court hearing. 

In fact, I lind it terrifying. 

Since seventh or eighth grade, I have been extremely passionate about the current environmental 

crisis; an essay that I wrote on the harmful effects of the fracking process in middle school sparked this 

passion. I became curious about what else lay festering in the open wound that is our dependence on 

nonrene\vable fuel resources. 

After marinating in this knowledge for about three years. I was called again to address the issue 

of climate change. In this second essay. I wrote about climate change itself: \Vhat causes it, \vhat it 

affects, and what measures could be taken against it. This allowed me to not only do research on what 

climate change was in general, but also to begin to understand how it affects all manners of life- human 

and non. This \Vork is what. as my mom says. "lit a fire in my belly'' and is one of the main reasons why 

rm standing before you today. 

Climate change is the worst threat that humankind has ever faced. It not only affects the 

environment, but the world's economies and societies as well. In just the last hundred years, human 

industry has caused the global temperature to rise by approximately l.4°F, causing drastic changes in 

weather patterns. melting ice caps, and rising sea levels. The primary activity contributing to global 

warming is the burning of nonrenewable resources for fuel, such as fossil fuels and coal, which add C02 

to the atmosphere. 

At one of the listening sessions held by PA Interfaith, Power. and Light. Rabbi Daniel Swartz said. 

" ... this heritage of pollution is nothing compared to problems we are bequeathing to future generations 

through our indiscriminate burning of fossil fuels." ram a part of that generation that is inheriting a 

warming planet. It is becoming clearer and clearer that our planet is suffering. and so are the people on it. 

If you look closely, compelling connections can be made between global disasters such as famine. drought, 

flood, and the effects of a quickly warming planet. 

But it's not just globaL it's local. too. 

Every time I walk down the street and watch a bus drive past in a black cloud of smoke, it feels 

as if my life force drains out of me, slowly. along with the Earth's. I know the smoke belching from the 

cokeworks on the Ohio is otlen in violation of EPA standards for emissions. 

I live here, in Pittsburgh. I breathe the thick air that is. according to the American Lung 

Association. some of the worst in the country. But I don't want my friend Doug, who, along with 50.000 

other kids in the region suffers from asthma, to breathe it, too. 
I want four distinct seasons. I v.·ant to watch the news and not see reports on the melting ice 

caps, rising sea levels, or drought in war-torn sub-saharan Africa. And I want people to have good jobs to 

support their families with dignity, as well. My commitment to end the suffering of the planet extends to 

everyone and everything. Everything on Earth is connected, and everything must act together to keep this 

enormous organism in balance; every action that we take has an impact. 

This is why I would ask you to please, help our region, our country, and our planet. Please. 

enforce these regulations so that we can start healing the world and the people on it. 
John Bay Parker~Biier 

912 Farragut St 

Pittsburgh PA 15206 

Doctordonna4@gmail.com