I grew up with five sisters in an airy house, built into the side of a hill. My favorite things to do were being outside and being at my grandma’s. Often, I would stay over at my grandma’s and we would explore her forest and research every leaf or needle we came across and its practical uses. To reach the twisting, forest trails one had to cross the lawn, open the creaky gate and step onto the narrow bridge before coming onto the start of the trails. I distinctly remember the scent of pine and wet underbrush. Here and there along the trails, there would be an old hammock or an upturned bucket where my grandma sat. Each time I stepped into my grandma’s house I would be greeted with the smell of fresh baking bread, or the indistinct, weird smells of some new tincture or salve cooking on the stove.. My grandma would show me a recipe that she’d “thrown together” or found in one of her many herb or foraging books. Then we would go outside and scout around for the ingredients this new concoction demanded. I loved my grandmother, and flatter myself that I was close to her. She wasn’t a particularly patient or coddling person, but she was bright, sharp as a whip, and an expert in her science. My grandma was deeply fond of people, and cared so much. As my grandmother got older she started to have chronic headaches, she always put it down to allergies, swallowed some of her homemade menthol tablets and carried a tissue in her pocket. She refused to see a specialist and thought it was a waste of money. More and more, when I visited my grandmother she would put me to work on a new project or foraging by myself. She would mutter about being under the weather and hoping the sun would come out. That was a signal to me that I was on my own for the day. I continued to learn from her every time I visited her but I noticed that, especially on cloudy days, my grandmother didn't do so well. One day, on my way home from work I saw flashing, ambulance lights at my aunt and uncle’s. I picked up my cell phone and thought I would call them to see if they were okay. I waited a little while just to give the paramedics time to do their thing, and then I put the call through. They told me that their son’s child had stopped breathing, while the child had been napping, so they’d called an ambulance. My grandma had been at my uncle’s for supper, she’d run out into the yard to meet the ambulance and suddenly collapsed on the lawn. Everyone panicked and my grandma and the child were rushed off to the hospital. When I hung up I couldn’t help but think, ‘Grandma? No. She was so strong. She wouldn’t. Nope. No.’ I convinced myself to not think, and when my sisters got off the bus I told them what had happened, made grilled cheese sandwiches and didn’t cry while I held close their sobbing, shaking bodies. I remember them asking me questions that I couldn’t answer, and I remember shaking my head and inwardly denying everything. When I finally walked into the emergency room where my grandmother was, I collapsed onto the floor screaming. All throughout dinner, all throughout the long drive to the hospital, and all throughout the wait in the waiting room I hadn’t cried, but seeing my strong, unbreakable grandmother limp and dying, in the hospital, of all places, about made me go ballistic. My grandmother died of a brain aneurysm. She’d had undiagnosed brain aneurysms before, causing her to have headaches, but the last one had been fatal. Today, I want to become a nurse, will continue studying biology and fighting for me, and for my grandmother, and for what we loved. I miss my grandmother everyday. When I drive past her empty house and unwalked forest trails, I almost start screaming, sometimes I do. It has gotten easier, but it's still the same, heavy feeling. Some days are tough, but I have to trust that this is right. My grandmother would be so disgusted if I layed down and gave up. She would look at me and say ‘A little hard work would do you good.’ So I will keep fighting, I will keep my head up and her memory close. I will remember her sharp brain, and her sharp tongue. I will not forget how much she loved me, how deeply she cared. When days are tough, I can look at her picture and remember how she laughed and how she loved. It’s almost been a year now, since she died.

I grew up with five sisters in a house on a hill right next to a swamp full of frogs and a forest full of cottontail rabbits and interesting birds. As a child I loved sitting on the log in the middle of the swamp and catching frogs and watching them hop all over. I loved watching the ants run up and down the trees, and I loved waking up early to see the sun rise and hear the birds start up their chaotic orchestra. When I switched from our tiny school in the country, to the school in town I had a culture shock. There were so many people, loud kids, kids wearing weird clothes, and kids that smelled weird. I was really shy and when people would ask what my name was, my face would flame up and I would whisper “O-Olivia”, and they would always say, “What?” I liked my teachers, and eventually I got used to the kids and the weird smells, but I had to be away from home, and I was anxious and I would always get headaches. Worst of all, when I told people I had five sisters their eyes would pop open, and they would repeat, “FIVE?" and then, "That’s a ton of kids.” Even the teachers thought that was unusual, “I mean who goes and has six kids?” Well my parents did. I got labeled as the weird, shy country hick who had five sisters. In high school I still kept to myself, did my work and during free time kept my nose in a book. I was hypnotised by all there was to learn in chemistry and biology. I had some friends, mostly just the kids who were my lab partners in chemistry and biology, and I didn’t mind, but I was easily labeled and easily picked on. I had a Geometry teacher that always made me feel ignorant. I wasn’t great at Geometry, and I had low self-esteem. My Geometry teacher always seemed to call on me when I didn’t have the answer, which always made me feel stupid. My Geometry teacher would flirt with the girls, some of them flirted back, but I didn’t. Those girls would call him nicknames and go to his room for lunch. The teacher would ask me a question, that, as usual, I didn’t know, and then go on and explain the question and continuously refer to my wrong answer. After explaining he would then turn around and chuckle about it with the girls who would bat their eyelashes and make fools of themselves. I think that was when I started doing martial arts. I joined a Shotokan karate club that would meet every Monday and Thursday after school. Throughout the year my geometry teacher continued to leer at me and make little, side remarks about how I was, “always so quiet”. The next year when I was in Algebra II, I learned that my Geometry teacher had been fired for harassing someone else, so I hadn’t been alone. In school I was labeled as poor, because of how I dressed, geeky, because I liked biology instead of instagram, weak, because I was a girl and quiet and therefore an easy target, and plain weird, because I had a huge family. From the experiences I had in school I learned that I couldn’t and wouldn’t let what people labeled me as, give them power to act how they wanted towards me. I would pick my own path and go my own way. When I graduated high school I decided I want to continue studying biology. I wanted to leave high school and glide into the life of academia where I knew would fit in with the people there. I spent a year studying Ecology and Biology and doing a bit of research in the field. Today, I want to go on and become a registered Nurse, maybe later a Nurse practitioner. I believe that with a bit of work I can rise above the labels, stereotypes and remarks people aim at me. I believe that the shame, embarrassment and awkwardness I endured in school strengthened me and taught me to be who I wanted to be, and not who I am labeled to be.

To me, the most fascinating topic within the realm of climate change, is carbon sequestering. Carbon sequestering is the storing of carbon in plants, soil and geological formations. In light of climate change problems, stored carbon, which when not stored, has the spontaneous potential to become carbon dioxide gas, has become a topic of considerable interest to foresters, geoengineers and activists. Levels of carbon dioxide gas are higher than they have ever been in the history of the earth, and levels are on a continuous rise. Humans are driving the rising carbon dioxide levels. Using forests to sequester carbon is a worthwhile strategy, but carbon sequestering alone can not offset all human emissions ofCO2. Forests naturally store lots of carbon and there are several strategies scientists use for regulation and management, such as old growth afforestation. When trees are young and growing rapidly their intake ofCO2is high, but as trees age they take in less carbon dioxide and rather the trees store the carbon. If foresters were to utilize old growth afforestation, cut down old forest and plant new forests, or plant more trees everywhere, including in places where there weren’t originally trees, the new forests would rapidly reduce carbon dioxide levels. The kicker is, with old growth afforestation humans would just be planting new, efficient, carbon sequestering forests. The forests would dropCO2 levels short term, but planting trees everywhere would disturb ecosystems. One scenario could look like this: organisms that once lived in a prairie lost their habitat because of disturbance from the planting of random trees. Planting trees in an area where there weren’t trees originally, would cause droughts where there hadn’t been droughts before. Forests attract rain, and in this scenario the new forest would draw the rain away from areas that need the rain. This would be history repeating itself, doesn’t it sound familiar? Another option for regulation and management is sustainable harvesting. If designed a system to sequester carbon using forests, I would favor sustainable harvesting. With sustainable harvesting, scientists would mimic natural disasters, and natural regeneration. Sustainable harvesting would create a balance for the surrounding environment and organisms living in the ecosystem. Foresters would take trees, but leave enough to not destroy the surrounding habitats. In this way, geoengineers would manage the environment long term. Sustainable harvesting is doable. The USA could offset allCO2emissions from passenger vehicles, 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year through sustainable harvesting.Foresters and geoengineers would have to sustainably manage 0.7 hectares of forest for each person in the USA. There are 305,538,100 hectares of forest and 328,200,000 people in the USA, that would result in 0.9 hectares of forest per person, which is more than necessary. The USA could, through smart sustainable harvesting, offset CO2 livels from driving. In the future, once I have my degree and the necessary tools, I would love to go on to educate people about sustainable harvesting. I am very passionate about sustainable harvesting, and I plan to continue my own research.