Voices is the Dorset Echo's weekly youth page - written for young people by young people.

We are changing the earth drastically and if we don’t stop now we will see side effects that shape our future.

Environmental activists are begging companies to stop burning fossil fuels. It’s not just their future at stake, it’s the younger generations who have to try live with the mistakes we’ve made.

Every day we emit greenhouse gasses, 65% being carbon dioxide from industrial processes. Don’t worry photosynthesis will get rid of it all right? Wrong.

Ecosystems like the rainforest are home to 50% of the earth’s plants and animals. It’s also where a vast amount of carbon dioxide is taken in from the plants. 100 acres of the rainforest is cut down per minute.

As we lose the trees not only do we lose biodiversity but we lose the main process of keeping the atmosphere balanced.

The result of not enough trees is of course the rising temperature. This is why the ice sheets are melting. As the ice melts animals find it harder to find food; polar bear cubs are born underweight as adults struggle to hunt.

For those who don’t care about animals you should know that when all the ice melts the sea levels are going to rise, leaving us submerged.

Large scale ecosystems will fail having impacts we can’t even imagine. The signs of global warming are all around. We need to stop withholding and denying climate change and actually do something about it.

The UK is lacking behind when it comes to eco-friendly lifestyles. A supermarket in Thailand uses banana leaves as packaging instead of plastic.

There are so many ways we can adapt to cut out plastic, with things such as bamboo. The ban of single use plastic has to be introduced into the UK for a more sustainable future.

I urge you to do something to help keep this world together before it’s too late.

Amy Tufnail, 14