Tensions Rising
Where do we go now?
By Megan Angliss April 2020
With the amount of uncertainty sweeping the nation, many were not surprised when protests started to break out around the U.S. On April 15, 2020, thousands of Michigan residents met in front of the capitol in Lansing with one goal in mind: to carry out “Operation Gridlock”.
Thousands of cars blasting music stopped and parked throughout the intersections around the capitol building. At the beginning of the protest, many participants stayed in their cars and kept a safe distance from each other. However, after a few hours people began to leave their cars and congregate on the steps of the capitol. In doing this, they completely ignored the social distancing guidelines. Many protestors were also reported as not having a mask covering their faces.
The protest was organized the Michigan Conservative Coalition. Their goal was to protest Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s extension on the stay at home orders. Many of the protestors saw the extension as a power grab made by the Governor. While some organizations disagreed with the plan, the protest received support from many organizations in Michigan as well as support from Donald Trump’s office.
Since the protest in Michigan, many other states have started planning and executing protests in their own areas. All of this comes from residents’ desires to end the lockdowns in their areas. Many believe that the lockdowns are no longer needed because the numbers of confirmed cases in their areas have been decreasing based on recent studies. However, state governments are saying that in order for them to continue to go down and the state to reopen, residents need to stay away from high traffic areas.
The back and forth between communities and their governments have led to a sharp increase in the amount of tension surrounding the virus. Many Michigan representatives do not agree with Governor Whitmer’s decision and the majority have decided that once the stay at home order ends, they will be issuing a lawsuit to her according to Detroit News.
States are now starting to reopen the local businesses and lift quarantines. However, social distancing guidelines are still being enforced and most major stores have required masks to enter them. They are also not letting children of certain ages enter the stores. These precautions are expected to continue even after all quarantines have been lifted.
While the protest did spark some movement throughout the Michigan state government, the quarantine was still furthered with some leniency on certain things. However, many people around the country are still upset over the precautions being taken and tensions are still increasing today throughout state and federal governments. Representatives and health professionals say that we will never be back to normal and the precautions that are in place today will most likely be around for many years to come.
COVID-19 Pandemic Causing Depression Rates to Rise
How do you handle depression during the Covid-19 Pandemic?
By Chely Ayres. April 28th 2020.
According to the CDC “The outbreak of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) may be stressful for people. Fear and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Coping with stress will make you, the people you care about, and your community stronger.”
The CDC states that stress during an infectious disease outbreak can include worrying about yours and others health, fearing about yours and others health, changes in your sleeping or eating patterns, having trouble sleeping and concentrating, chronic health problems getting worse, mental health conditions getting worse, and an increase in use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs.
There are many ways to cope with stress during this time you can take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories because they will make you stress out even more. This does include social media. You can take care of your body by taking deep breaths, stretch, or meditate. You can try to eat healthy, well balanced meals.
Exercise regularly just because you can’t see your friends doesn’t mean you can’t keep yourself healthy! Make sure to get plenty of sleep. I mean there is not much else to do. Make sure to make time to unwind, try to do some activities you enjoy. Connect with others you might not want to but you should talk to people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling.
If you understand the risk to yourself and the people you care about can help make an outbreak less stressful. If you find accurate information about COVID-19 you should share it with people and it can make them feel less stressful.
Parents if you notice any sleeping or eating habits that change, poor school performance or acting out in teenagers, or not going to school, use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs.
Some ways you can support your child or teenager by talking to them about the COVID-19 outbreak, answer questions and share facts about COVID-19 in a way they will understand, reassure them that they are safe, limit the families exposure to news coverage, try to keep up with a regular routine, be a role model.
There are also many ways to help kids continue to socially develop while they are stuck at home. According to healthlines website you should provide opportunities for interactive play, give them outs, that their families should understand their need to be online, encourage exercise everyday,
You should understand the frustration for them not being able to see their friends. Support remote schooling. For younger children it's more about finding activities for them to do.
A way to help teenagers is to find a way to make a realistic schedule for getting work done in a specific period of time. One principle of this is you can give yourself one session of work and reward yourself by finding something relaxing to do.
You should encourage healthy habits such as exercising regularly and eating healthy. You should validate their disappointments because for them they are missing the moments they were waiting for such as theatre productions, high school/college graduation, prom, and so many other moments.
Help them practice mindfulness. Mindfulness techniques can be very helpful in this kind of situation. You don’t have to wake up at the time you would for school but do try and stick to a routine so you don’t feel the pressure of doing something different every time which is hard for teenagers because it can cause stress so setting up a routine can help very much.
We are all going through the same thing it doesn mean that we have to make it hard on yourself but we can make it easier to deal with to have under control how we are feeling we will never have it fully under control but we can try our best and we can understand why we are feeling the way we do.
The Climate Strike
By: Libby Greenlees
4,500 locations. 150 countries. Millions of people have had a protest to demand action be taken about the climate change going on the planet. The Global Week for Future took place on September 20-27, which is only 3 days before the United Nations Climate Summit. On September 20, the protest was the largest climate protest in history. Over the past year, 3 protests have taken place to get people to improve the actions taking place on environmental issues.
The first took place in March of 2019. This had participants from 125 countries and over 1.6 million people. The second took place in May, this took place with the parliament elections in England, to make the candidates see the gravity of the situation. The last took place in September 20-27, this date was the same date when Silent Spring was published in 1962, Silent Spring is a book which helped start the environmental movement.
Some of the countries that participated in the strike are Afghanistan, Australia, Guatemala, and many more.
In Guatemala, students marched through the streets in one of the most dangerous cities for environmental strikes in the world. The Guatemalan government ended up announcing that in 2 years they will be banning all single-use plastic items.
In Afghanistan, students marched through the streets with protection from troops to bring attention to the thousands of people that die every year from air pollution.
In Australia, 300,000 people attended over 100 rallies in the country. Australian protesters want 100% of the energy used to be renewable energy by the year 2030 because of the big transportation industry in Australia.
Students all over the world have rallied together to make a better impact on the world. Not only have they been missing school and work for their planet, but they have also done this without support from anyone. The younger generation has taken action for their planet and it will get saved because of them.