Photo Story: Earth Day

Your pencil snaps halfway through the SAT. Hand up, you stare at the Earth Day poster above the proctor’s head. It says: We Are The Future!

You think of wildfires, scarlet sun, the autumn heatwave that killed five neighbors. Early freeze blunting crops and yucca blooms, your dad saying, “It never used to snow like this here.” Pulsing dread as the radio murmurs degrees, carbon, too-late-fixes. Your hollow anger running with the coyotes at night.

The proctor materializes.

“I’m done,” you say.

“You need to wait for the end,” she whispers. You watch her leave. Your hand is still raised.

Photographer: Josh Davis