Letter: answered

obamaletter

“I first became interested in the environment when I was five years old,” said Agles. “I have always wanted to protect and preserve it. I learned about reusing, reducing and recycling when I was four. I have done all three since.”

The 12-year-old island resident recently wrote a letter to President Obama outlining many of the same concerns that he expresses in his guest editorial in this week’s Beacon. Agles just wanted to let the president know that he, and others his age, are interested in the action or inaction of the government in protecting the world that they are growing up in.

“The state of pollution that surrounds us every day gave me the idea to write to him,” explained Agles. “I wanted him to do something about it, and I hope he will. When we drove across country, I saw litter everywhere. Sometimes, we would even pull over and clean some of it up.”

Earlier this month, he got his answer. In a few paragraphs, the White House assured the young man that they are committed to “safeguarding our country’s air, water, and land by reducing pollution and building solutions for today’s pressing environmental challenges.”

Agles has great plans for the future.

“Once I finish school, I want to become an environmentalist, singer, actor, architect and president,” he said.

With enough dedication to stop at the side of the road to clean up others’ trash, the ability to thoroughly research a topic that interests him and share it clearly with others and the initiative to contact the president of the United States with his concerns, Agles is a young man to watch.