Honorable Mention

“There has been a zero emissions initiative set in place, which should be in effect by 2050. While that is 20 years into the future, I realize for the first time today that we are on the right track, and that we may actually be emission free in my lifetime.”

Groundwork for the Future

Jentry Sims

Age 15
McFadden, Wyoming
Fiction

As I cross the state line into Wyoming, I think about when I left this place. It was 2024, six years ago, and I chose to go to college in another state to see a state besides boring old Wyoming. I had become tired of Wyoming, of the lonely, howling wind, of the barren, never ending landscape, of the surrounding ranches that constantly reminded me that my dream was never to live here and be a rancher like the rest of my family. Ranching just isn’t for me. While I do enjoy the opportunity to be around animals and my family, it’s not a job I ever wanted to do; I felt I was meant for something different. It was always something I felt bad about, like I was disgracing my family by not connecting with their way of life. I had become tired of feeling the guilt of being the lone person to truly want to leave the family ranch, so I decided the best thing I could do is live my own life and not worry about how different it could have been if I stuck around. But as I get further into the state of my youth, I realize that it’s not as bad as I remember it. The ground I once thought of as barren and monotonous, I can now see is one of the most extraordinary places anyone could ever be blessed enough to lay eyes on. I now see how quickly the landscape changes, how it goes from prairie to mountain range in an instant. One moment the sagebrush covers all within sight, then suddenly there’s willows and creeks everywhere you look. Now, the ranches I see all around do not instill in me a sense of guilt as they once did, but of nostalgia as I think back to my childhood growing up on one. I still hate the wind though. It doesn’t matter how homesick I get, I can’t stand the constant blowing of our Wyoming wind; the cold, dry air rushing past, taking away your breath and making hearing the person next to you near impossible. But that’s part of what makes Wyoming what it is, so I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

I decide to take some time to myself and detour through the rest of the state to see more of the great beauty and diversity that is Wyoming. Instead of heading east, as I would to get to my family’s home, I continue along Highway 189. I notice how many of my surroundings have changed. I see pastures, more diverse and resilient than ever, the grass luscious and the soil thriving. I notice the lack of trash that so frequently lined the sides of highways, disrupting the integrity of terrain. I see renewable energy sources such as wind turbines (which were around ever since I can remember) but also some new ones, such as nuclear plants which were just moving in as I was graduating. However, I know that within the state there are the coal power plants that Wyoming is so well known for, still providing revenue and thousands of jobs for our residents, but now improved by carbon capture technology. I remember my parents telling me about the new rules regarding septic systems and recreational activities on lakes and rivers to improve the water quality. I ponder all of these changes and feel even more hopeful for the future of our already great state. We are truly becoming the clean, environmentally safe place everyone wanted us to be when I was in high school.

Soon, I feel the need to stretch my legs. I park in the nearest pull-out and go for a walk. I look at the ground beneath me and feel sudden joy as my inner ranch-kid notices the health of the ground; more specifically the disappearance of invasive species such as cheatgrass, ventenata, and medusa-head grass. The ground that was once strangled by weeds and ruined by frequent fires has now bounced back, no longer under the reign of terror of invasive species. Such plants constantly plagued the ground meant for grazing by out-competing edible plants, fueling wildfires in drought years, and reducing the diversity that is so important to maintaining a stable environment. These grasses created a positive feedback loop for themselves by fueling fires, which they were the first to recover from, reducing the abundance of natural grasses that could survive within the area. Looking down, I think of all the ways to eradicate invasive species. The first is through mechanical methods such as pulling and digging and suffocation. Next is the chemical control method, which uses herbicides. The biological method includes introducing diseases or insect predators that target the specific plant. Lastly, cultural control methods are human oriented and focus on preventing the spread of species by being diligent about cleaning shoes before leaving an infected area or not moving firewood around. Herbicides were always used to kill off invasive species when I was younger, but they aren’t always environmentally friendly. They could contaminate soil and groundwater, but they were also the easiest method for killing weeds. The other three methods can effectively get rid of invasive species safely, but it does take more effort than herbicides. Thankfully, it seems that everyone decided to put in the extra work to protect the soil. I think of how much effort everyone must have put into eliminating these terrible plants and reflect on what a wonderful change this is for the rangeland; how it betters the land for cattle to graze on and can prevent more fires in the dry years. As I walk back to my car, I continue to appreciate what good land management can do for a landscape. Now, driving once again, I eagerly look for further environmental changes Wyoming citizens have made to better their home.

I begin to notice that there is not a single piece of trash on the ground. While being litter-free has always been a goal for every town regardless of state, it never happened around here when I was a kid. I remember the highway cleanup my 4-H club did every year. Every member grabbed a trash bag, some gloves, and a bright orange vest and set to work, walking up and down the highway until it was clean. And let me just say, back then people were absolutely disgusting. We found pages from burned books, single socks, innumerous cigarette butts, beer bottles, chew cans—even a gun—and many more repulsive trash items. While I had no problem with the actual clean-up and was happy to help my community, the community didn’t seem to really care. Sometimes people were downright rude. They wouldn’t slow down when they passed us, and one person even threw out a glass bottle as they went by. And every year, it was either just as bad or worse than we left it the year before. We truly did work hard to clean up our town, but there was next to no reward, or at least there wasn’t when I was around. Evidently, everyone finally decided it was time to care for their surroundings in the time that I’ve been gone. I have a hard time getting my head around how spotless the highway is. There’s no longer items on the ground that shouldn’t be there. There’s no longer plastic sacks or bottles that were so common to see during my youth. Now, after glimpsing the cleanliness of this road, I know that the notion of throwing trash from a car is unfathomable in this day and age. Once again, I see how the year 2030 instilled in an entire state a want to be clean, safe, and to prolong our surroundings.

I pass through Kemmerer, home of the first nuclear plant in Wyoming. I remember being a sophomore in high school when I first learned of the upcoming installation of this plant set for the year I was to graduate, 2024. I then wondered what this meant for our coal industry. How would it affect the employees of coal-fired plants? What would it mean for our economy? What could it do to the stability of the environment? Could it endanger us in any way? After having been reassured that it would not, in fact, explode and kill us all, I was still concerned for the job stability of coal industry workers. One day I had the realization that just because nuclear power was moving in didn’t mean that coal was immediately heading out. Sure, we will one day deplete the resource but that was, and still is, far into our future. The question then was how we as a state were going to reduce the carbon footprint of relying heavily on coal. It turned out that Wyoming alone was responsible for 40 percent of the nation’s coal, which also meant we were responsible for 69.2 percent of the carbon emissions—seven times the national average of CO2 emissions per person. But that was nine years ago when I learned of that, and that is no longer a major concern for our environment. Since then, all power plants have installed carbon dioxide removal systems such as blue hydrogen. Blue hydrogen splits hydrogen and carbon dioxide apart, leaving hydrogen to be released and the carbon to be compressed, transported, and stored in the ground, otherwise known as geological sequestration. Generally this compressed carbon is stored in unmineable coal seams or depleted oil or gas reserves. Another method currently in use is carbon air capture. While this doesn’t prevent our carbon footprint, it does reverse it by sucking air in, compressing the carbon dioxide, then injecting it into the ground. We have greatly improved our technology to make coal a safer industry for our environment, but it by no means implies that we are carbon-free. However, there has been a zero emissions initiative set in place, which should be in effect by 2050. While that is 20 years into the future, I realize for the first time today that we are on the right track, and that we may actually be emission free in my lifetime. One day, with the help of carbon air capture, maybe we can even hope for a negative-emissions initiative. The very thought of this is huge for our environmental health.

After traveling along Highway 189 for a while longer, I was soon in the town my grandparents lived in when I was a kid, Pinedale. I remember visiting there for a couple weeks every summer and sometimes on holidays. I remember spending hours and hours exploring Fremont Lake on my grandparents’ boat. We’d swim, fish, and have picnics on the shore, always careful to clean up after ourselves, a simple task that not everyone was always conscious of. There was almost always trash around, and some boats would even dump their grey and black water in the lake. This makes me think of the many water regulations intact to maintain our water quality today. About nine years ago, Wyoming hit a peak by being among the worst states in the nation for water quality due to poor septic systems, nitrate pollutants, the lack of any sort of wastewater plan, and as I mentioned, the desecration of water sources by the people around them. A plan was formulated, and by the time I left high school it was already taking effect. Officials began requesting that homeowners attach any existing sewer lines and created mandatory septic system inspections any time land was bought or sold. Laws were put in place for those using lakes and rivers recreationally. Now, everyone knows and is careful to not dump wastewater in lakes, and to pick up after themselves. Finally, after the eternal struggle against pollution and toxins in water sources, the year 2030 brought with it the motivation to keep clean. My pride continues to grow as I view my surroundings and think of the old ways, the ways that were detrimental to our environmental health. But not anymore. Already, I am so grateful to be back in my home state as I get to see the improvement of the rangeland, water sources, and man-made carbon emissions. How much better could it possibly get?

Well, a lot better actually. We still have a long way to go in regard to improving our water quality and reducing carbon emissions, but this is a great start. For the first time in, well, ever, we actually have plans for the future. Suddenly, we have a place to start. Our carbon emissions are lower than ever, we are no longer amongst the worst in the nation for water quality, we have totally eliminated all of the invasive species that so long ago overran native grasses and created impeccable environments for unnecessary fires, and our roads and communities are spotless in regards to litter, but we have so far to go still. There can always be work done to further better the state concerning environmentalism, but as I finally turn toward my childhood home in the southeast corner of the state, I feel content in knowing that Wyoming has changed for the better, and that we all can expect nothing but greatness for the future.