Winner 12-18 years

A long time ago Utila was a peaceful place. There were no motorcycles or cars. There was hardly any traffic. Everyone knew everyone and the roads were not paved. The food was cheap, for example, cokes and tajadas were sold for 25 cents. Five Lempiras could have bought a lot more than it can buy today. Now in the present, it has changed a lot. There are motorcycles and cars like crazy. There is a lot of traffic. People will get killed by the cars. There is also a garbage problem. People throw garbage on the road and in the sea which is not healthy for the fish or for us. There is nowhere to put the garbage. The garbage dumps are crowded. Dogs are eating out of the garbage and flies are landing on our food after they come from buzzing around the thrash cans and it is spreading diseases. Another issue that shows how much Utila is changing is the growing drug problem facing teens. It is affecting the teens by the stuff they do when they get high from the drugs like for instance when they get high they’ll do anything like steal or hurt people. When I grow up Utila will be the same if nobody tries to change it to be the best place it can be.

Before, about 50 years or so ago, Utila was a peaceful island where people could sleep with their window unlocked and open. There wasn’t a robbery for a long time. Many people had to get their water from deep wells. The airport wasn’t behind Utila, instead it was where the soccer field is next to the school named U.M.C.C. Then the airport was moved to Bando beach so there would be more space for planes. They had to ship food and supplies from La Ceiba to Utila. Nowadays, we have most of that stuff, we have a bigger airport, we have pumps to get our water, most of our food is already on Utila and we have alarm systems for fires and to warn us if one was in our houses. Another good change in Utila was the yacht which made traveling easier and cheaper which attracted tourist who brought lots of new businesses . Past and present Utila is our "Paradise Island"

Every day on the news I see that people are getting killed. Thousands of soldiers are losing their lives defending their country. On September 11th, 2001 the twin towers were blown up by terrorists that attacked the U.S. Many lives were lost and many people were injured. Since then, hundreds of soldiers have been sent to Iraq because they want to defend their country. They don’t want to lose the war that’s why when they are called they have to go fight against terrorism. The families don’t want them to go because they are afraid of what might happen to their loves ones. Sometimes they don’t come back alive. The American soldiers and Iraqis soldiers are trying to protect the innocent people of Iraq from terrorists. Many innocent people are killed by bombs in buses, cars and buildings everyday. The Iraqi soldiers and the American soldiers are working towards rebuilding Iraq after all the destruction. Recently the Iraqi people elected a new president after the fall of their dictator Saddam Hussein.

About 50 years ago Utila was calm but now in the present everything has gone wrong. People today are crazy on their motorcycles and getting hurt, killed and injured and they don’t learn their lesson. There were no motorbikes or any cars and there was less traffic. You didn’t have to think about robbery, you could leave your doors of your house open. Today you can’t leave your doors open because people steal. Everything is expensive. Back then food, toys and everything else was very cheap, rice was only five cents. Back then there was no electricity and no television, people had to make their own clothes and their own socks. The scenery was a lot different, roads were not paved. They looked a lot wider because nobody had fences. Nowadays Utila is crowded with houses, people, bicycles, motorcycles and cars. Imagine a traffic jam on this tiny island! Utila is also being crowded by garbage. The thrash is overloaded and pretty soon we will run out of places to dump it. Luckily there is a recycling program now on the island to help control the amount of waste thrown in the garbage dump. I am hopeful to a bright future on Utila. After all, the youth of today is the future of Utila. As we grow up Utila will keep changing and we will face many more issues.

The sea is rising due to global warming. Global warming is caused by a hole in the ozone layer. The hole is getting bigger and bigger everyday due to products that they make these days like cars, hairspray, pollution and some cleaning products that we use every day. Sea levels rose up to 13 to 20 feet due to climate change over the last 100 years. The global sea level has risen about 10 to 25 cm. It is likely that much of the rise in sea level has been related to the concurrent rise in global temperature over the last 100 years. The warming and the consequent thermal expansion of the oceans may account for about 2-7 cm of the observed sea level rise. A tiny island country in the Pacific Ocean midway Hawaii and Australia have been defeated in their battle with the rising sea. The sea levels have started to rise, this effects marine turtles. They lose their nesting. Also it increases sand temperatures which can lead to coral bleaching and other damage. It changes the ocean currents, extreme rainfall events, which can increase the potentially lethal transfer of sediment to coral reefs. According to the current rate, the sea level will rise 1 to 2 mm per year.