About Me

Hi, My name is Kristopher Gounaris, and I am a Year 10 student who is currently at Pimlico state high school. I have a fascination of steam locomotives. The environment and global warming have always meant a lot to me. The town where I live in is always warm. Our winters are like Britain’s summers. Each year, the temperatures get higher and higher, and I have a feeling that global warming has something to do with it. That’s why, whenever I can, I ride my bike to school instead of taking the car. As a kid, I was a big fan of the Thomas the tank engine series (I still am!) when the show was still made with models rather the CGI animation used today. Because the show is set in a post-war Britain atmosphere, all of the episodes that were winter themed had snow! The snow looked so magical to me, and ever since then I’ve always wanted to see the snow. The town where I live has never had snow because it’s far too warm! I fear that if we keep on using fossil fuels as a source of power, the world will get hotter and hotter, and there will be nowhere in the world where it will be cold enough for snow! When I’m older, I don’t want to talk to the next generation and say “Back then, we had this magical stuff called snow! The worlds far too hot now!”. So yes, global warming is very important to me. I can only hope that the current Australian government would see the importance of eco energy and recycling. One goal I want to achieve in my life is to find a way to make steam engines eco-friendly. I love steam locos, but I never really thought about the coal that they burnt. Some steam engines burn a tonne of coal in one run sometimes. In the USA near the grand canyon, some steam engines burn vegetable oil which is clean and healthy for the environment. Vegetable oil is a better substitute for the coal and wood that steam engines usually burn. I would like to eliminate the use of coal in replacement of vegetable oil for most steam locomotives.

My vision of a sustainable world is cleaner power. Eco friendly power sources should be put into place rather than coal burning factories. It is vital that the current government believes in global warming and sees the impact it is having on our world.

There’s not much that I, as one can do to make this dream a reality, but we, as many must combine and create awareness on this big issue of global warming. We all need to be aware and spread the word. If we can’t convince the government to replace the coal burning factoring with eco-friendly ones, then there is little hope for the world.

The Indigenous people who used to live on our land of Australia are much more conservative than our throwaway society. An example would be that they used palm leafs as plates instead of us using ceramic plates. I definitely don't think we should do exactly what they are doing, but instead make products out of materials that will either last a long time, deteriorate easily, or be eco friendly, such as card board plates. I also think it is important for us to recycle recyclable material. New plastic should be used less leniently and instead recycled plastic should be used to build new things.