New Haven Independent

And to to the gases/
That heat up the earth…

Those might not be the words recited every day in the official U.S. pledge. To one award-winning New Haven high-school student, they capture what the country is doing, if not saying.

Common Ground High School student Jamilka Carasquillo wrote her environmentally inspired version of the pledge, for which she won an award Wednesday afternoon. A ceremony took place at Common Ground to honor winners of a citywide art and writing contest “focused on how young people can help prevent global climate change.”

Seaver Wang of the Hopkins School won an award for this illustration. Click here to view a PowerPoint presentation featuring winning entries.

Seventy-five middle- and high-schoolers entered the contest. Common Ground ninth-graders came up with the idea for the event and organized it themselves. The School for Ethical Education funded the contest; Hull’s Art Supply, Devil’s Gear Bike Shop, and solar-charger manufacturer Solio donated prizes. Pictured here: Contest organizer Maria Torres hands T-shirts to Conte-West Hills teacher Vanessa Clayton and student winner Daija Beasley. Pictured at the top of the story: Organizer Jasmine Reid with 11th grade winner Tyquan Miller.

And if you’re tired of reciting the old Pledge of Allegiance, here’s the full text of Carasquillo’s version:

I pledge allegiance to the factories,
Of the polluted States of America,
And to the gases that heat up the earth,
By which it dies,
One Kyoto Protocol unsigned,
Under heat with sea level rising,
Devastation and storms for all.

We the people of the Polluted States,
In order to be high tech,
Establish littering, insure asthma,
Provide for the common mosquitoes,
Promote more diseases,
And secure extinction,
And no one to blame but ourselves,
Because we only care about our prosperity,
Why do we ordain and contribute to global warming.