This post is from Omar Contreras of Van Nuys High School and part of the Spring Into Action series. 

Growing up you begin to notice many injustices around the world and one of the biggest injustice I witnessed was how human beings were treating our Mother Earth. From all the pollution in our air to all the leaks in the oceans, someone needed to say something. I’d ask myself many times, “What would Mother Earth say if she could speak?”

With “Please Listen” I became Her voice. I wanted to show young kids and adults all over the world what humans have done over the last hundred years to this amazing place. I knew it would be a challenge to write a song about the environment because no one wants to hear “pick up your trash and you’ll be the cool kid.” In all reality, most teenagers don’t care about Earth, but I wanted to open up their hearts and minds so that the next time they want to litter or just hurt Mother Earth they’d remember two words: Please Listen!