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The school was quiet that evening, its hallways hushed after the fire’s chaos. Emil lingered in the courtyard, the scorched greenhouse wall now half-covered with the mural students had begun. Priya approached, her notebook tucked under her arm, the faint glow of the solar lamp reflecting in her glasses.
She sat beside him on the bench without a word at first, both staring at the wall’s blackened scar. At last, Priya spoke, her voice steady.
“Today reminded me of something bigger,” she said. “When I said the real world burns when we don’t listen—I wasn’t just talking about the lab. Our leaders… they don’t listen either. And whole nations pay the price.”
Emil glanced at her, the ledger resting across his knees. “You mean the wars? Ukraine, Palestine, all of it?”
Priya nodded. “Yes. The fire here was small, but it showed me how quickly fear turns into blame. It’s the same pattern—vengeance, dehumanization, voices ignored. They’re not accidents; they’re the same Four Absences we’ve been tracing in the ledger.”
Emil leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his brow furrowed. “Grandfather says nations rise and fall because of the choices they make. But why do the ones who claim to guard peace—like the UN Security Council—seem so eager to let the world burn? Russia and Ukraine bleed on, Israel and Palestine collapse into ash. And the ones with veto power block even the chance to put out the fire.”
Priya flipped to a clean page in her notebook. “Maybe it’s time we stop thinking the Accord is just for us. What if we tried to write something for them? A solution—not perfect, but something that shows what the world could look like if they listened.”
Emil blinked at her, surprised. “For the Security Council? They’d laugh at us. We’re students.”
She shrugged, a wry smile flickering. “So were we when they said the greenhouse was useless. But we showed them the ledger’s truth. Maybe the UN needs the same mirror.”
Emil stared at the mural, at the vines painted around the scar, wrapping the blackness in new green. Slowly, he opened the ledger. “All right. Let’s frame it the only way we know how—through the Four Absences.”
Then his expression darkened. “But Priya, there’s more. Every bomb, every missile, every armored column—do you know how much CO₂ they release into the air? I read once that a single bomber run can spew as much carbon as thousands of cars in a day. It’s not only blood in the soil—it’s poison in the sky. These wars burn twice: they burn people, and they burn the planet.”
Priya’s eyes widened, then narrowed in thought. “So if the UN shifted to a majority consensus model instead of vetoes—if decisions couldn’t be blocked by the powerful few—they wouldn’t just stop nations from having the firepower to burn each other. They’d also stop them from filling the air with the smoke of war. Imagine it, Emil. No more bombs as bargaining chips. And maybe then the UN could actually meet its sustainability goals.”
Emil nodded slowly. “Because peace isn’t just about treaties—it’s about breathable air. Every fire quenched is carbon spared. If they listened, they’d see that justice and sustainability are the same fight.”
They bent together over the page, Priya’s pen moving swiftly:
- Absence One — Forgetting the Test
Nations cling to power as if it were permanent, misusing vetoes to protect themselves instead of peace.
Solution: Reform veto power with accountability—no single state can block peace without transparent justification, reviewed by smaller neutral nations. - Absence Two — Vengeance
Wars are prolonged by cycles of punishment, where civilians suffer for the actions of governments.
Solution: Establish restorative justice funds, requiring both aggressor and victim to contribute to rebuilding, overseen by impartial mediators. - Absence Three — Dehumanization
Civilians are reduced to “collateral,” their dignity erased in pursuit of victory.
Solution: Create binding clauses: any deliberate attack on civilian infrastructure triggers suspension of privileges in the UN system. - Absence Four — The Unheard Cry
The voices of ordinary people—refugees, mothers, children—are absent from negotiations.
Solution: Form a permanent People’s Forum attached to the UNSC, where delegates from conflict zones must be heard before resolutions are passed.
When they finished, Priya read the words aloud softly. “The real world burns because law serves power, not justice. The Accord has taught us that fire brigades are not enough—we need investigators, gardeners of trust. Without that, shadows return.”
Emil closed the ledger, his hand firm on its cover. “Then let’s send it. Even if they ignore us, the seed will be planted. Maybe somewhere, someone will listen.”
The two sat in silence, watching the scarred wall glow faintly under the lamplight. For the first time, Emil felt that the Accord was no longer just their school’s fragile experiment. It was a mirror they could hold up to the world.
Ledger Entry — The World Burns
Date: May 30
Symptom: Global conflicts—Russia–Ukraine, Israel–Palestine—rage on. Laws are broken, civilians suffer, and leaders with veto power block peace efforts. The world burns not only from weapons, but from silence. And every bomb, missile, and bomber fills the sky with CO₂, turning battlefields into engines of climate collapse.
Disease: The Four Absences
- Absence 1 (Forgetting the Test): Nations treat power as permanent, clinging to vetoes and weapons as if they secure safety, while ignoring their cost to the planet.
- Absence 2 (Vengeance): Retaliation prolongs wars, punishing whole peoples and leaving behind poisoned air and scorched earth.
- Absence 3 (Dehumanization): Civilians reduced to “collateral damage,” their lives counted as expendable—and their environments destroyed as though they were lifeless terrain.
- Absence 4 (The Unheard Cry): The voices of refugees, mothers, and children—and now, the silent cry of the planet itself—are absent from negotiations.
Investigator’s Response:
- Reform veto power with accountability checks by neutral states; shift to majority consensus so no single nation holds the firepower to block peace.
- Replace punishment with restorative justice: joint reconstruction funds overseen by impartial mediators, including environmental recovery.
- Enforce civilian dignity clauses: attacks on civilians or ecosystems trigger suspension of privileges within the UN system.
- Create a permanent People’s Forum attached to the UNSC, giving conflict-zone delegates and citizen voices a binding role in resolutions.
Outcome (Hoped): A shift from fire brigades that only douse flames to investigators who trace roots. Nations bound by truth, accountability, dignity—and sustainability. Wars no longer treated as isolated conflicts, but as global fires that scorch both people and planet.
Note: The Accord is no longer only for us. It is a mirror for the nations. What tended the greenhouse can tend the world—if they dare to see. Peace is the only path that keeps both humanity and the earth alive.
Letter from the Accord to the UN Security Council
To the Members of the United Nations Security Council,
The world burns not only from weapons, but from silence. Wars in Ukraine and Palestine rage on because law serves power instead of justice. Civilians suffer, leaders block peace with vetoes, and every bomb or missile adds not only to bloodshed but to the CO₂ that chokes our shared planet.
We are students, but the Accord has taught us to investigate fires, not only douse them. The same Four Absences that nearly destroyed our greenhouse now threaten the world:
- Forgetting the Test: Power treated as permanent, vetoes misused to shield nations from accountability.
- Vengeance: Wars prolonged by retaliation that punishes whole peoples.
- Dehumanization: Civilians written off as “collateral damage,” their dignity erased, their homes and environments destroyed.
- The Unheard Cry: The voices of refugees, mothers, children—and the planet itself—absent from negotiation tables.
We propose these steps:
- Reform the veto. Move toward majority consensus so no single nation can block peace.
- Replace punishment with restorative justice: joint reconstruction funds for rebuilding lives and restoring ecosystems.
- Enforce civilian dignity clauses: any deliberate attack on civilians or their environment must suspend UN privileges.
- Create a permanent People’s Forum: give those in conflict zones a binding voice before resolutions are passed.
Peace is the only path that preserves both humanity and the earth. What we tended in our greenhouse can tend the nations—if you dare to see the mirror.
Signed,
The Accord Forum
(Students of Greenwood School)