The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France burned down on April 15 and some parts were unable to be saved while others survived. As many people were devastated by this event, people started to raise millions of dollars to rebuild this structure as soon as possible, resulting in a total of $1 billion dollars. After the money was raised, people started discussing another disaster: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a large accumulation of garbage and plastic in the Pacific ocean. People are upset because the amount of money raised to rebuild the cathedral is the same amount of money to clean up the whole garbage patch. So the real question is, what is more beneficial to global citizens: rebuilding Notre Dame, or saving the earth?

The Notre Dame Cathedral was 856 years old and a historical structure that gave Paris a lot of culture. As many people who live in Paris saw this structure every day of their lives, it was very upsetting to hear and see it burned down. Although there were a billion dollars raised,  it is said that the amount of money may not be enough to rebuild it.

As for the Earth, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is becoming a dangerous issue and many things are affected by it. The Garbage Patch is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and is a stretch of 617,000 square miles long of all sorts of trash and plastics from society. The pollution in the ocean is affecting many sea animals which are being killed from our mess. Around 100,000 sea animals are being killed from this garbage each year and this number will continue to grow, while the garbage patch grows. Some of the sea animals that are being dramatically affected are sea turtles, seals and many different types of fish, all sea animals are being affected but some more than others.

Although the Notre Dame Cathedral is an important historical structure for many people, saving the Earth is more important. Cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch only has benefits, and we need to act on it now. If we do not start fixing our mess of the earth now, in an estimated amount of 12 years the damage will be irreversible. Not only will cleaning up this garbage patch help marine life it will clean up the world as a whole.