How Do I Help the Environment?
After learning about global warming and the effect that the human footprint has left on the environment, particularly over the past century, one cannot help but question what he/she can do as an individual to make a change. Luckily, hundreds of resources are available to those who wish to find ways to help in the environmental movement towards a healthier, safer planet. Here are a few:
One of the most popular actions called upon involves reducing carbon emissions, most commonly from driving cars. Are you living in an urban environment? Do you have to drive everyday to and from your school, office, or any place of business? Does there tend to be traffic on your typical daily route? If your answer is yes to some, if not all of these questions, you may want to rethink the way you move about in your environment. Try to avoid using your car so frequently. Switch to bike riding. Not only does it help the environment, but it will also help you get in better shape by adding an extra cardio workout every time you ride. No bike? You can always opt for using what nature gave you: your feet. Walking is not only good for your heath, but it is the simplest way to move about, if you have the spare time. If you really are in a hurry, however, try to use public transportation rather than private. As noted by an article found on Greatest.com, one individual can reduce the annual CO2 emission by almost 5 thousand pounds, simply by opting from private car use to public transportation.
Another imperative action to help the environment involves reducing food waste. Living in such a highly-developed nation like the U.S, we tend to take for granted how much food we have in our refrigerators; so much so, that we tend to throw out the food that we didn’t want, or simply didn’t have time to finish. In the U.S alone, 40% of food that is bought is thrown out a year. That number seems ironic, seeing as almost a billion people are subsequently dying on the other side of the world. The food that we throw out ends up filling landfills, which are converted into a toxic gas called methane, which is highly dangerous for humans, as well as the planet. So basically, try not to throw out your food. If you know you won’t be able to finish all the products you threw into your shopping cart, leave some out until the next time you go shopping. Similarly, when you’re preparing food at home, be mindful of how much you prepare, and leave the rest in the freezer in order to help keep the products fresh and not have to throw anything out.
Lastly, try to avoid throwing out plastic. Plastic bottles have been shown to end up in the oceans. Saddening images of marine animals like sea turtles, who are unaware of what these items are, try to eat them, or crawl into them, and end up physically impaired for the rest of their lives. In order to avoid plastic emission into our waters, try to avoid using plastic at all. Buy a water bottle and refill it everywhere you go. And if you do already have plastic items, don’t throw them out. We are all aware of the three golden rules for the protection of our environment: Reduce, reuse, and recycle. With that in mind, we should all be mindful of what we use, how we can reuse them, and if we can’t, how we can send them to be used elsewhere. Let’s all be grateful for what the Earth has provided for us, and lets give thanks by helping our planet in return.
By: Amy LaGuardia
Additional Source: http://greatist.com/happiness/ways-help-environment
