Meherrin Garcia-Stevens, Freshman
Earth Day is on April 22nd, Earth Day is a day to demonstrate support for the environment. A lot of people want to help improve the environment, but don’t know how. Here are some impactful ways to keep the Earth healthy:
1. Volunteer for local cleanups in your community. Maintaining a clean environment reduces pollution and provides animals with better habitats. It can help preserve the Earth’s natural resources and biosphere. Not only is it beneficial for the environment, but also for humans. It is proven that living in a clean environment enhances neighborhood quality of life. Living in a clean environment makes life less stressful, healthier, and more pleasant. It can also improve the self-image of a neighborhood as a whole.
2. Reducing, reusing, and recycling can be another great way to help the environment. Doing this is very beneficial for the Earth. This helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions that take a large role in global climate change, because less new things are being produced. Reusing things such as plastic bags, jars, containers, cans, and old clothes can allow these items to be used to their fullest extent. This also saves money by reusing things that are already in your house. Recycling cuts down the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators. Also can help prevent pollution by decreasing the need for raw materials. Reducing, reusing, and recycling can be very helpful for the environment and saves energy overall!
3. Conserving water is a simple but impactful thing anyone can do for the environment. Easy ways to conserve water are turning off your sink when you brush your teeth and taking quicker showers. This helps save money as well as energy, because then there’s less energy that is used to heat, pump, and treat the water. This can also protect water resources and preserve the environment.
4. Using less toxic chemicals. Toxic chemicals are bad and tend to go down our waterways. Toxic chemicals can pollute the environment. They kill organisms in lakes, rivers, oceans, etc. If an area becomes contaminated it can destroy plants and animals, which leads to reproductive complications for animals and plants. In all, it makes it challenging for the ecosystem to live. Non-toxic chemicals are a great way to help keep our environment healthy while keeping your home clean.
5. Shopping wisely is also helpful for our environment. When you're out shopping, try not to buy items with a lot of plastic and use reusable grocery bags. Plastic can take hundreds, even thousands, of years to break down! This causes long-lasting environmental damage and affects a lot of organisms in the food chain.
Doing at least one of these things can be a very simple but impactful way to help the Earth we live on.
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