Oops! You forgot to turn off the coffee-maker, again. Now, you are running late because of your forty-five minute shower. On your way to the subway your eating a granola bar...Oh, wait, now your finished. No garbage can in sight. Oh, what the heck, you drop the wrapper and continue on your way. You may feel there was only a couple of hours of energy waste, a few extra gallons of water have literally gone down drain, and hey, "It was just one wrapper." No harm done. But what if a million other people were thinking the exact same thing? One wrapper would rapidly become one million. Everything we do effects the world around us. Day after day, we leave our mark.
This morning, for example, brushing my teeth, taking my shower, and making my coffee, were all forms of water consumption.Blowdrying my hair, turning on the hall light, and using any other appliances involved using energy. I changed the newspaper in my bird's and possums' cages. This paper, obviously, cannot be recycled. Then, I printed out about four different homework assignments, which led to further paper consumption. Typing this out now, is yet another example of energy use. Although I take part in roughly the same morning rituals as many other Americans, I try to reduce the amount comsumption as best I can.
My family does their best to be "eco-friendly". My stepfather, for instance, took on the responsibilty of sorting out and bagging all of the recyables in apartment building. We save energy by unplugging all the appliances, unless they are in use. We conserve water by shutting off the water while brushing our teeth, and by taking showers in increments: Turn on the shower, wet body and hair; next, turn off water, shampoo and lather on body wash; then turn on water again; the same for conditioning and so on. These countermeasures might seem small, but we try to do our part and hope others may also be doing similar things.
My feelings toward the environment are not only inspired by concern but also by several religious aspects. I believe that we are interconnected with nature, and we must understand that if we do nothing in order to maintain it, who will? Will our children be able to enjoy the great outdoors, or be greeted by barren fields? Will they be able to see polar ice caps, or will they be taught that they are a thing of the past?
The signs for change are there, but it seems that they are not yet enough of a push to make a dramatic transition. Only collectively can we make an impact. If not now, then when?
4 comments:
hi i just wanted to tell you since i no we all use paper for mostly everything but now they have recycled paper verses regular paper just buying recycled paper helps the environment, it makes a difference :)
It's good that you and your dad both do your part on aiming to help the environment, but I think the reason why the majority of people don't is because they feel it may not make a difference. It can also be percieved as being very time consuming. it would be nice to think that maybe in the future we all can come together to make a change, but that will take some time. At least it is a start with the recycling bins everywhere.
Of course, another good part of being "eco-friendly" is that it ALSO saves $$$ in the long run. And about the time consumption, I'd say that being environmentally friendly is a full time job, and we all already have jobs, so who's going to do it?
I truly agree with you because every day we all get up thinking about our day, I mean work, school, friends and payments, and don’t really take the time to think that every little thing that we do can have a harmful result in the long run, is it that we believe that just because the things that we do are so insignificant, they wont hurt anybody? You have pointed out some of the things that thousands of people do every day. You have also mentioned some of the things that we can do in order to solve this issue, and I totally agree with you, there are certain things that we can do or buy in order to protect our environment, but I think that they will only work when we, as whole, change the way we think.
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