Every year on April 22, people all around the country celebrate and honor the Earth that we live on. Earth Day started in 1970 as an environmental movement where about 20 million people took to the streets to protest against the rise of environmental issues such as air pollution, polluted rivers, and oil spills. This protest led to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency being formed and more laws regarding environmental issues being enacted. In 1990, Earth Day became a global event, and now it is recognized all over the world. As teenagers, there is not much we can do to help these worldwide environmental issues, but there are a few easy practices we can do in our homes. Now, April is a month where we celebrate the Earth in all different ways, and one of the best ways to celebrate is to clean the Earth everyday.
- Form a community garden and plant trees
In commercial farming and agriculture, a large number of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers are used to produce mass amounts of produce. Even though these practices may be good for producing more than enough food to feed the world, they are detrimental to the health of our planet and ultimately our health. Instead, we can try to grow our food through a garden. In a community garden or even one in your backyard, you can control what goes into growing these plants and the soil. This helps to reduce your carbon footprint and is an easy yet rewarding practice.
2. Reduce waste and recycle
Recycling has been promoted for a number of years and it is for good reason. Recycling is yet another easy practice and it provides many benefits to our environment. Through recycling, we are able to conserve natural resources as there is less need to extract resources such as water, timber, and minerals for new products. As we are able to preserve resources through recycling, this allows for these materials to be reused and in return keeps them away from landfills. This reduces the negative impact of pollution and emissions because these materials are often burned which increases the amount of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. To prove its importance, in 2018, recycling saved over 193 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere.
3. Be water wise
Water is essential to human life and ultimately the sustainability of the environment. Especially in California, we have been warned of a drought all our lives and have been encouraged to save water when applicable. It has even gone as far as having designated days you can water your lawn depending on where you live in order to preserve water. Even though the Earth is 70% water, only three percent of this water is fresh and usable for human consumption and usage. A specific impact excessive water use has on the environment is that it takes up a lot of energy. The water we have and use in our homes is treated, and the process of treating this water for our usage takes up a lot of energy. This means that the more water we use, the more water has to be treated and in return increases the amount of energy used. The more energy we use the more pollution we put into the environment. Aside from energy consumption, the less water we consume, the more that can be put towards the environment and preserving it. Other animals also require water to survive and if we continue to use it all up, it affects them as they are losing either their habitats or their drinking water.
These three practices are something that everyone can apply into their own homes, and even though they might seem pointless, they lead towards better sustainability for our environment and every other creature on Earth.
