Be that treehugger you've always wanted to be

My sister and I cleaned up an empty lot near our house in April 2011 and it has been clean ever since.

The earth is like an angsty, rebellious teenager. The earth is in its staying-out-late phase and it might be too late to get our little Earth into shape and into a good college. And we are the parents not noticing until it is too late. Our planet is sensitive and misunderstood and we as humans should not be disregarding its feelings so easily.

This phenomenon known as Earth’s rebellious years is scientifically known as global climate change. Believe in it or not but the earth is changing. Global climate change, formerly known as global warming, has been a controversial topic since the 1970s when scientists first realized there was a change in our beautiful planet. Today global climate change is a political issue being debated nearly everyday. A recent study shows that only half of Republicans in Congress believe in global climate change whereas 88 percent of Democrats in Congress believe in the change. 

Let's look at some statistics: 2013 was the warmest recorded year since 1880 and trends only show that it will only get warmer and the ten warmest years have happened since 2000. This is all due to carbon emissions and greenhouse gases that humans are putting into the air with their daily activities. Although is has been said that most scientists do not believe in global climate change and that there is no science to back up facts, 97 percent of scientists believe that global climate change has been due to human activity. Leaving a carbon footprint is inevitable but even the smallest changes to one's life can help.

Solar panels on a residential home or building can lower the electricity bill by thousands of dollars per year and by using the sun’s light we are using less nonrenewable resources and burning fossil fuels. President Barack Obama is the first president since Jimmy Carter to have solar panels installed on the White House, after Ronald Reagan ordered them to be taken off. President Carter had the solar panels put on during the energy crisis of 1979 when prices of oil and other imports were drastically raised. President Reagan however had other plans, being a Republican, and had them taken off the roof of the White House four years after he was first elected. President Obama has made environmental impacts part of his presidency campaign and had solar panels back on the roof in 2010.

Go Obama!!!!

Another issue is water. Americans love to drink bottled water. But it is just water. Bottled water companies are using regular water and marketing it as spring or natural water and selling it for more than it is worth. We are actually paying for the plastic and petroleum used to make the physical water bottle. This has had an impact on the environment because of all the plastic being made and not being recycled properly when we could simply buy a reusable water bottle or a filter. California has been in a drought for four years and bottled water companies are not helping with the way they operate. 

Recycling is perhaps the easiest way to be environmentally friendly but is not really catching on. Although twice as many Americans are recycling more than they did twenty years ago it only accounts for 58 percent of the population. In Nevada, New York and California it is illegal to not recycle and most major cities will fine citizens for improperly disposing of recyclables. So why are people not responding to this?

      

The answer is that a lot of people have been falsely educated or not educated at all. Studies find that most people that do not recycle do not think their actions are worth anything and is not convenient to their lifestyle. Living on a planet that is trashed and has garbage everywhere is inconvenient to a lot of other people. There are photographs documenting the scary and apocalyptic scenes happening world-wide. It's hard to imagine that we could let something as beautiful as our Earth deteriorate so quickly.

There is a lot of issues I missed on this blog post but just know that I have not forgotten. Our Earth has a lot to work out but baby steps are the first steps. So let's help the Earth get back on the right track. Start with recycling and carpooling. It's really that simple. That will lead to more progress that will decrease the changes happening worldwide. It won't be easy and it won't happen overnight but every little thing a person does or does not do matters.