AMANDA SCHEIB
Special to The Leader
Our beautiful home is 4.54 billion years old, and when you look at when humans came into existence, that dates back to about 6 million years ago.
Our Earth is old and mystic. There are secrets we don’t even know exist, and the answers we have found to those questions aren’t fully understood.
This Earth Day, let’s do things that would help our home and continue to keep those healthy habits all year long.
According to Gallup Poll, 42 percent of Americans identify themselves as environmentalists. The poll also found that this was down from 76 percent in the late ‘80s.
The numbers continue to plummet, which is concerning when you think on how climate change and global warming threaten our home and our very existence.
Some people actually do care about the environment, but simply don’t know how to help.
There are definitely high expectations to help the Earth including stopping all plastic use, reducing your carbon footprint or to thinking about who you buy from and if they are a major contributor to climate change itself.
The average citizen is not to blame, though. Yes, there are smaller things that you and your neighbor can do to participate in Earth Day, but just remember that big corporations are a huge percentage of the damage done. Earth Day is to get the information out there that our home does need our help. It isn’t about shaming the public or guilt tripping people into a whole new lifestyle.
Earth Day is about information and building a new appreciation for the blue and green.
Here are some tips from Recycle Nation to follow on Earth day this year, that might just be easy enough to follow all year long: Plant something. Plant a tree, flowers, bushes, even plants. Go outside and spend the day planting things in your garden, your backyard, somewhere in your local community.
No matter what you plant, it not only helps the Earth to look beautiful and healthy, but it helps, even if it is small, the battle against climate change when it comes to reducing CO2 levels, restoring our ozone levels, and reducing erosion (which is bad for all plants and animals).
Planting trees or plants could also help reduce your heating and air conditioning prices.
Planting something takes a small fraction of your day, but it creates a huge impact on the air quality.
If you are looking for a bigger step in maybe reducing your carbon footprint, you could ride your bike for the day instead of driving your car, or walk to the store instead of driving.
Carpooling is even a better option than driving solo in five separate cars, which add five separate toxic amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
This is called going green, and walking or riding a bike isn’t the only way. You can switch out all your old light bulbs for newer LED lights. Unplug any electronics that aren’t being used since they do use electricity by just being plugged in. Those are more common quick and simple ways to help our environment by being environmentally friendly on Earth Day.
If you were looking for a bigger role to play on April 22, you could donate to Earth Day organizations or any green company or research programs looking to change the worrisome predicted outcome of climate change.
You could also just simply take the day and volunteer at your local schools and community centers to get educated or educate someone else about how important it is to keep our planet clean and healthy — not only for the planet itself, but also for all of us living here.
If we want to continue to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat healthy food, we must take care of our planet in ways that reduce our footprint.
But there is a twist in this story.
You as the average citizen of Earth is not the problem you think you are. The real issue that we must address sooner rather than later is big corporations.
To really turn things around, we must focus on corporations that pollute and ruin our only home for the greed of money.
According to The Guardian, “Just 100 companies have been the source of more than 70 [percent] of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988… half of global industrial emissions since 1988 can be traced to just 25 corporate and state-owned entities.”
What these companies are doing is contributing to the issue of climate change and global warming; they care about money, not the environment.
So it is now our job to stay away as much as possible from these companies that contribute so heavily to harming our environment.
Here are some companies that are included in this mess: ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Chevron (which are all gas companies), Anglo American, Consol Energy, Kuwait Petroleum Corp, Peabody Energy, ConocoPhillips, Pemex and many others.
It then becomes our responsibility as inhabitants of Earth to inform, protest and demand change from these people.
We must become aware of the issues plaguing our planet and ultimately us. Being aware of what is happening around us every day is the first step of change, and that is what Earth Day is all about.
Without care, our Earth can turn into a catastrophic place with no food, clean water or clean air, among other scarcity risks.
Our planet is screaming and showing us signs about her situation that we caused.
Earth is the only home we have.This Earth Day, let’s go outside, breathe in the air she gives, soak in the warm sunlight and perhaps think about how she needs us more than just one day a year.