Are We Really Helping The Earth?

I have never in my entire life thought about all of the useless things that I own; until we had to count it. But before we did that we had to compile a list of 100 things that we definitely need to survive. Each item such as pants, socks and shirts counted as its own item. For example on my list, items 10-17 were just shirts. I only kept the necessities such as a toothbrush, toothpaste, clothes, shampoo and deodorant. After all of those were listed I was at about 40 things. I am also really dependent on technology so I wrote down my iPod, laptop, phone and camera. But along with those items I needed all of their accessories which added up the list to over 60 items. That number was incredibly shocking and I could barely imagine how I would keep track of all of those things or why I needed them.

I was even more shocked to find out the results of the items in my room. I had to count everything twice to make sure it was actually true and I estimated it to be about 500 things, just in my room. That didn't include any of my things in my brothers, sisters or my parents room. When I told my mom she was shocked and told me that I can't buy anything for a while. Where did all of those things come from anyway? Stuff in my room has been their since I was little and it included paper, wigs, baseballs, hats, board games and books that I don't read anymore. This has made me think twice about all of the things that I actually need and utilize.

Afterwards we started a "Mapping the Impact" project and it made me feel even more guilty of all the things that I own and take for granted. My group decided to choose a pizza and we had to make a poster of what it takes to create a pizza. It seems simple right, get some flour to make the dough, add some sauce, cheese and toppings and then pop it in the oven until its done. Right? Think again. We discovered that almost every ingredient to make the pizza is from a different country. They ranged from Italy to China to South America. Not to mention all of the gas needed to transport it to the pizza shop and then to your house. Its not just one pizza, its all of the products in the world that we take for granted. Think about it. Pens, baseballs, clothes, hats, shoes etc. We need to change the way we do things and that time is now.

If you want to figure out your ecological footprint and impact on the earth click here to take a quick but important survey. My results showed that if everyone on this earth lived like me, we would need 5.33 earths to fit all of us and our things. That is horrifying. I thought of all of the people who live like me and the people who are worse. There are people on this earth doing everything they can from recycling to using less and I want to be one of them and help the earth. Will you join me?

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.

When we hear the 3 R's, we immediately go straight to recycle and don't think about reducing or reusing. In fact, recycling should be a last resort and we should pay attention to our garbage and try extremely hard to not use as much. After we reduce we should reuse objects and share them with others through collaborative consumption. The recycling unit has opened my eyes to all of the garbage that we as humans produce. I often think that my garbage won't harm anything or anyone because it's just me, but I don't think about it adding up through the years and combining with other peoples trash. I learned about the different numbers of recycling and I had no idea that there were 7 different categories. Some of which are rarely recycled and only at certain recycling centers!

As a part of the Green Team, I have accomplished a few things. To begin with my classmate Alec and I went around to about 25 teachers and surveyed them on recycling. We had them evaluate both the school and themselves. We discovered that all 23 of the teachers stated that they recycle regularly at home and try to at school but they don't do it as much. I think that we are all motivated to improve the recycling program at our school but it takes a leader to stand up and start it and that's hopefully what we are doing. I also did fact research on how recycling can save our school money and talked to the facilities director at our elementary school for ways to get the teachers and students on board.

This will always stay with me because it was really eye opening, especially when I look in the garbage cans and see so many recyclable items. Also, I try to stop people if I see them throw recyclable materials in the garbage. Another thing that stuck out to me was when we counted the number of the recycling bins and trash cans at our school. It's set up so that every 5-10 feet there is either a trash can or recycling bin so the lazy people don't have an option. We found out that there are way more trash cans than there are garbage cans. With all of this in mind, I hope to continue to change the way the school recycles.