The current state of the environment is a downward spiral. There are countless issues, including global warming, overpopulation, pollution on wet and dry land, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, just to name a few. One question most people ask themselves is: What can I do? The first step in answering that question is understanding the current problems and the facts. Then, start small. How small? Let’s try phones.
Conserve Energy Future had a powerful quote in an articles which explained the 15 major environmental issues, “If humans continue moving forward in such a harmful way towards the future, then there will be no future to consider.”
According to The World Revolution, around half of the forest that covers earth’s surface are destroyed. Going deeper, they added that less than one-fifth of the forests continue to be undisturbed by people. The World Revolution is a website to preserve people’s attentiveness towards the environment and to keep them informed about the current state of our environment and humanity. Not only did they discuss plant life, but also animals. Anywhere from 10 to 20 percent of species will be extinct, driven off by humans, in the next 20 to 50 years.
Both water bottles and plastic bags are damaging and catastrophic products. The simple fix is to use reusable water bottles and bags.
“I would guess that around 75 water bottles are sold every day at the snack shoppe,” senior Katherine Gilster said.
She was shocked when she found out that around 140 water bottles are sold at the snack shoppe every day during snack break, and all three lunches. Over a short period of time, having a reusable water bottle is also more cost effective than buying a non-reusable one everyday.
“We do take packaging into consideration and in the last 5 years we have switched over to compostable packaging as much as possible. Although not everything can be compostable, we encourage students to sort their trash to keep our compost and recycling bins as “clean” as possible,” Coordinator of Child Nutrition, Jackie Brown said.
There are many apps now available in the app store that are free and are present to help our planet. With phones being so prevalent in today’s society it would make sense that there would be some apps available.
The first app is called the GoodGuide. This free app allows you to scan different items around your household, for example, light bulbs. It then informs you on the amount of eco friendliness of that item. This app helps to know which items to swap throughout your household to be more green. Switching to energy-efficient energy sources is a small but effective way to do your part.
“At my house we recycle and we always turn off lights when we’re not in the house,” sophomore Matthew Fasbender said.
PaperKarma is the next impactful app available in the app store. The steps to follow are easy. Take a picture of your unwanted junk mail, coupons, adds, etc., enter your address and press “unsubscribe.” Stopping unwanted junk mail benefits paper waste by eliminating paper usage.
The University of Southern Indiana did an informational page on recycling. There were two facts they found that are crucial to share. The first is that 500,000 trees are cut down in our forests to produce each Sunday’s newspapers. The second fact is that 250,000,ooo trees could be saved from deforestation yearly, if all newspapers were recycled.
JouleBug is another efficient app when it comes to informing the public and getting them active with the environment. It gives you goals or challenges each day to make going green an everyday part of your life. There are how-to videos, helpful links, and tips. When you ride public transportation, recycle, ride your bike, carpool, or shop local you get points and get to compete against your friends.
There are daily tasks for you to work on as well to receive points. Some Include “Brush with Greatness” which is aiming for people to turn off the water when they are brushing their teeth. Another is to “Save a Flush” which is pretty self-explanatory. One more is “Hug a Mug”. This task is to get people to use reusable coffee mugs when getting their morning coffee.
One last app is called Good On You. The concept of this is to shop from ethical stores with good brands. Go into the app, search the brand, or name of product, and see how it rates based on animals rights, labor and environmental practices.
Researching products before purchasing them is a great way to go green. Good On You assists in finding companies that are local and small that use recycled products. Not only does Good On You lead you in the direction of smart shopping, but they also provide discounts for brands that are environmentally conscious.
Beginning small by downloading these apps is a good starting point to help the environment. Although, there are so many more things that can be done and that can make an even greater impact on OUR environment. We just need to go beyond what’s in the palm of our hand.