This Friday, April 22, is the 46th annual Earth Day celebration. Recognized in more than 193 countries, Earth day hopes to promote environmental protection. If you know me, you know that I am a proud tree-hugger. My environmental passion stems from my belief that we are not here to conquer nature and its resources, but instead, we are a simple part of the complex workings of nature.
It's often easy to forget how connected we are to nature in our current society. We often see ourselves as conquerers, abusing nature as if it is ours to alter and destroy. This behavior has a lot of negative implications. We are not alone on this planet, and it is not ours to posses. Animals, both human and non-human, call this planet home. When we make decisions that largely impact our environment, we're not only impacting the future for our species.
This specific Earth Day is a very significant one. President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jingping issued statements that they are going to sign the Paris Climate Agreement on April 22, 2016. The agreement created framework that is going to attempt to prevent the global temperature from warming 2 degrees celsius. This temperature change occurred earlier this year for the first time in recorded history. Evidence suggests that such an increase in temperature could cause catastrophic devastation.
I've compiled a short list of ways in which you can be more environmentally friendly, and work in tandem with the issues being discussed on a national level this Earth Day.
1. Recycle
This is one of the more obvious environmental hacks, try your best to recycle when you can.
2. Pass on Plastic Water Bottles
Plastic does not easily decompose and nearly 90% of plastic water bottles aren't recycled. Also, the chemicals in plastic water bottles are not healthy by any means. Try out a re-usable glass water bottle.
3. Get Creative With Gift Wrapping
Try re-using wrapping paper and gift bags. Alternatively, let your creativity take over and wrap gifts with newspaper, paper bags, etc.
4. Thrift Shop
Not only does second-hand shopping save money, but its another form of recycling!
5. Bring Your Own Shopping Bags
As mentioned earlier, plastic takes virtually forever to decompose. Waste less plastic by bringing your own cloth bags to the supermarket.
6. Try Eating Less Meat
I know this is a scary thought for a lot of people, but try limiting the amount of meat you consume. It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef; the amount of water that went in to the entire process for getting a hamburger on a plate (raising the cow, growing the food it eats, and killing and processes the meat) is equivalent to leaving your shower on for an entire month.
Additionally, animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of Greenhouse gas emissions, more than all transportation combined. Additionally, livestock and feed crops are the leading causes of rainforest deforestation.
I'm not advising to entirely eliminate meat from your diet, I understand that may be impossible for a lot of people. Alternatively, I'm suggesting a limit on the meat you intake, try even eating vegetarian one day a week.
Spend some time outside this Friday and have an awesome Earth Day. As Leonardo noted in his Oscar acceptance speech, "Let us not take this planet for granted."
