The inauguration of Donald Trump as our president today made some people happy, some people disappointed, and some people infuriated, but regardless of your opinion of the new president, there is one global issue he repeatedly denies that we should all find ridiculous: climate change. It is no falsity that the temperature of our planet is gradually rising, our species are going extinct and our glaciers are melting.The repercussions of climate change, if it continues, are mostly irreversible. So, what is the new president planning to do about it?

Not squat, apparently. His pick for the energy secretary, Rick Perry, once called for the elimination of the Department of Energy altogether. Although it is always possible for Trump and Perry to change their stance on environmental issues, it seems unlikely from Trump’s speeches on climate change throughout the campaign and Perry’s previous statements on the the matter. Looking at the state of our earth already, that’s pretty scary. So what does this mean?

It’s now up to us to educate ourselves and our upcoming generations on the importance of protecting the environment and the rapid changes that are already occurring today if we want anything to change. With a president in office that has said that China is to blame for climate change, you can make a fair bet that ensuring the United States keeping track of its own environmental footprint is not going to happen without the help of the public. How can you help? The most important thing to do is to spread the word. The average citizen probably can’t recite any statistics on global warming, that won’t ever be true and that’s okay. This being said, the public is severely uninformed on easy steps they can take to reduce the size of their own ecological footprint, when it really is a simple process.

Almost every town or city in America has a way to recycle the plastics and papers in your garbage; recycling is one of the best ways to ensure that you are doing your part to help out the earth. Recycling is also something you can get the whole family involved in. It can help teach younger kids (below kindergarten) how to sort and categorize, and also gets the entire family to begin thinking about being more eco-friendly in their everyday life. Another simple idea is to start keeping a small bag in your car to place trash in: gum, candy wrappers and anything else that is small and easy to think about throwing out the window. Gum and small, shiny wrappers look like possible food to many birds and other small animals, and it can easily choke them. If any new bills involving the environment come up anywhere from your local government to Congress, you can easily find the phone number of your local, state, and national representatives to express your opinion on how they should vote. Their job is to represent the people; consider it your civic duty to call them and let them know how the public feels. If you have a little extra time on your hands, many aquariums, zoos, and conservation centers are often looking for volunteers or even part time employees. By volunteering somewhere like this, you can help the environment in monumental ways by simply educating others on tours. Most people feel a lot more moved to make changes in their everyday lives when they have a “face” to match to the movement, like a cute, endangered animal.

Spreading information is the best way to combat the attack on protecting the environment that is sure to start coming from our government. For more ways to do your part, visit

https://carbonfund.org/reduce/ or http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/15-easy-ways....