“Don’t forget to recycle your cup!”

“Instead of the disposable cup could you use my reusable one?”

“No plastic bag please, I have my own.”

“Is there a compost bin anywhere?”

These are just a few of the many phrases you will hear me say on a weekly basis. My passion is protecting the planet so I do all that I can, even on a small scale, to be a good environmentalist. Many people in the environmental community would appreciate these minor actions and small tasks that leave a great impact. That is normally where I get the positive reactions. The interesting thing I always find, however, is that many people laugh at me when they hear these phrases. For some reason recycling — having reusable cups, not taking plastic — is seen as a joke. Even some of my close friends speak with a sort of cartoon character voice who has a lisp and say, “My name is Anneke Walsh, and I like to recycle.” The joke is funny initially, but it sometimes confounds me.

Now we all have our fun, and I mean hey, it’s always good to be able to laugh at yourself. But some people laugh at me in a serious way, if this makes sense. People look at my actions as crazy and humorous. To these people, taking steps towards a green future is a joke. An incredibly huge joke, and I guess I missed the punchline. To me, the joke isn’t funny. Our planet is slowly dying and withering away and the last thing people need to do is laugh about it. When I walk into a coffee shop and ask for them to fill my reusable mug rather than a plastic cup, the last thing I should be receiving is the disgruntled face of the barista and a two-minute fight about why they can’t do that. When I say I will use my cloth bag rather than plastic, I get looks from those behind me that are judgmental or even angry. When I cut up the plastic holders for soda cans, people say mockingly, “Aw, are you trying to save the turtles?” And they always have smirks on their faces.

We all have our laughs once in awhile. But when I see people actually getting upset, judgmental, angry, and then using humor as a vessel for that, I am disturbed. This planet is what provides us with life. As young people, we are going to inherit this beautiful amazing planet. It's our home for our friends, for our families and our families to come. Every little thing we can do on a daily basis makes a difference. And it's not a joke to want to save the planet that provides us with life. To do these little everyday things makes the biggest of differences, the differences that matter the most. We must make change, even at the smallest of levels. Do not judge the people who take these small actions. We do not do them so that we can be prideful and act as though we are above others. We do them for the well-being of all, for the well-being of this planet. So the next time you laugh or make a joke at an environmentalist and they don’t laugh along with you, it’s probably because to us, there is no punchline to saving the planet.