It’s Just One Plastic Bag...Right?
Most people in the liberal Bay Area say that they care about the environment and they are against climate change, but very few people actually make an effort to lessen their carbon footprint. It’s clear that despite those feelings people still continue to do things like driving instead of taking public transport. How many people, especially teenagers, can safely say that they work hard to stop climate change and that they make a daily effort to lessen their climate footprint? It’s a problem that plagues everyone: what difference do I make to the bigger world?
“I’m concerned very much about my children and grandchildren’s lives,” said Maria Palmer, middle school teacher at Black Pine Circle School and co-founder of Climate Positive Student Network. “I think the Earth is becoming more and more difficult to inhabit, and while we’re doing things about climate change, it’s not enough.”
Many people tell themselves things to justify why they don’t try harder to help. One reason is that people find it too scary and anxiety inducing to think about it. It is understandable to feel guilty about the climate crisis and not want to even imagine the possibility of what our Earth may become. Climate change can be a very depressing reality that makes many people feel uncomfortable when thinking about it, but acting for the climate can often lessen the burden of anxiety and is very helpful in any case.
Bruce Hamren, a longtime Athenian science teacher, believes that climate change is not easily tackled, but he feels that something should still be done no matter how small and no matter how worrying the situation. Bruce said, “You’re getting on an airplane and you’re getting ready to go and you see a person out of the plane pulling rivets out of the wings and ‘what are you doing!’ ‘I can make money off of these’ ‘Yeah, but you’re tearing the airplane apart’ ‘There’s so many of them it just doesn’t matter.’” To Bruce, the planet is the plane while we are the ones pulling out the rivets.
On the other hand, a lot of people feel that their actions will not make a difference. If most people use plastic bags, what difference
does one more make? To some people, their actions seem like specks of dust compared to the climate crisis.
Athenian sophomore Ray Millet believes that without small steps, nothing will be done and when added together, these small steps can make a big difference. Ray said, “I think people don’t take very many small steps because they feel like it won’t have an impact. But the problem with that is that then no one takes small steps. I try to thrift and I’m a vegetarian and I try to conserve water as much as I can. If we all did just a little bit more of that, if you just buy a little less fast fashion or eat a little less meat, it reduces the amount that is required for industries to produce to keep up with the demand of society.”
While experts don’t all have the same recommendations, there are some generally agreed-on actions that help.
Ray said, “If you think about it, if I live my life in a 10% more eco-friendly way, I try to reduce my meat by 10% or use 10% less water, obviously that’s not going to do much, just meat. But if everyone starts reducing, that’s going to reduce our whole humanity’s impact by 10%, which is actually a huge amount. It would probably save or improve the conditions of a lot of different ecosystems or reduce a lot of pollution, save a lot of resources. So just thinking less about yourself and your own personal needs and more about what the world and the planet and humanity needs, like, it’s not about you.”
Save energy by doing things like turning off your lights after you leave a room; if you are not using them, unplug your electronics; try to use energy-efficient appliances, but keep in mind that sometimes it may be worse to buy something new than to continue using something old.
Drive less. Riding bikes, taking the bus, or even walking reduces greenhouse emissions.
Reduce, Reuse, Re-cycle, and Compost. More millions of tons of plastic go into the ocean every year. If people take a few more seconds to re-cycle, it still makes a difference no matter how small.
Go on more hikes and appreciate nature more. The more people notice and cherish the Earth, the more people will be motivated to do so.
Support environmentally friendly businesses and do not shop at fast fashion places. Stores like Target, Brandy Melville, Tilly’s, Shein, Temu, Forever 21, Old Navy, Gap, and Topshop have substantial negative impacts on the environment.
Eat more local food because shopping locally often means that the food has not traveled as far and therefore has a smaller footprint.
Do not Doordash from places because it causes greenhouse emissions from the extra driving and is even worse if it is from a place that is not environmentally friendly.
Eat drastically less meat. It takes more water to feed animals than to grow plants. Every time someone doesn’t eat meat, they are lessening the meat industry’s demand.
The rule of thumb is to check with yourself: Is this action worth the negative effect it makes?
Ray said, “If you think about it, if I live my life in a 10% more eco-friendly way, I try to reduce my meat by 10% or use 10% less water, obviously that’s not going to do much, just meat. But if everyone starts reducing, that’s going to reduce our whole humanity’s impact by 10%, which is actually a huge amount. It would probably save or improve the conditions of a lot of different ecosystems or reduce a lot of pollution, save a lot of resources. So just thinking less about yourself and your own personal needs and more about what the world and the planet and humanity needs, like, it’s not about you.”
