Environmental Action is Needed: This planet is our home, it gives us shelter, food, and nurtures us; yet we continue to destroy it. It’s time we acted on behalf of the environment.
words and photographs Little Miss Expat
Every day when we wake up, we breathe in clean air, we drink clean water, and yet we don’t think about the fact that one day there may not be clean air or clean water available to us. We take these things for granted and fail to remember that our actions have consequences on the Earth. This Earth sustains our life; it is our home, it gives us shelter, food, and nurtures us; yet we continue to destroy this planet day after day. This is not right.
Oceans are polluted, rainforests are cut down, habitats are destroyed, water and air are no longer clean, and climate change is occurring at a rapid rate. Yet we still do not stop what we are doing. There are 7.5 billion people living on this earth, and if we all recognized this issue and took small steps to combat it, perhaps these problems wouldn’t be as pressing. But we don’t, people still ignore these issues.
The Call for Environmental Action
As a teenager, sometimes it’s hard to fully accept what’s going on. I can understand just like you, that when we see the multitude of environmental issues we face, it seems almost impossible to make a dent in them, or to make any change at all. So we just carry on, we do what everyone else does: we use our plastic water bottles and throw them away, we take the plastic bags from the supermarket, we leave our water running, we overuse electricity, and we fail to remember that we actually have the power to do something.
But what can we do? Environmental Action.
I am only a sixteen-year-old girl, but I want to make a change, and I think we should all be doing this. To all the teenagers out there, if we do not solve these issues now, we will have to live with them for the rest of our lives. These are problems that we will have to grow up with, and we will have to see the world change for the worse in front of our eyes, knowing that we could have done something.
We have the power to make a change right now. If we wait, this power gets taken away from us. You don’t want to look back 10 years from now, thinking about what you could have done. You’ll want to look back 10 years from now, grateful that you did make a change, grateful that you made a difference.
Helping the environment isn’t about having a large influence, or about making a groundbreaking discovery: it is about doing the small things that we can all, and should all be getting involved with. It’s about making small changes in your daily life, which eventually become part of your lifestyle.
So whatever your special gift is, use it to spread awareness to get involved! If you’re an artist, create art from recycled materials; if you’re a writer, spread awareness through your words; if you’re a singer, spread awareness through your lyrics; if you’re a scientist, research sustainable alternatives. We all have our own unique approach to combatting this issue, and if we come together, we will be able to make a change.
Moving forward on Environmental Action
These environmental issues have the potential to destroy life as we know it, and tear people apart. However, they also have the potential to bring people together around a common goal. Use your voice, start speaking up, start spreading the message, and do YOUR part to save our environment.