It’s IN to be Green!
Who could ever imagine that us, human beings could turn into a plague for our own planet? Not only have we created the “dead zones” in our oceans, but we’ve also increased the pollution in our planet in so little time that this problem has turned out to be one of the most dangerous ones.
Some environmental experts identified seven problems that were even worse than we imagined. These problems are: the extinction of mammals, increase of dead zones in the oceans, the decrease of fish population, the destruction of the rain forest, disappearance of the polar sea ice, high levels of carbon dioxide in the air and the explosion of population of humans in the world.
Let’s take a closer look at the problem of extinction of mammals; 1 out of 4 mammals is in danger of extinction. You might ask yourself, so what if some species disappear? But this is a serious problem because the extinction of some mammals from the planet causes an imbalance in the food chain of the world. When the predator dies the prey multiplies. When the quantity of the prey lowers, then the quantity of the predators also lowers. As we can see, all of the species in the environment are interconnected.
In addition to mammal extinction, we, the humans, create something called “dead zones” in the oceans. The waste of nitrogen from the farms, vehicle emissions and sewage cause these dead zones in the oceans, in other words, the waste killed all living creatures in those areas. Imagine an abandoned and deteriorated town from one of those horror movies; that’s how those dead zones appear in the oceans of our planet. There are no animals and there is very little oxygen in the dead zones.
Maybe to some of us it would never come to our minds that fish stock is decreasing, but it is one of the most serious problems. Unfortunately, in some places fishers take out a lot of fish without control to satisfy the demand. If we won’t do anything to resolve this problem, by the year 2048 the majority of the species that we know will disappear.
One of the worst problems in the environment is the loss rain forests. Every year we cut down an area of the rain forest as big as the state of Massachusetts. This adds to global warming by emitting carbon dioxide and methane from the burning of vegetation. The Amazons are a very important deposit of water and carbon. Deforestation interrupts the water cycle, making it flow directly to the rivers instead of being absorbed by land and vegetation. All of this makes the rain forest sensitive to dryness and causes an even bigger loss of trees and also an increase of emissions that add to global warming.
Another problem that is starting to become very dangerous to our planet is the loss of the polar ice from the seas. Global warming is making this problem bigger and bigger. Scientists calculated that if global warming continues to accelerate the way it does, the Arctic can lose all the ice during the summer in five to ten years. The loss of the polar ice in seas rises the temperature of the seas and in the atmosphere, which in turn can change the climate of the planet causing rare problems in the atmosphere.
Huge levels of carbon dioxide in the air surely do not help our planet. Vehicles, fabrics, electronics and huge farms with los of livestock emit gases that add to the huge levels of carbon dioxide in the air. If we continue with these emissions, by the end of the century the temperature will rise to at least 12 degrees Fahrenheit.
Many of us do not even pay attention to the population explosion, but it is a big problem. Every minute that a person is born, it will consume natural resources, contaminate water and air, destroy natural habitats, bring species where they do not belong and destroy ecosystems.
These seven problems described above are very serious, but there is still time to do something about it. All of us have the opportunity to change the situation of our planet and in order to do it we don’t have to go to extreme measures such as stop eating fish or refuse to have kids. The Environmental Protection Agency of United States (EPA) gives us some advice on how we can help protect our environment from our home, work and community.
According to EPA there are many ways to produce less waste. The famous words reduce, reuse, recycle can help us. You can reuse plastic containers and grocery bags. You can try to recycle as much as possible and try to buy things made with recycled materials. Another thing you can do in your home to help the environment is to have compost in which you can throw away waste from your yard and kitchen.
The EPA also advises us to change all the light bulbs in our house for florescent light bulbs. Florescent light bulbs help save energy and help to save in consume of energy up to 75% and in turn it helps to save about $30 or more on electricity costs.
Here are some other simple and effective things we all can do to help to protect our environment: don’t let the water run when you are brushing your teeth, turn off the lights if you do not need them on and use bags made of fabric when you shop. You can do even more to help our environment: plant trees; because they help to absorb carbon dioxide from air. If it is nice out and you don’t need to go far, walk instead of taking your car, not only is it good to help protect the planet, but its also good for your health. Remember to turn of all the electronics if you don’t need to use them. Even though electronics aren’t on, they still emit carbon dioxide in air. In order to save trees, try to pay your bills online. Final advice; when you do laundry try to use cold or warm water, this will help lower the emissions of carbon dioxide in the air.
It’s true that we cannot resolve environmental problems now, but we can contribute something to make our planet better for our children and grandchildren to live in. It is important to be educated about these problems. That way we’ll be able to do something to resolve them those issues. Every one of us can choose to be a savor or destroyer of our environment and every one of us has the opportunity to teach new generations how to make the world a better place to live in. We all have an opportunity to save the planet!
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