Lets Go Green at Home, Essay Example

By the second millennium the Earth’s inhabitants of human beings reached the margin of 6 billion people. Only in 1922 the margin of global population passed 2 billion, and now decade after decade the tempo of global population’s growth is climbing steeper. By 2050 it is predicted that the Earth’s population will reach 9 billion. From here starts the dilemma of the quick increase of the population, at the time when quantities of people grow, global resources are limited. If they do increase, then this happens in many years, and could hardly catch up with population. Thereby it is important to know how every individual impact the ecology that surrounds us, how we can save the resources that we use, and what would be the cost if mankind continues to exploit natural resources.

Most of the products that we throw away vitally affect the nature, whether it’s plastic bags, which need millions of years to rot through, or whether we throw away batteries and other products which contain dangerous chemicals, which over time leak in landfills and pollute groundwater. Our surrounding environment directly impacts our health, affecting the children at birth mostly causing asthma problems, lead poisoning, and cancer, which costs the USA $55 billion annually. Considering the land occupied by people, a third of the global land has already been converted into agricultural lands, when also taking into consideration Arctic, Antarctic lands, and deserts. After the millennia more than 1.7 billion people suffered form the lack of good drinking water. Air pollution is another important factor of our biosphere, which is polluted by carbon dioxide and various toxic gases everyday and by greatest means in industrialized countries. Air pollution is the main reason of global warming, only in the last fifty years the average temperature on the Antarctic Peninsula increased by 2,5 ºC. The Larsen Ice Shelf located in the northwest part of the Weddell Sea was stable during the last 10000 years, but in 2002 an iceberg with the total square of nearly 2500 square meters chopped off (Lomborg, 2007). An important matter is concerning the United States of America; a country of only 5 per cent of the global population consumes 25 per cent of the world’s energy and at the same time generates 25 per cent of global warming pollution (Enterprise Community Partners, 2010). What is also interesting about the United States, is that it is the only country that did not sign the Kyoto protocol, a protocol which limits air polluting technologies. A country of industrial power has most likely not signed the protocol in the interest of its major industrialists who see only profits. Thereby we see that this is an individual task of every one of us.

There are multiple ways in helping the environment, starting from trifles in large quantities we can greatly help preserve our planet. We should remember what we could save with the greatest helpers of the environment – recycling. Every recycled ton of paper saves 7,000 gallons of water, 380 gallons of oil, and enough electricity to power an average house for six months. Just one recycled aluminum can saves enough energy to power a TV set for six hours (Go Green Initiative, 2009). A recycled glass bottle saves enough energy to power a 100 – Watt bulb for 4 hours. Among the other steps which would lead you on the correct path to green include the consumption of ecologically clean products, which were naturally grown. By eating such foods, you will be healthier, and you will enjoy greater tasting food. When buying goods, one should buy in bulk, in order to purchase less packaging which will eventually be thrown away. Automobiles should be gradually converted into hybrids, in order to significantly shorten the amount of carbon exhausted by gas and diesel cars. Multiple ways of shortening pollution can be implemented by each of us, from making objects like rechargeable batteries more common in everyday use, for the sake of avoiding throwing away toxic chemicals. The use of home appliances that consume a lot of electricity should be limited, as well as the use of water.

This is important if we are going to look into the future, dreaming of the possibilities that our children and grandchildren will have. We would want them to live healthy lives at the ecological level that we live now. If actions are not going to be made in the way we support our environment, we will then expect a tragically grim future. A future where no one will be no longer able to enjoy a fresh breeze of air or a walk barefoot on green grass.

Works Cited

Lomborg Bjorn. Cool it – The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide To Global Warming. 2007 Random House, pp. 59-67.

Go Green Initiative. What’s the problem? 2009. Feb. 25, 2010 <http://www.gogreeninitiative.org/content/WhyGoGreen/>

Enterprise Community Partners. Why Go Green? 2010. 25 Feb. 2010 <http://www.greencommunitiesonline.org/green/why/>