Respect your mother! There really is no “Planet B”. You have probably been seeing alot of brands riding the eco-friendly wave supporting eco-friendly products and inspiring consumers to be more eco-minded. Today’s generation is educating themselves more on climate change and emphasizing the importance of sustainability around the world. As much as switching your plastic straws to metal/ wooden ones, bringing your reusable bag to the grocery store, upcycling your clothes in opposition to fast fashion, and filtering your water may sound like a stretch – it actually makes a huge difference. Here are the ways and reasons why being eco-friendly/minded are important to our home – Earth.
Importance of Sustainability/ Dangers of Climate Change:
The importance of sustainability is very high in order to decrease climate change and pollution in the world. Some of the effects of climate change are risking maximum temperatures, rising minimum temperatures, rising sea levels, higher ocean temperatures, an increase in heavy precipitation (heavy hail and rain), shrinking glaciers. Climate change affects many endangered species homes and their lives as well as us humans. Human health is vulnerable to climate change because the environment is said to cause more heat stress, poor air quality (air pollution), more waterborne disease, and many more health threats.
Air pollution is also very detrimental to humans causing an increased risk of heart attacks, wheezing, coughing, and breathing problems (in addition, irritation to the eyes, nose, and throat) – which not all sounds good to people that may already have asthma and/ or heart problems. Air pollution causes numerous problems such as global warming, climate change, acid rain, deterioration of fields, extinction of animal species, respiratory health problems, deterioration in building materials, etc.
Ocean pollution is also a major problem. The largest factor to the extinction of animals is plastic. Plastic kills marine mammals, birds, sea turtles and destroys habitats. It is heartbreaking when sea turtles mistake the floating plastic for food, penguins get choked by the plastic, etc. Pollution and climate change also affect our coral reefs and cause them to die. Many people don’t realize how important coral reefs actually are. If coral reefs disappear then home to 25% of our marine life would disappear which would cause millions of people to lose their most significant food source and economies would take a major hit. Coral reefs also generate half of Earth’s oxygen and absorb nearly one-third of the carbon dioxide and they protect coastlines from storms and erosion.
Steps To Being Eco – Friendly:
The list of negatives associated with the ongoing pollution and climate change in the world is almost never-ending – but there are many ways that we can help decrease the risk of those dangers. Many people were able to be successful with being more eco-minded by doing things like taking today’s increasing number of face masks that end up on the beach and using them to create something new. Recently, an LA teen, Ford Roll, came up with the idea to upcycle coronavirus masks and turn them into sustainable surfboards! There are truly endless possibilities in which you can be more eco – friendly in day to day life:
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Bring your reusable bag to the grocery store instead of using plastic bags
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Take public transportation instead of the car
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Save energy at home
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Eat more seasonal green foods instead of red meat
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Take action in your community
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Recycle!
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Upcycle your clothes
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Reduce food waste
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Get your electricity from the wind and the sun
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Use more eco-friendly products (ex. makeup, shampoo, cleaning supplies, etc.)
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Cut the strings off of your one-time use face mask before disposing of it (thousands of masks end up in the ocean and on our beaches which can be dangerous to our ocean animals, etc.)
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Invest in a reusable mask
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And many many more!