Imagine a world where we see the coastal areas of our country flooded, we see massive polar and heat waves and we see a flood of natural disasters occur so frequently the world has familiarized themselves to it, where it is near to impossible to try to help the vast amount of people impacted.

This could become a reality if we do not protect our environment. A clear example is when the polar vortex swept the Midwest by storm closing hundreds of schools across the area. For hundreds of years, our planet has been used and abused by its inhabitants and now it is deteriorating. If we want to see progress and slow this deterioration, we need to make a change in our lives. Such changes can actually be accessible; many do not require much effort or cause stress at all.

Right now, our environment is in dire need of change and assistance. The choices we make today and continue to make tomorrow can have a tremendous impact on our planet for years to come. From climate change to overflowing landfills, there are many things that our environment needs to combat in order to help sustain all of its inhabitants. Most of the time, it seems like not that many people are trying to fix this problem because it is still occurring, but, in that stance, we are wrong. There are many working hard to combat these problems that have been created, people even in our community. However, one of the main reasons that we still face these problems today is because we lack the proper education on this issue and other contributing factors.

In this day and age, we are given a multitude of ways that can help us better the planet. There are people who are dedicated to making change happen, even in our own community. The number of initiatives and projects that the city and school are working on is quite extensive.

From the climate change projects in the city to the edible acre  at ETHS, there is a wide variety of things that we are exposed that can make change, but opportunities can only give us so much, the rest is up to us.

If people want to take advantage of these things, we have to know about them. When new environmental projects come up, many do not get advertised because companies do not think that the general public will have a call to action and they would not want to waste their money on a project where they do not think the general public to care. While in some cases that may be true, many Americans do have concerns about the environment and want to support them, but if the only way they know about it is by going into the depths of the Internet, it does not become as beneficial because there are not getting key support or key endorsements that can help them in the long run.

Also, when people are not knowing or supporting these projects, certain people go out of their way to guilt people because they deem that the other person is not doing their part to save our planet. This cycle of how we treat environmental issues and projects is unacceptable because while change is necessary, it is not people’s fault for not being green, it is a matter of not receiving an adequate education on the issues that people can apply to do their daily life.

“I think that when people are educated on environmental issues (such as recycling), the issue does not only improve our school, but students take it home and continue to recycle, compost, etc. with their families and friends. Long term, this could help us sustain our natural resources and protect the planet from global warming,” says green team president Arielle Weiss.

If you truly want to make environmental change you do not have to be a waste-free, solar powered, always walking, vegan. All you need to be is conscious of simple decisions you can make to create change. Like check the bottom of a food package to see if it is recyclable; if you leave a room, turn off the TV; if you are close to school, ride a bike or walk instead of driving and if you are doing these things be aware that it may not be as simple for someone else because everyone is different and has been handed different opportunities. If we want to make change we just need to take time to fully understand the complexity of the issue at hand so we can make an educated decision that can benefit both ourselves and the planet.