I know that with everyone's hectic schedules and busy lives, protecting the environment isn't always a top priority, but now more than ever we must take action. Our planet is slowly deteriorating, and it is saddening to see just how much of that deterioration can be prevented. Humans are extremely wasteful, and we tend to think only about how something impacts us personally, but how one person treats the environment affects not only the other humans living on our planet, but the animals and plants as well. By becoming more aware of our effects, we can help prevent and stop the ultimate destruction of our home.
After listening to Wendell Berry's speech this past Tuesday and reading his essays, I realized that the Environmental Movement can only move forward if small organizations get involved and make a push for changes on the local level. We must start out small, if we want to have a large impact. There are many things we can do locally to help reduce wastefulness and our carbon footprint. Some of these things include buying produce at local farmers markets, or simply turning off the lights when we leave a room that can help to reduce human wastefulness and our carbon footprint.
In his essay "Think Little", Berry also discussed the role of the government and that oftentimes political leaders only want to help the Environmental Movement when it best suits them and their political ideology. This isn't going to help us move forward; the voices of the small communities need to be heard. With respect to big government involvement in the Environmental Movement, I want to bring up the Lorax and remind everyone that while big business and government do help the people in many ways, the environment is often something they overlook or use as a way to gain votes.
I'm not asking anyone to drastically change their lifestyle to protect the environment, but I do believe that everyone should be aware of the problems we are facing and that its up to the "little people" to push the movement in the direction we want it to go.
Danielle, I love the point you made about making changes on a local level! If we want to see changes made towards becoming more environmentally friendly,those changes need to start with us. We simply cannot rely on our elected government officials to stay true to their word about protecting the environment. Your post reminds me of a quote by Gandhi, "Be the change you want to see in the world." Being an environmental science major and being apart of the environmental leadership learning community has definitely made me more aware of how my actions impact Earth. I now have a recycling bin in my room and encourage my two roommates to always recycle! When I'm the last one out of the room, I make sure to turn off the lights and the heater. I know these are very small steps towards helping the environment but you have to start somewhere.
ReplyDelete-Danielle R.
I couldn't agree more with your post. I didn't realize how much the government and higher powers didn't really care about the environment. Listening to Berry speak was definitely an eye opener. His plans seem reasonable and effective. I admit I can work on my part to making the environment a better place, but it would feel nice to be apart of the voice of the small organizations. This is a really nice post that motivates me, as I'm sure other readers, to start making an impact!
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