As the time the world has to address the climate crisis shortens, the call for action is becoming more dire. The amount of help the environment needs can be intimidating, and it can feel as if people’s efforts are insignificant in the battle against climate change. However, there are many ways to get involved that can have significant contributions.
Many events are being held around the world for this cause, including several in the LM community. On April 30th, the Narberth Civic Association hosted their annual, “NarbEarth Day.” This event has opportunities for used book donations, clothing swaps, plant sales, and fun eco-friendly activities such as rock painting.
Within LM, the Environmental Club is holding many events to help students become more environmentally conscious. During what they called “Green week,” they invited students to engage in “Meatless Monday,” “Reusable Tuesday,” “Save the Energy Wednesday,” “Thrifted Thursday,” and “Greenday” on Friday, in which they conducted a ten minute walkout. This effort was held specifically in honor of Earth Day, but officer Emma Liu ’22 detailed the club’s additional plans including planting, “Many vegetables/flowers in the greenhouse ranging from tomato to basil,” which they “plan to sell in the upcoming months in support of Philabundance.” Starting with students from LM, the club is attempting to spread, “Awareness but also gives students motivation to partake in their own environmentally sustainable practices and develop those actions into habits.”
Whether a student joins the club, or applies this message to their own life, it is important that everyone begins to live more consciously. One way to contribute to these efforts is to make changes in one’s daily lifestyle. One of the biggest contributing factors to climate change is the wasteful lifestyle of the majority of the population. Commercial and residential greenhouse gas emissions contribute to 13 percent of the emissions in the US. A simple change to reduce the emissions coming from a house could be to rely less on the heating system, and instead put on warmer clothing.
One could also greatly reduce their carbon footprint through the use of alternate forms of transportation. Trains, buses, walking, and biking are much more efficient and cheaper ways to travel from place to place. Therefore, by opting not to drive, one helps to save money and the planet.
There are many more ways to be eco-conscious in one’s day-to-day life, but big changes must be made on an international level to combat increasingly dire environmental issues. One way to help is by voting for and promoting politicians with initiatives to tackle climate change. This is one of the most simple, but effective, ways that we can save our planet.
