Inspirational and Informational Pieces

Going Green

This is dedicated to my gramma, who shares a birthday with me. We're both Earth day babies.

I know what I say isn’t much, that I’m just one teen with one voice. But Mrs. Wendell, my 6th grade science teacher, told us a story while in school on Earth day. Since my birthday is on Earth day, this really made me stop and think. The story went something like this;

A storm had washed thousands of starfish up onto a beach the night before. A man was walking along the beach, staring at each one sadly. A ways up, he came across a boy tossing the starfish back into the ocean. The man said “You may as well give up. There are thousands of them. It’s not going to make a difference.” Without stopping the boy replied, “It makes a difference to this one and this one and this one,” he says as he threw each starfish back into the ocean. The man starts to see what the boy means and he starts helping the boy. 

They made a difference to all those starfish they saved even if they couldn’t save all of them. A small thing made a big difference though for each one of those starfish. I want to make a difference as well. Earth day is a day to celebrate making the world “green”. What if we do this at our homes? Or even at school or a community center? Anywhere, really.

It doesn’t have to be anything crazy. We’re already somewhat there by using reusable trays for our school lunches. 

However, what if we emailed homework to school, rather than printing it off? What if we recycled? What if we gathered old food items that could decompose into compost and then use them on a garden or flower bed? What if we turned off the A/C and opened the windows?

Then, what if faculty in school only turned on half off their lights? What if students and faculty used both sides of the paper? What if we had a bin for water bottles like how we do for the soda cans? Small things can make a big difference. 

It can save the school money as well. The water bottles now have a deposit on them. Using half the lights saves electricity which would save money. I have only one voice but to me that doesn’t seem like too much. It wouldn’t be that hard if we take it one step at a time. 

My family composts, and we leave the A/C off unless the outside temperature is over 80 degrees. Some teachers in the middle school I used to go to are already helping. Mrs. Wendell uses half her lights. Mr. Walter reuses wood in tech. 

All I ask is that we try it. Just to see if we can make the difference. Just to see if we can be like that boy in the story and do something small and simple. It might cause a chain reaction-sort of like the Friends of Rachel chain reaction. It might become bigger and maybe we can get other schools to do it, other families to participate at home.

 I now that this might be a stretch. But there’s always that one little question. What if we don’t try? What if we could’ve made a difference but skipped over it? Why don’t we at least try it?

Now I’m only fifteen. I may not have a clue about how expensive this might be for some people. But what if we just try it for the last couple of months of school? See if it does make a difference. Or try it for a month at home. Why limit helping the Earth to just one day? Why only help the planet we live on only one day of the year then go back to polluting it the other 364 days? 365 days on a leap year. 

If we could just try it for a little while…imagine what would happen. Picture this: years into the future, what does earth look like if we work together? Picture what it looks like if we don’t. What’s better? Why not start protecting Earth now?

I hope this is something that makes a difference to you. To the whole school maybe, if you think it would work. Even to the whole community.

But though I may be wrong, this one question keeps bugging me: What if I could’ve made a difference but didn’t? What if I hadn’t told this to all of you? Would that difference not exist?

I’m glad if you took the time to read this. It means you at least care about what I have to say even if it’s impossible or too expensive. By reading this, it means you care enough to think about making that change. So thanks!

P.S. I emailed something similar to this to my middle school principal, and he agreed. To this day, the entire school district recycles paper and water bottles, and lots of teachers have started using half their lights. According to my old principal, I've saved the school over $6,000 since this started, because they use less electricity and buy paper less often.