<YOU’RE KILLING THE EARTH EVERY DAY, AND YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW YOU ARE>
Soyoung Lee (Jamsin Middle School, Seoul, Korea) “CLIMATE CHANGE.” What do you visualize in your mind when you think of these two words, global warming and endless natural disasters? However, think about this question. Are you working hard to stop the process of climate change? There are not many people who haven’t yet realized that something wrong is happening to our Earth. The melting of the arctic poles’ ice, extreme heat, sinking islands… These phenomena are not a coincidence, and the most obvious point is that we are causing all of them. Let’s take a look at an adult worker’s typical daily life to see whether or not he or she has affected the Earth. He or she wakes up in the morning, gets ready for and drives to work. Then, he or she will sit in an office and work. Oh, maybe a cup of coffee in between or so. At the end of the day, the exhausted worker will drive back home , eat dinner, take a Image 1: World ‘Damaging the planet’ photographer: Filomena Scalise freedigitalphotos.net
shower to relax and get ready for a good night’s sleep.
On the outside, this worker seems to have just gone on with his or her own life, but if we look closely, he or she has helped climate change to worsen. First, while driving, exhaust gas is produced from cars. It contains carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydro carbons, such as methane, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), ozone (O3), and many other substances that pollute the air and cause acid rain and respiratory diseases. Also, a cup of coffee may not mean much to a worker, but, as many people drink coffee in paper cups from vending machines, it causes climate change. To make a paper cup, trees must be cut. When trees, which produce oxygen by using up carbon dioxide, are cut, less oxygen is produced and greenhouse gases are not able to be purified. Furthermore, taking a shower once again causes a slippery slope that will eventually harm the Earth. Most people think that taking a shower wastes less water, but when a person showers for more than fifteen minutes, about 180 liters of water is used, and this rate is higher than the amount of water used in a bath. Water may seem as a substance that is copious, but in order to purify a milk carton of water, twenty times the amount is used to do so.
By looking at a common worker’s daily life, we can see that our community, full of people who may live the life of this worker, intervenes much in the process of climate change. Since it is the community that is polluting and damaging the Earth, it is also the community that should take a step to ease and reverse the situation. So, let us focus on the concept of “Natural Thoughts.” Thinking before you act, thinking at least for a second, about the environment and the Earth. By writing an “Eco Diary” and thinking about ideas to help the environment, I have found that these “Natural Thoughts” are not that hard to put into practice. For instance, on a bright sunny day, why bother turning your lights on? Natural sunlight is enough to brighten your house or workplace. Why can’t you turn the water off while you’re scrubbing or shampooing? You don’t need to use the water. In the
Image 2 Natural Thoughts ‘outlined head thinking about nature and conservation’ photographer: Francesco Marino freedigitalphotos.net
case of the worker mentioned before, why can’t he or she use the bus or subway to go to work? Why can’t he or she bother to bring a mug or a tumbler to work, instead of using paper cups? These small actions all contribute to the Earth’s well-being and conservation of the environment. “For the greater good.” I believe that this phrase is why many people work hard in their daily lives. One may study to get high grades, but on a greater scale, he or she will be able to succeed in the future by undergoing the whole process and hardships of studying. The same goes for the environment. Acting for the environment may be uncomfortable sometimes. It may be a little bothersome to recycle every day, turn off the lights, and use a little less water. However, no one can live as one wishes to do so. For the whole community to become a little healthier, furthermore for the whole planet, our Earth to become a little less polluted, why not become a little more uncomfortable? I believe that in order for the Earth to recover and brighten once again, the efforts of each member of the community is fervently needed.