Celebrate Earth Day: How One Person Can Change the World
Today, April 22, is Earth Day, a time when millions of Americans celebrate and renew their personal commitment to environmental stewardship.
And it has never been more important, or more urgent, for you and people everywhere to take personal action, to adopt a greener lifestyle, and to share your concerns about the environment.
Photo courtesy of NASA
How Can One Person Change the World?
Today, the environmental problems facing the world are enormous. Earth’s finite resources are being stretched to the limit by rapid population growth, air, water and soil pollution, and much more. Global warming, spurred by our use of fossil fuels for energy and transportation as well as mass-scale agriculture and other human activities, threatens to push our planet beyond its ability to sustain human life unless we can meet the growing need for food, energy and economic opportunity within a sustainable environment.
In the face of such huge global problems, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless, and to find ourselves asking, “What difference can one person make?” The answer is that one person can make all the difference in the world:
- Rachel Carson was just one person who wrote Silent Spring, a book credited with launching the environmental movement in the United States.
- John Muir was one person who saved the Yosemite Valley, founded the Sierra Club, and inspired generations of conservationists who continue to do life-giving work.
- Wangari Maathai is one person who started planting trees and empowering women in her native Kenya, and eventually was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.
- Al Gore is just one person who traveled for years to any conference room or auditorium where people would gather to see his slide show and hear his call to action—a slide show that became the Academy Award winning film and best-selling book, An Inconvenient Truth
Each of us has the power through our daily decisions and lifestyle choices to make our homes and communities more environmentally friendly, but our power doesn’t end there.
There is no question that solving many of the problems currently threatening our global environment will require the resources and enlightened action of government and industry. Yet, because government and industry exist to serve the needs of their citizens and customers, how you live your life, the demands you and your neighbors make for products and services that help to sustain rather than erode the environment, will influence those actions and, ultimately, the future of planet Earth.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
So make some changes in the way you live your life. Use less energy and fewer resources, create less waste, and join with others who share your beliefs to urge government representatives and business executives to follow your lead toward a more sustainable world.
Here are a few ways you can get started:
- Five Ways to Help Save the Planet in 30 Minutes or Less
- Top 10 Ways You Can Reduce Global Warming
- Use Public Transportation
- Eat Locally Grown Food
- Change a Light Bulb and Change the World
- Try Reusable Shopping Bags
- Get a Free Home Energy Audit
- Plant a Tree
- Stop Receiving Junk Mail
- Pay Your Bills Online
- Consider Switching to an Alternative Fuel
- Explore Renewable Energy Options
Comments
Beautiful stuff, chief. I actually had to unsubscribe from one listserv a few weeks ago because the otherwise intelligent liberal professors who made up its membership were absolutely convinced that India and China is ruled by ruffians who will never change their environmental policies, so that as soon as they fully industrialize, global warming will become a reality and life on Earth will abruptly end.
I wanted to reassure them that we would probably run out of oil and annihilate ourselves in the subsequent global nuclear bloodbath long before then, but I don’t think they would have realized I was joking.
Hope is the missing ingredient in the environmental movement right now, just as it is the missing ingredient in so many other movements. Maybe that’s one of the nice things about being an About.com guide. People read us, but we’re not big names, so we’re just obscure enough, just unimportant enough, that we can hope a little bit and still get away with it.
Cheers,
TH
What a fantastic and well written post! I learned so much about what we can do to make a difference. Thanks for all the info!
another comment here by another Abouter! I do a lot of educational writing, and much of it revolves around the reduce/reuse/recycle mantra… honestly, it gets a bit old, especially since the outcome of my positive choices tend to be invisible.
So… what would you say are the top three movements in which an individual can get involved to see real outcomes? Might they include something like the Cape Wind project? How about something like purchasing and protecting rainforest land? Or getting involved with EarthWatch and actually helping hands-on with major projects?
Really… Al Gore travels around POLLUTING MORE THAN ANYONE, & never speaks of the REAL solutions, which are to eliminate the burning of fuel, & stop cutting trees, etc. - And you suggest alternative fuels??? Sir; Burning our food is more of an insult to humanity than burning dead plants (fossil fuels). - How about mass production of Solar power to get what should’ve been the main source of power for transportation LONG ago: Electricity. - And a correction: Electricity is NOT a fuel. It’s kind of insulting to the people who are aware of just how bad the situation is to suggest changing a light bulb will change the World. - We need actions that are appropriate to the level of destruction that is being wreaked upon our Planet.
You do understand that what Rachel Carson wrote was a total fiction, that has caused million of deaths don’t you? Yes, she did change the world, and deserves to be on that list, but let’s be honest about what she did.
Most of Al Gore’s movie has been proven distortions. In a few years this may well be proven a total scam, just as Silent Spring was. How many people will die at the alter of Global warming and evangelical environmentalism?
People are being told they cannot have a refrigerator unless it works on solar power in poor countries, so they can sell carbon credits. They are dying from spoiled food. You really want to encourage this?
I beleive all of the things about Al Gore but Istill thinkheis helping a little bit. IN SChool, I was assigned to find and article on this and it was the perfect one. Great Job!!
please excuse my bad spelling above.
The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.