Earth Day and You: Making a Difference for the Future

by John Harrison

On April 22, 1970, a man by the name of Gaylord Nelson wanted to help protect the earth from the gas-guzzling automobiles that were harming the environment without notice. Through his efforts, Earth Day was started. On its first celebration, 20 million Americans protested for a more environmentally friendly world. What started out as a localized activist holiday has grown significantly over the years, largely due to near-unanimous feeling that the environment needs to be improved. “Earth Day 2000” had 5,000 environmental groups all over the world reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries. Each year, this initiative sets its goals higher and tries to have more people become aware of our environment. This year, our own school is taking a step to help this project.

Earth Day Network, the group that manages Earth Day, was founded on the premise that “all people, regardless of race, gender, income, or geography, have a moral right to a healthy, sustainable environment.” The organization currently works with 17,000 partners and organizations in 174 countries. Earth Day has over 1 billion participants, making it the largest secular event in the world.

The Earth Day Network works on many environmental issues that affect the daily lives of others, one of which is the “Water for Life Project.” As a result of a rapidly growing population and aging infrastructure, water is becoming less abundant in the places that so desperately need it. The Global Water Network, which is a campaign operated through the Earth Day Network, tries to raise funds to buy goods and services for underprivileged communities, ranging from a community’s first well to toilets and hand-washing facilities, all amenities which we take for granted.

As you can see on the school’s website, the school wants to help the village’s grassroots efforts by encouraging all students to walk to school in an effort to have less emission fumes. Even though it would be nice if everyone walked to school, there are a tremendous amount of other easy steps we can take to have a greener environment. For example, turning off all appliances before leaving a room, using appliances that have the Energy Star tag next to them (you know, the ones that say energy and then have a star next to it), and switching to fluorescent bulbs (which burn brighter and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs) would all help to make Bronxville a greener community. Other ways that the Earth Day Network wants people to help involve water conservation. For instance, turn the water off while you are brushing your teeth and make sure there is a full load in the washing machine before you press start. In addition, there is the well known “reduce/reuse/recycle” campaign, examples of which include trying not to buy disposable items, reusing boxes and grocery bags, and recycling paper, plastic, glass bottles, cardboard, and aluminum cans.

With 1 billion people participating on Earth Day the Wednesday, April 22, please do not forget to do your part. Walk to school, turn off the water while brushing your teeth, do something. This event will continue to prosper every year because of people like you who care about the environment, so please take part in it and help to make our planet green.