Mini inquiry project about environmental protection
Is recycle necessary? “Recycle” is a word that everyone knows. However, how many people aware the importance of this word? How many people can carry it out? Some people think that being environmental friendly or not doesn’t matter on them. Nonetheless, they are absolutely WRONG. If we do not have eco-awareness to protect our earth now, our environment will be destroyed by pollution after a few decades. Food chain will disappear because of the destruction of ecology system. Consequently, human beings will extinct as time goes on. Is it possible that human extinction does not matter on us? As a high school student, I know I cannot make any big achievement contributing to the earth pollution problems. However, I try to do something tiny every day to save our earth.
In order to “reduce, reuse and recycle” efficiently, I think of these three words before I do anything. There is a lot of environmental waste nowadays, for example the clothes and fabrics. When I go shopping, I always think whether I want or need the clothes before I buy them. This helps me not to make unnecessary waste of clothes. Also, I always choose clothes in light color because they use less chemical stains than those of dark color shirts. When I have clothes that I do not need, I will donate my clothes to organizations that recycle old shirts. This action can help the needy people and do not waste the clothes at the same time. On the other hand, I reuse my old clothes and fabrics at home. For example, I cut and sew my old shirts to make a new curtain for my house. I also use other old fabrics as dusters. These ways not only help to reuse my old shirts, but also create new decorations in my house.
There is also lots of water pollution nowadays. For example the cleanser, hair conditioner and deodorant spray…etc. In order to be ecology friendly, I use olive oil instead of hair conditioner to take care of my hair. Lemon and vinegar are natural cleansers that can be use to sweep floor. I also use water that had been used to wash rice or vegetables to water plants and polish furniture. Moreover, I put a bottle with sand in the water tank of toilet. It is because it helps to reduce water use while flushing the toilet. I also take showers instead of baths. These ways can reduce a lot of water pollution and at the same time save money.
Electricity is an important resource. I save it by using sunlight instead of lights during daytime. Moreover, I will switch off all lights in the house before I go out. During summer time, I switch on the fan rather than the air conditioner. Even I turn on the air conditioner, I adjust the temperature to not lower than 78ºF. It is because a too low temperature of air conditioner will release more CO2 and pollute the air. I clean electrical appliances regularly because it helps to reduce the use of electricity. These little tricks can help to reduce energy efficiently.
Saving paper and avoid using plastic are other ways to be ecology friendly. I do not eat take-away food because those food containers are all not reusable and they make lots of waste. I use my hand chief after I ate instead of using napkins. I bring my own water bottle every time when I am out because buying bottled drinks wastes a lot of plastic. I use both sides of papers and put them into recycling bins until they are not reusable. I send emails rather than letters in order to save papers. I buy notebooks made by recycled papers. These are what I did to protect our environment.
Last but not least, I think the most efficient way to “reduce, reuse and recycle” is to be a vegetarian. It is hard for people to do so because we eat meat everyday. However, do people realize how not ecology friendly eating meat is? In United States, we need 1,000,000 kg of water to produce 1 kg of beef; while we need only 500 kg of water to produce 1 kg of potato. Also, carnivore uses 5000 L of water while vegetarian only uses 1000-2000 L of water. On the other hand, pigs’ feces are five times of humans’. Researches showed that 2/3 of gas leads to global warming are released by livestock. In July 2006, a research of a physician - Alan Calverd in United Kingdom, showed that 21% of earth’s electricity is used to raise livestock. However, the 21% does not include CO2 releases while producing feed for livestock, packaging, transportation and refrigeration of meet. In Amazon rainforest of Brazil, 70% of land is used as ranges. If Americans eat 10% less of meat each year, 12,000,000 tons of grain can be produced and feed 60,000,000 people. Being a vegetarian not only reduce water pollution, but also decrease air pollution, electricity waste and save land for better use.
As a person who has eco-awareness, I am a vegetarian twice a week. I believe eat less meat can help to save our earth. Also, I spread the word to my family and friends and persuade them to eat less meat. I make vegetarian meals for my family twice a week. For example vegetarian sandwiches, burgers, pasta, juice, salad…etc. At first, they refuse to eat vegetarian food; but later, they find out vegetarian food can be tasty too. Moreover, they become healthier after being vegetarians. At the same time, I save money for the family because buying vegetables is cheaper than buying meat. Every time when I have parties, I bring in vegetarian food and my friends always say the food is tasty. All my experiences showed that eat less meat only helps to improve our lives and environments without disadvantage. If all people be vegetarians once a week, global warming effect will decrease immediately. Furthermore, all the environmental pollution and waste will highly reduce simultaneously.
No matter what position you are in the society, it is a responsibility for everyone to be ecology friendly and save energy. Being ecology friendly is not only an economic behavior but also a trend of present day. It signifies a person’s education and quality. People with eco-awareness will be respected because they think about others and our future. However, not being ecology friendly is selfish because all human beings are using earth’s resources reserved by our future generation. Just think of the words “reduce, reuse and recycle” before you do anything and simply do some tricks like me in daily life, you will find out being ecology friendly is not that hard. Besides, you must benefit from it. Be GREEN!
