You’re not green unless you contribute to the cause

Going green is a “big thing” in today’s society. Unfortunately, many people are confused about what it really means.

Buying a shirt that says “save the planet” isn’t saving the planet. Unless that shirt greatly inspires someone to buy an electric car, dedicate their life to saving the ozone, and recycle everything they’ve ever owned, you haven’t done the earth any good at all.

I’m not implying that people shouldn’t promote planet saving, but please don’t act like you’re a big tree hugger just because you bought some back-to-school clothing that says you are.

Lots of products say they’re eco-friendly to attract customers. When the item claims it’s going green, buyers feel less guilty. It’s an easy way out of actually doing anything helpful. We should truly care about the earth not just pretend to.

A big part of getting people to go green is providing easy ways for them to help out.

Schools could provide more ways for students to be environmentally helpful. Teachers should incorporate green ideas in lessons and lectures. With constant reminders to be eco-friendly, kids will learn that going green is a thing that should be practiced every single day. If school boards could organize a simple carpooling system, they could save a lot of gas and prevent air pollution, not to mention money.

Classrooms waste loads of paper every day printing unneeded documents and throwing away papers instead of reusing them. If teachers would provide easier ways for students to recycle, the amount of paper wasted would be decreased by huge amounts.

Some smaller schools are even considering taking an extra day off every week to reduce the amount of energy used. Think of how much energy could be saved if everyone did that. Of course, not all schools can go to that extreme. A lot of schools don’t want to waste their budgets on recycling systems, but it’s more important than buying new textbooks every two years or installing more vending machines. If all of our local schools participated in eco-friendly programs that helped save the earth, going green would, in time, become a normal thing that everyone would do with giving a thought.

If all the students at all of our schools did lots of little things, the results would add up and the environment would be greatly changed for the better.