Civic Issues Blog Idea!

I want to talk about sustainability and climate change.  In the past year it came to a lot of people’s attention that our planet is not in a great state if we continue to live the way we do. Around March of last year, I went to a reservation with my friends and it was beautiful there BUT even in the middle of nowhere, plastic bottles and candy wrappers were scattered along the trail.  Empty Gatorade bottles and old soccer balls filled the river. I was disgusted at the treatment of our planet. I live next to Manhattan and while it is gross to see garbage on the streets, it fits in. Seeing such waste on the trails stood out to me because it just didn’t belong. The area was so innocent and people were just treating it with no respect. I remember getting really upset and since then I have been trying to make an effort to consider how much waste I produce and where it goes. I don’t have a specific focus yet on what I necessarily want to focus on within that.  I was thinking that I could discuss how people are attempting to help the planet and how that actually affects our society and environment. I’ve seen a lot of people protesting plastic by replacing it with glass instead, which does not help the environment at all because waste is waste. I’ve heard of recycling centers that don’t actually recycle what is given but instead dump it into the same pile that the trash goes into. Eating a vegetarian diet has been proven to use less water and crops than a diet incorporating meat. Despite this, many fruits and vegetables are not locally grown and due to how far away these crops are, actually cause more damage to the environment. I think that it is important to discuss not only what we are doing for the environment but also questioning if it actually makes a difference.