| 08 October 2010
Our Planet: What’s next?
I once saw a man wearing a t- shirt that stated “there is no Planet B”. At first the statement on the shirt made me smile, but as I said the words over and over again in my mind I realized that there was nothing to smile about. There is no “Planet B”.
This planet is all we have and so far most of us do not have the right knowledge to care for our Earth properly. In the society we live in people care more about material possessions than they care about clean water and clean air. As children we are no longer encouraged to spend time playing outside. Instead most of us are stuck in front of a T.V or busy playing the latest video games. What will become of a group of people that does not value the source of its existence? I will tell you what will become of us, We Will Self Destruct!
There are two possible futures in front of us. We can continue on the path we have been taking and keep arguing and waiting for someone else to do something. Or we can change our direction and agree to become “Carbon Neutral” and not add any more carbon dioxide into our air from human activity.
If we choose to continue on the path we are presently on the temperature of our planet will keep rising. The ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica will keep on melting and low lying places like Bermuda will be flooded and possibly disappear. Flooding isn’t the only problem we will have to worry about; it is scientifically proven that hurricanes, typhoons and droughts which lead to forest fires have been more frequent now than ever before.
If we agree to become ‘carbon neutral’ we would really have to try to live differently. I think once we start trying we would realize we knew what to do all along. There are lots of simple things that we can do to that will make a big difference in our attempt to reduce our carbon foot print. For example, we can insulate our homes therefore it would take less heat and air conditioning to be as comfortable as before. We can plant more trees that would help offset the amount of carbon that is in the environment.
We can change our light bulbs from incandescent bulbs to one that uses one-quarter of the electricity and produces the same amount of light. We can make sure all children bring trash free lunches to school and since Bermuda does not recycle paper or plastic as of yet, we can reduce the amount of paper and plastic we use to reduce the amount of trash that get sent to the incinerator. It should be mandatory that environmental science and environmental education classes start in pre-school and continue throughout our school career.
I have come to realize that the future of our planet is dependant on us. I need to make sure that I get the right information so I can make the right chooses for our Earth. We determine what happens next to our planet. I chose to commit to becoming ‘carbon neutral’.
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written by Johnny Gallo, October 09, 2010
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written by Cameeche, October 09, 2010
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written by Marlon, October 10, 2010
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written by David E. Chapman, October 11, 2010
Keep up the excellent work and keep moving forward...
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