Be the Change

The environment is filled with so much devastation that anyone who wants to help make it better gets overwhelmed from the start. Every day you hear that story that you can be the change, that one small action can lead to a bigger action and eventually change the environment. The small action could be anything, from recycling to starting a “green” club at your school. The story gets passed down from generation to generation but no one is quite sure who started telling it. All we know is that the story sounds reasonable and people start acting upon it. My family constantly recycles bottles, paper, old clothes, appliances, and even furniture. So when I came to college recycling was part of my daily routine. Our recycling bin is always overflowing and gets taken out three times a week. Some might say having that much recycling is hazardous to the environment but what makes it okay is that I am recycling it. It would be a different story entirely if all of it was going into the trash. I hope that my recycling influences other to do the same and possibly influence the university to start getting more involved. My high school started a “green” club my senior year to get the school more involved with recycling and making it more eco-friendly. We added solar panels to save energy and made sure there was a recycling bin in every class room and hallway. Deep down I know that my recycling won’t solve global warming or stop air pollution but maybe it will help clean up the earth. With less waste, the world doesn’t have to be one giant landfill, it can be beautiful again. The story is so straight forward that you couldn’t change it at all, even if you wanted to try and make it more effective. The bottom line is that if we want to see change in the environment then we need to start taking action. A story shouldn’t have to tell you how to act; you should be able to see what’s going on and automatically want to help make a difference. It’s like I tell myself, “you can be the...