The average North American uses 700 lbs. of paper every year. The Sunday edition of the New York Times takes 75,000 trees to print. Plastic takes 450 years to begin decomposing. Enough steel and tin cans are thrown out daily in the United States to make a pipe from Los Angeles to New York, twice. These are just a few facts about the harm that we, as a global community, inflict upon our environment. A question that is pondered by many is how we can reduce our carbon footprint and diminish our impact on the environment. In my personal opinion, there is no universal solution to this issue. Instead, the only way to lessen our environmental repercussions is through small acts we can perform on a day-to-day basis. I believe these actions can be categorized into three main groups: home, travel, and buying/consumption. The home category can be classified as any environmentally sustainable act you can perform in your house. For instance, filling your dishwashing and washing machines fully before starting the washing cycle, turning off electric appliances and lighting fixtures whe n they are not in use, recycling grey water, and minimizing the amount of central heating during the winter. The travel category may include carpooling, owning a gas efficient or electric vehicle, minimizing airplane flights, and taking public transportation. Finally in the purchasing category, environmentally conscious acts may include buying organic and locally grown produce, reducing your consumption of meat, recycling or reusing the packaging from products, and reducing technology purchases to a minimal amount. These methods of energy conservation and maintaining a consciousness of the environmental consequences for your actions, are crucial. More importantly, they can be easily grouped into these 3 simple categories, making sustainable actions easily accessible and achievable. To reiterate what I stated before, there is no universal solution to the carbon footprint crisis we are experiencing. It really is about the little things.

I totally agree with you on this. the little things are the ones that can really make a difference, if everyone gives a little bit of time we can achieve incredible things.

I completely agree with you Reina. We may think that oh I'm only one person in this world, what effect could I possibly have on the environment? However, if every person had the same mentality the little impacts would add up as you mentioned. By focusing on the little things, such as using recycled paper for printing, and using cold water for our washing machines, we can all as a community make the world a much more economicaly friendly place. Rather than having the mentality of I'm only one person, what harm could I do, we should all change our views to what good can I do for the community. If we all focus on the little things, we can also inspire others to focus on their little things as well. At my high school, Bishop O'Dowd, our main focus is to throw away all of our trash in the correct waste containers, and eliminate all litter from our lunchroom. If I see someone not pick up their trash, I give them a reminder because as a community we all live on the same Earth. We must try our hardest to keep our Earth clean by completing the little things.

I completely agree with everything you said, especially that there is not really one way that we can eliminate our carbon footprint, but only small acts that we can perform on a day-to-day basis to lessen it. A lot of people believe that their actions don't really have any effect on the environment, however this is definitely not true. If everyone changed their attitudes, then I think we would be able to greatly lessen our carbon footprints. I think that one of the easiest ways you can lessen your carbon footprint is by simply turning off the lights! It's so simple, yet it has such a large effect on the environment if you don't turn them off when you don't need them. Research from Boston University shows that If you turn off the lights whenever you leave a room, you can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 0.15 pounds per hour. Another really easy way that we can lessen our carbon footprint is by unplugging! A lot of times, I have left my phone charger in the wall w hen I am not charging my phone. After realizing how bad this was, I now unplug every charger from the wall that I'm not using.

I also agree with what you said. If every person in the world tried to do all the little things that they possibly could to save the environment, the effect would be massive. There are so many little things that can be done to help the planet. Even just turning off the lights when you leave a room or  buying a reusable grocery bag at the store can reduce your carbon emissions. If you do not want to buy a reusable bag, you could ask for a paper bag and recycle it when you get home. As the amount of people in the world grow, it is everyone's responsibility to help the earth and protect it for future generations.

Cassandra, Elias, Nina, and Avery — Thank you for replying so thoughtfully to my post! Cassandra, I really appreciate the positive feedback. Elias, I really enjoyed your point about how the O'Dowd student body is one cohesive community, and we must hold each other accountable for our actions if we are to improve our environment. Nina, your example of how turning off lights when you leave a room can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 0.15 pounds per hour really accentuates the point I was trying to get across, and I'm ecstatic that after completing this project, you now unplug your chargers from walls when you are not using it. Avery, your generalization about how as the amount of people in the world grow, we must spread awareness about our environment and inspire sustainable actions was a very insightful and perceptive analysis. Again, thank you all for responding to my post and contributing to this meaningful discussion!