What if I were to tell you that one-drop of oil can contaminate 6.6 gallons of water, says National Geographic. Consider for a minute how many marine animals that would kill, because of our carelessness with oil. These are animals that just want to survive, and as our population continues to grow theirs will continue to shrink. New plant and animal species are emerging, University of Minnesota ecology professor David Tilman says, but not nearly fast enough to make up for the toll caused by human activity. We need to be more conscious of our actions and think about the consequences, and think about what happens when we litter or emit intense amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Or when we cut down trees for paper, just consider on average an American uses 730 pounds of paper each year, according to the World Wildlife Fund in Washington DC. It takes about nine trees to make that much paper. That’s approximately 2,700 million tress we cut down each year. Imagine how many animal habitats we destroy every year. Try to cut down on your use of paper or recycle it, or make an effort to recycle the glass in your trash where it is ground up, melted and reused instead of thrown in a ditch to rot. Save your kitchen scraps for the compost pile. Store foods in reusable containers rather than plastic wraps and foil. You can even clean your windows with vinegar and water instead of chemical products. You can even make a difference if you turn the heat down and wear a sweater. Or just take a few more steps to put that Doritos bag in the trash you may have saved a bird from choking on it, and dying. You can make a difference; all you have to do is try.
By: Joe Puccio