Is being eco-friendly enough?

Posted January 2021

By Natalie Hebert

Cub Reporter

Will we die of old age or climate change? What can we as a community do to help, and is it enough to stop the climate crisis?

At this rate we will die of climate change. The way the world is today is not like it was when our parents were born, let alone our grandparents. Climate change is now known as the climate crisis; the climate isn’t getting any better and our planet is diminishing slowly. The masses who choose to be eco-friendly are not making a big enough difference. Big industries like Dasani, Nestle, Oscar Meyer (and other companies involved in meat production), and many more mass production companies are harming the environment on a huge scale. Those countries who are eco-friendly and use the term, "reduce, reuse, and recycle" are not going to make up for the big companies that harm the planet that we live on. Action is needed from big industries that cause harm rather than good.

This all ties in to our community here in Oregon. We live with air pollution. Whether people in Oregon made it or it drifted here, we still breathe it in. There is trash on our streets—trash that we contribute. The weather is changing day by day. It all comes down to what we can do as a community.

As a community, we can organize trash pick ups, use bikes instead of cars, protest the companies making plastic and producing air pollution, and work as a whole to fight this ongoing problem. It’s best to be educated. Look up ways to be eco friendly, be aware of what is used and our individual plastic footprint, and try to let others know the problem at hand, letting the world know the problems is easy, letting the world know the solution is going to use all the strength we have to fight for what is right.

The climate crisis consists of many problems that the human population made in the name of convenience. In order to understand climate crisis, we need to learn how it works. Air pollution is one of them. There are three types of air pollution: One is pollution of Earth's ozone layer.

“Ozone is not emitted, but formed through a chemical reaction between sunlight and gases like nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds,” stated Ecologist and Environment Scientist Vijayalaxmi Kinhal.

That means the pollution is not completely man-made, but still has effects on earth. The next type is particle pollution. This pollution is composed of solid and liquid particles made up of ash, metals, soot, diesel exhaust, and chemicals. The last air pollution is composed of several types, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, lead, dioxins, and benzene. Air pollution is not only bad for the environment, but it affects every living thing.

Litter pollution is another problem we continue to solve in several ways, but none that would stop the use of plastic. The use of plastic is so widespread that people who switch to non plastic aren't making a considerable difference. The only way to fight the use of plastic is to demand change from the companies who make it.

“Every single piece of plastic ever made still exists,” stated Greenpeace content editor Diego Gonzaga.

The global temperature is rising, causing melting ice caps and mountain snow. The oceans are beginning to rise, consuming more of the land we live on. This could lead to longer dry spells and a higher risk of floods from rain. Certain animals are decreasing the more the temperature increases, such as polar bears, monarch butterflies, green sea turtles, African elephants, and cheetahs. The climate crisis is affecting all living beings, and the climate is going to be worse if we don’t do anything to stop it. Being eco-friendly is the first step, but it is not enough.