"How come when we destroy something man created, its called vandalism, but when we destroy something natural, it's called progress? " - Ed Begley Jr.
Another year and another earth day has come and gone with little to no thought gone to the day that a bunch of American hippies protested to be made national almost thirty years ago. Of course, our environmental awareness has changed a significant amount since then, but the idea is still the same - respect and appreciate the single planet we live on. Earth Day should become a bigger priority for Bullis as a school because it's important that we show our appreciation for the earth, preserve the life around us, and extend our resources.
Some may say that the idea of having an "earth day" is stupid, because "we should be taking care of our earth every day of the year" - which is true. Earth day shouldn't be the one day you pay attention to whether or not you throw your plastic water bottle in the recycling bin or the trash can- that should be every day. Earth day was created to raise awareness and remind everyone that, yes, you should be conscious about this every day.
Showing your appreciation for the earth should mean a lot more than just dropping your old water bottle in the right recycling bin (which is like, so hard, because there's so many to choose from). Our earth sustains our lives, and we should be happy about it - happy enough to be conscious about whether or not we really need to use that cheap disposable item over that slightly more expensive one that'll last much longer and creates less waste.
As ridiculous as it sounds, by participating in Earth Day, you're saving endangered species. When you participate and promote Earth Day, you help acts like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act become a reality. Over the forty-year history of earth day, the Environmental Protection Agency was inspired. All of these acts work to protect the ecosystems in which endangered species depend upon, preserving their lives, and giving us the chance to further discover what they have to offer us.
Quite simply, if we don't continue to participate and raise awareness, the condition of our planet will continue to deteriorate, and eventually our resources will be extinguished. How come when we destroy something man created, its called vandalism, but when we destroy something natural, it's called progress? I don't know how far we're going to get if we take down entire forests the size of football fields every day so that you can doodle on a piece of paper in math class. The attempt to extinguish the use of paper would be a fruitless journey, but you might as well be conscious about how you're using it so that it stays an option for you to be able to use it.
It's really not that hard to do your part to help conserve our one and only inhabitable planet, so you might as well go with the flow: reduce, reuse, recycle. Make Earth Day next year a bigger priority for you and your community to show your appreciation for the earth, preserve the life around us, and extend our resources.