As you have probably noticed, the topic of “going green” is everywhere now a days. You just can not escape it, and that is because it is such an important topic. The truth is that everything we do has an impact on the earth- good or bad. We all have the power to control the choices we make, from what we eat to how we shop - we all can have a global impact. Embracing a greener lifestyle is not all about saving a tree, its about improving the overall quality of your life. If we want to help the environment is all starts with the way we live - and what we eat. Organic food is not only healthier but it also helps the environment. Buying fresh food means reducing packaging and energy used for processing. Making stuff, takes lots and lots of energy. This includes a lot more than packaging the food you buy- it includes everything like clothing, furniture- just all your “stuff”. Every object has a global impact, just like everything we do- to help mitigate the footprint of your material life, choose goods that are green materials. Buying less stuff and second-hand stuff helps achieve this goal, too. Pollution is another problem we face, especially in the New Jersey area-anytime you choose to walk, ride a bike, or take public transportion you reduce the carbon dioxide produced by driving. Imagine how much cleaner our air would be without all these toxins? I think everyone needs to take in consideration the things they do, if we expect to save the earth then everyone needs to pitch it. These are some ways to start, and everyone can make these changes.

When most people think of “going green,” usually the first thought that comes into their mind is pollution, global warming, or recycling; however, for me, the first thought that comes into my head is natural resource depletion. If you are unfamiliar with the term, you might ask, “What is natural resource depletion?” And to me that is a decent question, because it can mean so many different things. Did you know that a study was done in 1995, and if all the edible food that was just thrown out in the world were recovered, it would be enough food to feed 4 million people for one day? Alongside with food, we have been destroying many of the natural resources, and just have been destroying the earth in general. Studies show that we are cutting down an estimated three to six billion trees per year. These trees could be cutting down on pollution by extracting carbon dioxide from the air. Luckily, technology is beginning to help us out the with the paper pollution issue. Our society is much different than say that of the 90’s when it comes to use of paper. Newspaper companies are having trouble staying in business with the growing number of people with Internet access, students are beginning to type up their notes in computers, and e-mail has taken the place of most letters. Although the tree depletion problem seems to be getting solved, there are many other resources that aren’t. Oil is probably the center of today’s economy, and we are currently at war because of oil. We are currently drilling for oil, and are destroying the natural habitat of much of the Middle East. The emissions that cars produce from the oil are polluting the air, and oil tanker spills have polluted the waters. This air pollution is causing the ice caps to melt and we are destroying yet another natural resource because of our society’s dependency on oil. I believe an all around effort needs to be made in order to stop depleting the natural resources that God gave us. We need to start being better stewards of the earth, and caring for all that we have been given. It starts locally, with recycling, and garbage clean up, but we need scientists to come up with alternate energy sources so we can stop destroying the Middle East in this oil hunt. Progress is being made though; scientists are currently testing out a car that can travel 1,000 miles on a single gallon of gas. Although this technology won’t become available to the common person for a while, that is the type of things we need to produce if we would like to save this earth.
-C.T.

On the topic of going green I would like to discuss recycling. Recycling is the process of taking used materials into new products in order to prevent waste of potentially useful materials. Recycling is something that is essential to our earth. It is one of the easiest tasks that can help change our world forever. Everyone should recycle because it is one of the first steps to making our world a better place. Recycling does a lot for our economy maybe even more than a lot of people thought it does.
Recycling cuts back on global warming. Global warming is a serious threat and is starting to affect our economy in the worst way. By recycling we can help lessen the impact of global warming. One example is if we paper save trees. If we recycle a ton of paper we can save up to around 15 trees. Each of these trees can extract about 250 pounds worth of carbon dioxide from the air in a year’s time.
Recycling also reduces air pollution. If we as a community can recycle paper, metal and plastic products will make less of a demand for these products in factories. Factories would be able to re-use all of these materials instead of making new ones. If we are able to do this it will save a ton of pollution that is dispersed into our air every day. Recycling will also dispose of many materials that produce their own pollution. Recycling creates jobs. A lot of people are scared and worried about jobs and if they’re able to find one due to the economy. Recycling creates jobs, whether it is manufacturing, processing, collection or invention. Recycling is a growth industry and it earns billions upon billions of dollars every day. Recycling is going to become more important each day as populations begin to grow and technology begins to change.
These are some of the many reasons I believe that people need to recycle more. There is tons of information about recycling one website in particular is http://earth911.com/ and it can help you find places near your town to recycle.

- D.R.

So while we’re on the topic of “Go Green”, we’ll talk about pollution. Anyone who lives in Jersey knows about pollution because NJ filled with factories, not to mention we live next to one of the most polluted cities in the world: New York City. As someone who lives in NJ, I often take the NJ Turnpike to the GSP to get to the shore and anyone who’s driven on the Turnpike knows pollution. As you pass Newark International Airport, you pass dozens upon dozens of factories for different companies. Most of these factories are oil refining companies such as Citgo and Gulf and these companies readily and willingly advertise across their storage containers and factories. Pollution is an ever-growing concern and threat to the environment. As opposed to ex-Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, global warming is a very present and hazardous phenomenon. Global warming is caused, in part, by noxious fumes and soot, both of which are byproducts of factories. The smoke and soot billowing out from smoke stacks is harmful and killing the environment. Due to global warming, the ozone is depleting and artic ice caps are melting causing dramatic changes in the environment. For instance, many can note that trees and flowers are blooming later in the spring than in previous years. Summers are becoming even hotter in all parts of the world than they once were, and winters are getting much colder than in previous years. The shifts in environmental conditions lead to a number of factors including ice shelf disruption, Arctic ice caps shrinking, extinction of different species, sea level, and the rate at which diseases are transmitted and mutate. To say the least, pollution sucks. Pollution is causing so many problems for the world which is why it needs to end. Go Green is all for making car/bus/truck fumes less toxic and harmful, preventing trees from being cut down unnecessarily in hopes of saving and preserving the earth.
-J.M.

Our planet is a gift given to us by God. It is meant to be loved, respected, cared for, and cherished. It is meant to be kept clean and beautiful. Why then is it being unloved, disrespected, and becoming dirty? The gift of our planet needs to be taken better care of or one day it may be destroyed.
When people pollute and litter they are ruining our gift. The gift of the Earth can not be replaced; we only have one shot with it. We cannot destroy one of the most beautiful gifts God has given to us. Natural resources, given by the Earth, are so important to our everyday lives, such as, the water we drink, soil we plant in, and the air we breathe. People need to realize that doing even the smallest things can help save our gift of the Earth.
Recycling, reusing, and conserving are all easy ways that we can make our world a beautiful and clean place to live. Throwing plastic bottles into a recycling bin instead of a garbage can is an easy step towards helping to save our environment. Another way to better our planet is by turning the computer off when you are not using it; that conserves energy. An example of reusing would be using both sides of a piece of paper, instead of using just one side and starting again on another page.
If more people took the time to do simple things like recycling our world would be a much cleaner and safer place to live. If something does not change soon we could lose one of the most precious gifts that could ever be given to us. Remember next time you have a plastic bottle to throw it in the recycle bin or when you see a piece of trash on the floor to pick it up and put it in the garbage. Little things can go a long way when you’re dealing with something as big as the planet.


B.S.