On April 22, 2017, people all over the world celebrated the 47th anniversary of Earth Day. It was started in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson to honor Earth’s sustainability and encourage protecting the habitat of this planet.

It looks like the Earth is always in clean condition with all those bright evergreen trees and grass, but in reality people abuse the Earth. For example, people leave their lights on for too long. Trash, like cigarettes and gum, is dropped on the floor, and plastic rubbish is thrown into the ocean.

Surprisingly, Glen Rock High School combines the recyclables with the trash into one bag at the end of the day, tossing them out together. According to a previous report by The Glen Echo, this is because trash has been put into the recycling bins by students, and it’s not safe for the custodians to sort through garbage looking for recyclables.  However, people are hurting the environment by not throwing their recycles and trash into the right place.

It’s disrespectful to do this because a lot of people throw recycles into the correct bin thinking that they are doing something helpful.

What are the results of such a seemingly minor choice between trash and recycling?

Well, global warming has been arising more often than previous years. Global warming has always been a major issue. This year, February had intermittent cold weather. For example, on Feb. 19, the temperature was around 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, in the beginning of the year, Canadian glaciers experienced the warm arctic weather which caused sea level to rise. Studies say that 90 percent of the glacier’s surface melted. The lack of concern regarding the wellness of the Earth needs to end.

Global warming occurs more because of the fossil fuels being burned creating a greenhouse effect. As a result, carbon dioxide gas forms which is harmful to the environment. Humans need to use less gas in order to stop the weather from being off guard.

Not only that, but more animals are becoming more and more extinct. For example, in the beginning of 2017, scientists found out that the cheetah population was endangered. Only 7,100 cheetahs remain living. Also, the vaquita, the smallest porpoise is likely to become extinct this year. The reason many species, including cheetahs and vaquita are becoming extinct is because of air contamination and hunting.

The main problem is that the human population don’t realize that they’re the ones hurting the habitat. Many years ago, the population was smaller and agriculture was a huge. Now, the human population has grown significantly and more people work in the industrial field.

Therefore, people should start caring about the Earth because issues like global warming, littering, and hunting could affect future generations negatively. In order to make Earth day more meaningful, people should conserve their energy in their buildings or homes, throw trash in the right bins, stop hunting for animals, and drive less to reduce the amount of toxins being emitted. We as a whole should start participating in more efforts to preserve the environment. So, reduce, reuse, recycle!