Enviroment

Environment
Most people want to help the earth but very few actually go out and do something. To help the earth we don’t have to clean up ten miles of highway or beaches. We can do those things but I found some easier ways to help out. Americans working together can help to make our environment better, healthier and cleaner.
We can help prevent air pollution by using alternative ways of traveling.
In America most people use cars and almost every person in the family has their own car. By having so many cars, we cause air pollution. What should we do about that? As I have experienced the community system in Europe, we could use more public transportation like the train, bus or light rail. All those types of transportation are great for saving gas, saving time spent in traffic, and it can be a place to meet interesting people. When I was in high school I was traveling to school, either by bus or by train. I had three friends that were living in my city, two of them were in my class the other one was year older. We decided to be on the 7:00 am bus number 17 so we all could meet in the same bus and spend time together. Five days a week we were riding this same bus. Most the time there were the same people and two drivers that we meet. Sometimes we were studying together for test or copying homework. Other times we listened to people tell stories, but most of all we were making relationship. Riding the bus was fun. Another way, that we can do, to help prevent air pollution is using the carpool line. We know how bad is the traffic during rush hours and how bad we want to use carpool, and we do. In consequences, we getting ticket because in the vehicle was only one person. We can change that, helping the air pollution and ourselves. As we going to work we can ask co-workers if they want to drive together with us, or our neighbor when we go shopping. As an example I would like to tell what I’m doing helping our environment. First, I call my friends if they want to go shopping. If they agree I’m picking them up, and we are going together. I also have few friends that are going to this same school. Since we meet, we made our school schedules similar, so we can drive to school and back home together. There is one more way that we can do. We can start using more often, our own two feet. Sometimes I see people going from one store to another using cars. They often have problem with finding parking, the stores are only across a street way not use our feet. We can walk form store to store saving time and gas but also catch some fresh air. In America people are gaining weight and the air pollution is getting worse because we using cars. I know that if we start to realize how bad is our air pollution, we can change our habits and do a lot more to help our environment.
We can help prevent water pollution. Water is one of the most important things in our lives. People without water will live no longer than one week. I found four ways to help prevent water pollution. First, we can start in our home. We should correctly dispose of hazardous household products. We should keep paint, used oil, pool chemicals, and other hazardous household chemicals out of drains, sinks, and toilets. We should conserve water by taking shorter showers, and when we brush our teeth we shouldn’t keep the water running, instead put some water in a cup and rinse our mouth. We also could recycle and dispose of all the trash properly. Never flush non-degradable products- such as diapers or tampons in the toilet. If we do that, they can damage the sewage treatment process and end up littering beaches and water. We can also save water in our yard by using neutral fertilizers, also by avoiding over-watering laws and gardens, even maintaining septic property. My own experience showed me that I could save my money and water at the same time. My garden needs watering everyday especially in the summer time. My bills were very high because I was over-watering using the sprinkler system. I decided to catch some water when it rains and water my flower and grass. But if it didn’t rain, I started using a watering can. That way I can spend more time in my garden and I save more water. Maintaining our car is very important. However, we should recycle the used motor oil and be "green" when washing our car. As an example, we can hand-wash our car on the lawn with a bucket of soapy water, rags and a hose. Just turning off the hose between rinsing, we can save up to 150 gallons. But if you don’t want to do it your self choose a car wash recycles its water. As a community we can help prevent water pollution. We can join a local clean water or environmental group that monitors industries and sewage treatment plants that are discharges waste. Local groups can effectively work together with state environmental agencies. As a community, we can contact public officials and attend hearings to encourage them to support laws and programs to protect our water. We can ask officials to control polluted runoff, increase protection for wetlands and other aquatic ecosystems, as well as reduce the flow of toxics into our waterways. We can volunteer for a beach-or stream clean up, tree planting, water quality sampling, or a stream pollution-monitoring project sponsored by a local environment group or watershed council. We must fight for clean water and do everything to help our water pollution, so that we can have the benefit of pure water.
Helping save the environment is very important for as and for our future generations. If we can start working together our planet can stay cleaner, more beautiful and safer for our children. We shouldn’t be afraid to do something about that. If other people will see that we care, we really can do something, and they will do to. Working together can make miracles.