Earth Day is a time when everyone here at Butler should reflect on how he or she can become more environmentally friendly.
While Earth Day already happened Monday, it is not too late to improve this planet.
We all have a responsibility to take care of the Earth. We hear about this responsibility all the time.
This responsibility, according to society, is to our children and their children and so on. Future generations will have to live in this same place. They will need natural resources and clean air just like we do now.
If we do not clean up the way we treat our home now, future generations will not be able to survive. Polluted rivers and a depleted ozone layer will make Earth uninhabitable.
If you have been paying attention for the past two decades, you already know all of these things. Activists have been pushing to help “save the planet,” and laws are now in place to push the movement forward.
However, it is important not to ignore the little things that we can do every day. It is easy to think that someone else will do the job for us. What will truly help is if every person continues to pitch in.
President Jim Danko signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment last semester. Its goal is to lower the amount of greenhouse gas in the environment by targeting colleges.
College campuses have an extremely dense population requiring a large number of resources in a small area. The ACUPCC’s aim is to stop campuses from damaging the environment with excessive waste.
Within the next two years, Butler will recieve the date at which the university needs to be completely free of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the agreement Danko signed.
The Council on Presidential Affairs Green Committee will announce that students can help accomplish this goal within the next two years. The success of this mission requires every student paying attention and helping how either he or she can.
For the short term, Earth Day Indiana is happening Saturday in downtown Indianapolis. There will be food, live music and exhibitions to learn more about what we can do.
Students should attend Earth Day or volunteer at the event because being informed about what we can do is the first step to fixing the problems Earth currently has.
Earth Day only happens once a year, but humans contribute to the Earth’s overall decline year-round. As part of a college campus, students need to be especially aware of how they can help prevent their community from damaging the planet even more.