I think it is pretty clear that all of us know the conditions of our planet, but do we really know the extremes of them? In honor of the 52nd Earth Day, I decided to take a look into this crisis more. Sadly, this isn't a new thing that society has been paying attention to, scientists have been warning us for years about the upcoming reality of our home. Even though they have been giving us ways to slow down the process of destruction, society hasn't been listening. Now is the time we have to act.  

The data over the years have been outrageous, scientists recorded the second hottest day in history in 2019. That isn't just some coincidence, it is caused directly from global warming. Not just the heat of our atmosphere, but our oceans are heating up. In 2019 again,  temperatures were higher than ever before. To us this weather may be nice to have at the beach, but it is destructive to animal’s homes and ecosystems. High temperature waters can affect the animal's ecosystem. Not to mention all of the plastic we have been filling it with. The latest stats of how much estimated microplastics in our waters was 5.25 trillion, and that was in 2020. The numbers for 2022 will be much greater. There are many companies now that produce products to lessen that number, but sadly it is only removing less than a quarter. A common and known company that was made to stop this crisis was 4Ocean. The brand started off making a 20 dollar bracelet that was said to remove a pound of trash from the ocean. This is a start to a long journey to change the state of our planet. 

Saying we can help the planet is a lot harder than most people think. It is easy to say we won't use plastic, or eat organic food but it is hard to actually do. Why this has been pushed back so much is because it is difficult to ask millions of companies to just stop producing their product. Telling society that they cannot use their car, their main form of transportation, and that they should go back to bicycles or even horses is almost impossible. Researchers are essentially asking people to revert back to the 1800’s. These requests are too big and broad to ask our world to do, no one will listen.  The President cannot control what most brands produce, and brands won’t stop putting out what is making them money. Although, there are some ways communities can step in and help out, this problem won’t stop completely but can slow it down. 

Starting with what is known as the three R’s. Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Cutting down plastic use and watching what you throw away, is a huge help for the environment. Compost gardens are very helpful because you are recycling to an extreme. You are putting what you just used and putting it back into the environment to use as nutrients. Although it is hard to ask a stubborn community to change their way of life, it has to be done.  On the other hand, another very easy and effective way to help out our earth is volunteering in towns to help pick up trash. Shopping with reusable bags is a super quick and easy way to feel like you are helping the world. 

In order to save the environment people must recycle, volunteer, and educate others. This needs to come to and end before it is too late. There is no excuse, we can't keep pushing off. Change starts today.