Taking Responsibility

First of all, Happy New Year! Welcome to 2017, a year that I hope will bring more joy than the previous year did. I recently found a video from Friendly Dog Studios called "2016: The Movie (Trailer)." If you are looking to laugh at some of the terrible events that occurred in the past year, I highly recommend that you watch this video.

In this new year I have resolved to do all I can to bring back some health to our environment, although it feels as though our new elected administration is trying to do the exact opposite. It is apparent from Trump's pick for the new administrator of the EPA that he has no intention of supporting the environmentalist movement. The incumbent administrator, Gina McCarthy has a Master of Science in Environmental Health Engineering and Planning and Policy from Tufts University in 1981. Trump's new pick, Scott Pruitt, has a professional law degree. This topic relates to my post a couple of days ago on the battle between science and politics. When it comes to the environment, scientific facts must win out over political agendas.

Gina McCarthy (left), incumbent administrator, and Scott Pruitt (right), Trump's new pick for administrator

For the next 4 years at least, those who want to better the environment will have to rely on themselves, not public policies for action. I do not know what time period Trump and his supporters want to return to in order to "Make America Great Again," but our environment is far more strained today than it was 100 years ago. Only 100 years ago, which is a small amount of time when you consider the entire history of the Earth, the human population was 1.5 billion. Today it is 7 billion. If we all want to coexist on this planet, we will have to take better care of it. The government does not have to be the ones to start this change, although it would be helpful if they did. Plenty of small businesses have great climate saving ideas and inventions. SunRidge Farms in California for example, which pays its workers $5/day to bike to and from work, has installed solar panels on its manufacturing facility, and supplies its workers with cloth bags to encourage the reduction of plastic and paper bag waste. I recycle, compost, and bring my own bags to the grocery store without the government forcing my hand. However, the message must be clear, and people need to know the scientific facts without political muddlings. If people know the truth and feel responsible for their individual contribution to climate change, then they will do the right thing all on their own.

So what can we do? Spread the truth, make the necessary conversations happen with friends and loved ones, and make lifestyle changes in order to set the example for others. Chances are that the people around you want to do the right thing, but don't know how or are too busy to figure it out. By making small adjustments to your routine, you can be their reminder for the future. I started with reusable grocery bags, then moved to reusable water bottles and coffee thermoses, and now I have a homemade compost bin in my apartment. By making one improvement at a time, I could adjust my routine until each change independently became automatic. My new sustainable habits take almost no extra time to maintain, they only required time at the beginning to figure out how each habit would fit into my schedule and my lifestyle. Together, we can reduce our impact on the environment, with or without the new administration.