To future generations:
It’s 2018 and the planet is becoming aware. The Paris Climate agreement has been accepted by 197 countries but not the United States. We who contribute the most to climate change suffer the least. But there are many ordinary U.S. citizens who are becoming aware, informed and trying to change.
What can I as an individual do to help save the planet? Let’s start small.
1. Reduce, reuse, recycle, read
2. Carry useable bags when shopping — plastic bags take 500 years to degrade.
3. Plant flowers — help bees, butterflies and hummingbirds pollinate our world.
4. Combine trips — reduce carbon dioxide emissions by planning ahead and make one trip instead of many.
5. Check your trash — save our land by removing recyclable and compostable stuff.
Everything I do in my life contributes in some way to global warming and ocean acidification. I will not go quietly into the future. I will do what I can to preserve the air, land and water of this beautiful blue planet. This is a start. I hope I am not too late.
— Charlene Lange, Iowa City