Winning Entries offer insight into Holiday

Winning Entries offer insight into Holiday

Earth Day 40:
A New Beginning

    Earth day helps raise awareness of the urgent problem that climate change poses to our planet and all of the diverse forms of life that inhabit, including Homo Sapiens. It helps inspire people and lets them appreciate the true, natural beauty that the Earth embodies. However, I believe that Earth Day has slightly missed its target lf we want people to use clean energy, recycle, and preserve the stunning beauty that we have here on our little blue planet, we need more than a day to educate people, and potentially even change the way they live. How many amazing things have been done in one day? One day was not enough for the education and upbringing of our greatest scientists, artists, and politicians, or the culmination of their entire life’s work in accomplishing their goals. The great pyramids were not built in a day. The human genome was not sequenced in a day.
    How do you suppose that the complete re-education reformation of the whole of humanity, how we live, how we behave, and how we interact with our environment can be accomplished in one meager day per year? Earth Day should not be the one day that people turn the lights off when they leave the room. It should not be the one day when they put a bottle in the recycle bin. Earth Day should be a celebration of the change that the people supporting it have already accomplished, and the promising future that our planet potentially holds for us. I believe that the people behind Earth Day and its supporters can start a chain reaction. If they live their lives in an environmentally conscious manner, and prove to the rest of the world that it is the better direction in which to lead posterity, more people will follow. The whole attitude of humanity towards the climate and the environment needs to change. I propose that Earth Day 40 be celebrated not as a one-time endeavor to help the world, but as the beginning of a new era in education and how people conduct their lives. After all, it’s for everyone’s benefit.

Earth Day 40

    I like going for walks down the road; it puts me in a good mood. But, unfortunately, my good mood is usually ruined when I look in the ditches. When I look in the ditches, l see plastic or glass bottles, plastic containers, Styrofoam, and other materials people had so carelessly chucked out of their cars.
    I can’t stand seeing trash just being thrown out the window. I don’t think people realize that throwing, let’s say bottle rings, is a choking hazard not only for wild animals, but for domestic pets too. What if you were out walking your dog, and you stopped to talk to one of your friends who was also outside and going for a walk? You weren’t watching your dog, so he leaned over and started trying to eat those bottle rings in the ditch!
    Most animals can’t tell if something is garbage or food, but they may eat it Anyway, or, even if they’re not trying to eat the trash itself, and there’s a bit of food stuck to it, they may end up eating the entire thing. Also, when the rain comes and washes the ditches out, most of the trash may end up in a river and, eventually, in the ocean. I hate seeing all of that trash in the ditch. Yes, I have seen the road workers going around picking up some of it, but that doesn’t seem to happen very often. For Earth Day’s 40th celebration, I want to educate people on how much waste is thrown into ditches. I want people to know what happens to that soda bottle when they throw it out of their car. I think it would be nice if we had a big town cleanup, where everyone available in town would come out every two weeks or so, and have a town wide ditch clean up!

Earth Day
2010 Essay

By Anna Cannon

    A way to commemorate forty years of Earth Day would be to get a bunch of people together and have everyone plant a tree somewhere around their community. One seed could be given to each person who comes and they could plant it.
    Trees are very important to the environment. They create oxygen and reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which fights global warming. They absorb the carbon dioxide and release oxygen. Just one acre of a forest can absorb one hundred fifty to two hundred tons of carbon dioxide in forty years. Those aren’t the only benefits. Trees also prevent erosion, clean water, provide wood and food and provide homes for wildlife. Trees are also good for communities. Neighborhoods with trees are six to 100 F cooler than neighborhoods that don’t have trees. Also, if trees are planted around a parking lot, they keep cars cooler and lower their emissions from fuel tanks and engines. Just three trees around your house can save up to thirty percent of energy use. But each year trees are killed. Deforestation is closely connected to global warming. Almost twenty five percent of man-made carbon dioxide emissions come from deforestation and almost two billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions come from deforestation each year. It’s very important to plant trees to fight global warming.
    After everyone has planted their tree, people could give a presentation to raise awareness about how important trees are to the environment and how many are killed each year. This earth day activity would help the environment and it would show people how important trees are to the environment. That is my idea of a way to commemorate forty years of Earth day.

Save the Planet!
Go Green!

By Lindsey Graves

    The world only has a certain amount of resources left and it’s our job to conserve as much of it as we can. Each year we celebrate Earth day. In doing so, it offers an awareness about the world we live in. It offers us knowledge about what the condition the earth is in now, and what it will be like in future years if we do not start conserving. There are many little things we can do to help save our planet. We all can do our part simply by doing simple things like unplugging our cell phone charger’s at night, recycling things like bottles, cans, and paper, taking shorter showers, and car pooling with friends. These are just some ideas on how we can save our planet. Recycling is a good idea. Since our landfills are filling up with plastics and other harmful wastes, we could benefit by recycling more and creating less waste for our community landfills. Reusable plastics can really save us. Some stores have even gone green. These contributing efforts can and will help the environment. Apple stores are helping the planet by taking back and recycling any unwanted and broken i-pods manufactured from their stores. Over 90 percent of the machine parts can be reused. This keeps hazardous metals out of landfills and keeps toxic chemicals out of the air.
    If you’re really into going green, you can start with your vehicle. As you already know, when you drive, you are using gasoline to fuel your car; so, it can get you where you need to go. If you’re driving around with extra weight in trunk you’re burning your gas faster than you normally would if your trunk was empty. Also, if you’re driving around with improperly inflated tires – did you know that with proper tire pressure, you can create less friction giving you better gas mileage?
    If every American drove on properly inflated tires, we’d save two billion gallons of gas each year! If you like to take your car through the drive-through at fast food restaurants, think again! By using the drive through, it causes your car to idle, which consumes the most gas. So, it’s more eco-friendly to just go inside and get your food. You can also do your part by walking to where you need to go or carpooling with friends instead of driving. This alone can save tons of gas plus give you a workout. Look on the bright side, by making simple changes to your daily lifestyle, you can save the earth and save money! So that’s definitely a win-win situation.
    Saving the world isn’t going to happen by itself. It’s going to need our help! On April 22, 2010 we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Everyone needs to get involved and work together to help change the planet. This year, we should celebrate Earth Day by vowing to consume less energy in our lives. Together we can create a more “greener” earth, but it’s going to take some work and it can’t be just one day a year. It has to be everyone all year long. So, get going, get the word out about Earth Day, and how we all can benefit by saving the planet and going green!

Individual

Recognition

By Justin Lewin

    Recognition is given to significant events and important individuals via holidays and various celebrations throughout each and every year. One individual deserves recognition above all, that is our planet Earth. Without Earth we essentially would not exist, it is our source of sustenance and our refuge. For everything that Earth provides for us on a daily basis, we must recognize it each and every day. I wrote the following cinquain poem in recognition of Earth.
Earth
Large, Ancient
Spinning, Changing, Aging
Forever, Amazing, Welcoming, Home
World
    I feel that our Earth deserves recognition each and every day. Earth Day 40 should be celebrated in several ways. Firstly, everyone should go outside to experience Earth in its purest form. Once outside, we should all write a list of 40 attributes or characteristics of Earth that brings joy, pleasure, excitement, or interest to our lives. The list should then be replicated and placed in strategic places throughout each person’s home and work, if possible. Not only should we remind ourselves, but the list of 40 could be e-mailed to 40 contacts to ensure that they are exposed to the wonderful attributes of Earth. This would help to ensure that we do not forget the significance of Earth and the reasons that Earth is important to us all.
    Another way to celebrate Earth Day 40 would be to create competition among businesses and schools in the district, or nation, for that matter. Competitors would be responsible for decreasing their carbon footprint. The carbon footprint of each school could be reduced by recycling, conservation, careful consumption of local products, and minimizing travel that is dependent on fossil fuels. This carbon footprint reduction would be beneficial to Earth in many ways, by increasing awareness of what a carbon footprint is and how to reduce it, as well as the actual carbon footprint reduction of these organizations. Each little bit helps, and if everyone did a little, the Earth would benefit tremendously. The top organizations that reduced their carbon footprint the most could be awarded a young tree of their choosing. This tree would further help Earth by establishing the diminishing forests and provide habitats for the creatures and organisms which thrive in, on, and around them. These trees would last for many Earth Days to come and benefit Earth as well as the occupants of this wonderful and gorgeous plant that we are all fortunate to call home.
Everyone should recognize and
Appreciate our world that is
Revolving and changing over
Time, because it is our
Home.

Today’s Change for a Better Tomorrow

    According to the Dictionary, Earth Day is a day’s observance of the need to protect Earth’s environment, celebrated on April 22nd. Most people think nothing of this day, going on with their normal schedules. A lot of people are not even aware that this day exists. In a way we’re all hypocrites in that we all say we want to help the Earth and do our part, but we say that so we don’t look like ignorant imbeciles.
    We want others to actually believe we care in something more than ourselves, but when we are alone with ourselves we have no such thoughts. This is the sad truth for a very many of us in today’s society. So what could we do to change it, and actually become a caretaker of the planet in which we reside? We must raise an awareness, and warn people of the dangers of not caring. If schools in America took the day and turned it into an Earth Day festivity, kids would be more likely to remember the event and be affected by it. They could create games centered on the theme of Earth and Mother Nature, and incorporate the basic facts of the day into them. Most schools that I know don’t do anything more than maybe mention the fact that it’s Earth Day. If we had a nationwide day of fun for kids through high school, awareness would be spread rather quickly. Earth Day would get the attention it needs.
    Another thing, I believe would really help raise awareness for this special day would be if at schools all the kids wrote a letter of appreciation to one of the many different organizations that work hard to keep Earth clean and beautiful. It wouldn’t have to be much, but just a little note of appreciation would be good. There are so many groups that spend their lives working hard to create a clean, livable environment for us. They deserve more recognition and praise then we give them.
    One might ask me why I think only schools should take part in this day, and I would argue that kids are the future. As cliché as it sounds, it’s true. We raise our kids to be the people we hoped we would one day be. We also need to remember that kids are great when it comes to spreading the word. This would be a good way for Earth Day to get recognition. Next week, on April 22nd, the celebration of the 40rh year of Earth Day will occur. We need to reach our children and get them involved in a lifelong process of saving our planet. As beautiful as our planet is, we need to realize it might not always be that way. We need to jump on the bandwagon and alert society about what we can do this Earth Day to shape our future.

The Case for Water

    In our area, we are fortunate to have seemingly limitless access to clean water. For most of us, the turn of a faucet provides us with water that can usually be expected to be safe to drink. Some may argue that, with our typically tumultuous, snowy winters, Aroostook County even has too much water. But what of the countless regions worldwide where clean water is either non-existent or scarce, where drinking water, one of the basic necessities of life, could potentially costs a person their life? This year as we celebrate Earth Day, it could be very rewarding to keep our planet’s water in mind.
    For people living in an area where clean water is almost considered mundane, it might be helpful to try acquiring a passion for water this Earth Day. Fortunately, there are countless, diverse ways to do so. Perhaps, if a person is an avid gardener, they might decide to place buckets and other forms of “rain-catchers” near their house to collect water during rainstorms to water their plants, rather than use the hose. Or maybe an aspiring artist could decide to splurge on Earth Day by creating a water color painting emphasizing environmental awareness, thereafter adamantly supporting water conservation. Athletes might discover kayaking, canoeing, or swimming at local lakes and rivers as ways of realizing the tremendous impact of water in Aroostook County while also admiring nature. Meanwhile, the casual scientist might find a well-spent Earth Day in examining water’s unique properties via different experiments; for example, discover the property of surface tension by seeing how many water droplets can fit on a penny.
    Regardless of how one discovers an inner love of water, arguably the best way of spending the remainder of your Earth Day would be to establish new guidelines of water use. The Environmental Protection Agency’s website alone provides many ways for decreasing the quantity of water one uses daily. Try, for example, scraping rather than rinsing plates before putting them in the dishwasher, or make a point of repairing all leaks around the house. Challenge yourself to take a shorter shower, or to not leave the water running while brushing your teeth. Outside, one can prevent water pollution by ensuring litter, pet wastes, leaves, and debris are away from street gutters or storm drains that drain into the local watershed. For those with a certain competitive spirit, greater determination to reduce water use might be encouraged by challenging another household to a contest to see who can make the most drastic, water conserving changes in their lifestyle.
    As much as water is all around us, it is important to realize that on Earth Day, we are not merely celebrating our local environment, but also reminding ourselves of our responsibility to improve our world environment as a whole. Emphasizing water conservation on April twenty-second is just the beginning of becoming a more environmentally aware world citizen. In fact, the changes you make in your water-usage habits could remain in place for years to come.