You have to care. The future of this planet and of our species and many others depends on you caring. Everything you do impacts our planet.
Every time you throw a plastic bag in the garbage instead of reusing it or recycling it, you are contributing to the mountain of non-degradable material we are collecting on our planet. Every time you drive your car to somewhere you could easily walk you are adding to the pollution in the atmosphere. Every time you flush bleach down your toilet you are adding to the poison in our lakes and rivers.
Pollution is a huge problem, it may seem insurmounrable, your efforts may seem insignificant, but they are not. Big problems are created by many people doing small damage, and the solution is for each one of us to take responsibility for how we treat our planet.
In 1989 more than 1 billion pounds of chemicals were released into the ground. This is the underground water and soil that we drink and grow our food in. Over 188,000,000 pounds of chemicals were released directly into surface waters, and 2,400,000,000 pounds of chemical emissions were pumped into the air. A grand total of 5,705,670,380 pounds of chemical pollutants were released into our environment in just one year. And it hasn't improved much since then.
Everything you do to prevent any of this will help.
Educate yourself. Learn about what happens to the things you use and discard. Find out what your local municipality offers in recycling services. Be prepared to make the effort to take your recyclables somewhere if they do not collect. And IF they do not collect, lobby until they do. It is far better to have trucks collecting from the kerbside rather than thousands of cars drivng to the recycling depot!
On this site you will find Natural Cleaning Products that you can use in your home to lessen the harm to the water supplies. You can use Organic Growing Methods to lessen the harm done to the soil. You can use alternative power such as solar energy, and you can take the bus, or buy a bicycle, instead of filling the air with car exhaust fumes. Every little effort you make, however small, will HELP.
Above all never dispose of household hazardous waste improperly. Here are some examples of HHW that you should always get advice from your local municipality as to how best rid yourself of them.
REMEMBER! Prevention is better than cure. If you don't BUY it, you don't have to DISPOSE of it. At the simplest level, if a store lets you use your own shopping bag, never accept one of theirs. If they don't allow this, ask for management and find out why. Don't buy products that are over-wrapped.