Our Voice

    The worldwide Earth Day is upon us as it rapidly approaches.  April 22, will mark the thirty-eighth time that Earth Day has been formally celebrated. As a collective mind, we the editorial staff of The Colonnade, believe this is a powerful time to evaluate and consider the state of the world in this crucial generation that is constantly inundated with concern for the “environmental crisis.” 
    The Colonnade takes consideration of environmental impact by recycling whenever possible.  Being a newspaper, naturally we use large amounts of paper each week, but we try our best to offset this by collecting unused newspapers left in the newsstands each week and dropping them off at the local recycling station. 
    Additionally, we encourage our readers to do the same and recycle each issue they accumulate for personal use. 
    The editorial staff is even considering placing a recycle reminder in the paper by printing the universal symbol for recycling on the corner of the front page, just to further stress the importance of taking action each and every opportunity. 
    The whole point of Earth Day, really, seems to be to stress the importance of taking action instead of settling with apathy when it comes to the very large, and sometimes overwhelming, issue of the environment. Perhaps the latter is easier—settling with apathy. 
    Perhaps it is ignorance rather than apathy, and many people just don’t know where to start when it comes to reducing personal human impact. Or, maybe, it is that some people feel they are unable to make a difference with their current situation due to lack of money, time or resources. 
    Whatever the problem really is may never be known for sure, but one thing can be certain—everyone is responsible. Personal impact falls back onto the individual, and if everyone took little initiatives to lessen his or her impact in everyday life then that could truly make all the difference. 
    So, what can you do? 
    Next time you finish off a can of soda, take an extra five minutes to find an aluminum can recycle bin to dispose it in instead of tossing it to the landfill—its your responsibility, not the next guy’s. 
    Next time you grocery shop, suggest that the bagger use paper bags, or that he or she simply stuff more items into each plastic bag rather than giving each item it’s own personal plastic home.  Better yet, take your own canvas or cloth bags to carry groceries home. 
    Place a bin specifically for recyclable items next to your trash can, then separate and drop ‘em off at the recycle station every couple of weeks or so—it’s a sacrifice of a mere 30 minutes spread out over several weeks. 
    ANYTHING you consciously do to lessen your personal environmental impact can help. 

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Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 11 2008. Filed under Opinion, Our Voice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry