The environment is in need of our assistance. Every year that passes more and more resources are being used up, species dying out, and ecosystems being destroyed. As the human race, it is our job to protect and preserve our world as a whole. If we all work together we can really make a change with our current issues at hand. There are many simple and easy things we can do in order to make a difference and greatly benefit this world. Some ways we can help the environment is by reducing water pollution and consumption, cutting down CO2 emission and using a more eco-friendly form of travel, and creating less plastic waste.

Water pollution is a serious issue nowadays. According to CNN and VICE news, some towns in China have such bad water pollution they are being called “cancer villages” because every other house has someone dying of cancer or other medical issues. The main reasons for water pollution are due to chemical runoffs by factories and even things we put down our drains as well. Ways we can do our part as to not create more water pollution is: not pouring any kind of fat down our drains, do not dispose of household chemicals or cleaning agents down the sinks or toilets, do not flush pills or drugs down the toilet, and avoid using the garbage disposal in the sink. Not only water pollution is an issue, but water consumption is as well. As our population grows, more and more water is being used, and not inefficient ways. Out of all the water in the world, only 1 percent of it is able for us humans to use, and the rest is salt water or fresh water frozen in ice caps. According to EPA, the average American family uses 300 gallons of water a day, 70 percent is used indoors, while the other 30 is used outdoors. Due to increasing climate change as well we are seeing an increasing amount of warm weather with fewer rains, which affects our freshwater supplies and affects the world altogether. Ways that people can help with this issue of decreasing water supply is simply just used less water when in the house. When you shower make sure its under five minutes or turn it off and on again when cleaning yourself, turn off the tap when you brush your teeth, as the old saying goes “if it's yellow let it mellow”, shrink down your lawn so you use less water or buy water saving plants like succulents, buy water-efficient tools in your house, don't wash your laundry as much, reuse grey water, don't run the dishwasher if it isn't full, and install a rain bucket. With easy changes to our normal day water uses, we can greatly help the world with overusing water, and water contamination.

Just as we are consuming too much of our freshwater supply, we are emitting too much CO2 into the atmosphere, and if we keep going then by 2300 the ocean will have risen up to 3 meters and will continue to make natural weather patterns more ferocious.  Natural geographic states that in the last 150 years we have pumped more Co2 in the air, raising the level of it higher than it has been in thousands of years. The US is the second largest CO2 emitter in the world, it alone produces more than 5,172,336 metric tons of CO2 yearly, while China produces 10,641,789 metric tons yearly. As American citizens, it is our duty is the nation if we want to help mother earth that we need to cut down our CO2 emissions. Ways to do that are by cutting out short cars trip, bicycling, walking, use public transport whenever possible, when your at home turn of your lights when not in use, don't leave laptops or phones plugged in, don't burn leaf litter, source food locally, and before you buy something ask yourself do you really need it because rampant consumerism is a big part of why we have so much carbon emission. Even though some of these things might seem like a hassle, it is for the greatest good of our planet to try and protect it and keep it clean, because if we don't deal with how much greenhouse gas we are emitting we could possibly destroy our earth as we know it.

In order to help our Earth as well, we desperately need to cut down our use of plastic. Plastic is contamination our earth and waters, affecting the ecosystems around them. Plastic is made to last forever, yet more and more if thrown out every day and not reused. According to the Pristine Planet, more than 50 million plastic bottles are thrown out every day in the US, and they are not recycled. Worldwide over 500 million plastic straws are used and thrown away without being recycled, and according to Ocean Crusader shoppers worldwide use over 500 billion plastic bags per year. Much of this thrown out plastic ends up in the ocean, or forests, which causes great harm to the animal species living there. 100,000 marine animals die every year by consuming large amounts of plastic, and that number is only of the animals that have been found. Approximately 1 million birds die each year from plastic, and the awful thing about plastic is that is taken at least 450 years to degrade. In that amount of time to degrade and anima could ingest the plastic, and after the animal dies and decomposes itself the plastic will be released from the animal and possibly kill other animals as well. According to Ocean Crusades again in every square mile of the ocean, there is believed to be around 46,000 pieces of plastic, and 13,000-15,000 pieces of plastic are dumped into the ocean every day. Scientists have identified 200 “dead zones” in the ocean where it has become overrun by plastic, garbage, and chemicals that no organisms can grow. Thankfully there are some ways us humans can participate in order to reduce our use of plastic. These ways include: only use decomposable or reusable straws, bring your own shopping bag to stores, bring your own thermos to coffee shops, stop buying plastic water bottles, don't buy disposable razors, make your period waste-free, shop in bulk, on buying thing in plastic casing or packaging, and always recycle when you can. These simple thing will greatly reduce or plastic waste, and hopefully, help the areas being affected by plastic the most. Unless we change, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. We need to change our ways of using plastic or else it will ruin our beautiful world, and it is our job as a species on this Earth to help protect it and maintain it.

With simple tactics, we can help reduce water pollution and consumption, CO2 emission, and plastic waste. The world is in need of our help and if we want to continue living on this planet successfully we need to take the steps to protect and conserve our environment. If we do not we could potentially run out of a lot of our natural water preserves, contaminate many our water sources, create even more negative effects by global warming, have the ice caps melt creating higher ocean levels, and destroy our ecosystem with plastic. As the human race it is our duty to protect and preserve our world and if we all do these small and simple tasks together we can change to the world in a big and positive way.