When you look at the scope of all the problems in our environment, it seems impossible to make a change. As students, there are many issues out of our direct control, such as habitat loss, deforestation, etc. However, the items we purchase, the decisions we make, and the lifestyles we live all impact the environment in one way or another. Little changes in our daily lives will not stop animals from going extinct or stop the planet from warming, but added up it can largely improve the environmental issues in the world.

1. Conserve energy

High-school students typically do not control where their electricity comes from, but there are plenty of other ways to conserve energy. For example, turning off lights, computers, and phones when they are not being used not only lowers the electricity bill, but it also uses less energy that likely comes from a nonrenewable source. If you are looking for a larger change in your lifestyle, solar panels are a renewable energy source that takes energy from the sun, but they are a huge financial investment.

2. Get involved locally

Getting involved locally is a great way to meet new people and help make a difference where you are. Mrs. Prather, a science teacher at East, recommends recycling at the landfill, volunteering, or learning more about Brown County National Forest, or utilizing the professors at community colleges to learn more about environmental topics. Prather says, “We’re in a pretty good area where we have a really nice city, but then also we have a little community college. A lot of our professors at that community college, specifically for our science stuff, they’re very involved in those Indiana programs that cover some of that stuff.”

3. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• Reduce, reuse, and recycle is a phrase you have likely been hearing for as long as you can remember, but they are extremely important to be sustainable. According to The Recycling Partnership, only about 21% of residential recyclable materials are actually recycled. This solution could be as simple as having a recycling pile in your house to take out to your bin (if you have one at your house), or if not, making a biweekly or monthly trip to manually recycle. If you do not already have curbside recycling pickup, you can sign up here. 

• Reusing is another way to help the environment, and it is less expensive than always buying new things. Prather tries to reuse items instead of buying new ones, for example, when her shoes were breaking. “My shoe was broken. I got super glue, and I fixed it instead of buying another pair of Converse when the other shoe was just fine,” Prather said.

• Ultimately, reducing is the most effective way to be sustainable out of the three Rs because if you do not have it, you do not need to reuse or recycle it. Prather says, “I would say reducing is our key item there because even if we do recycle, that still takes energy, that takes input from us having to change something that we’ve already made into something new. But if we reduce from the get-go, we’re taking out that energy input to reuse other things and also taking out that other energy input of just creating stuff when we don’t really like it.” Although all three Rs are effective and important, reducing is a direct solution, whereas reusing and recycling help manage what has already been done.

Overall, making small changes in your daily life can make a huge difference in the long run for the environment. These changes could be as simple as turning off lights and recycling materials, or they could be as complex as installing solar panels in your home. “It’s important for students in general to learn about environmental issues because you’re our future. As we all know, there’s been, over the past 100 years, not a lot of watching how we’re affecting the environment. It’s not premeditated, like I’m going to try to see what is the impact that I’m going to make. It’s always retrospective, where you’re like, ” Oh, no, we’ve made a very bad impact on the environment. How do we fix this?” Prather said. Learning about environmental problems and about being sustainable now will allow young people to avoid the same mistakes others made in the past.