Saving the Environment

By Noga Arzi

I have lived for 4,733,640 minutes in my life. Yet litter surrounds me. This is the time to change that. It is clear that people should start taking better care of our environment. Our air is becoming more polluted, we are destroying forests, and ruining our oceans. This must change!

In truth, our air is becoming more and more polluted. For example, Rosenlof, an expert on space says, “Our concern is that by 2050, we may double the amount of rockets going up. That may increase pollution.” We need to stop this. Another reason is that polluting the air is bad for us. It will give us warm air and we don’t need this. It can cause high temperatures and extreme heat to raise levels of pollutants like ozone and particulate matter. Air quality advisories almost always accompany hot weather, and our increased electricity usage to keep things cool during high heat episodes only contributes to greater emissions and primary pollution. Lastly, there are many ways to help stop polluting the air. You can stop using cars and start riding bikes to school or even walk. This proves that polluting the air is bad for the environment.

You will soon discover that we are destroying our forests. For example, people are cutting animals' homes! Birds are all dying and losing homes by people cutting trees. People don’t know what harm this is doing to our environment, but you do. Also, can you realize that trees help us breathe? If we cut all the trees in NJ, then we won’t be able to breathe. We will die immediately. Finally, did you know that land expert Maria Wane said, “Cutting trees can affect ecosystems, climate, and even increase risk for zoonotic diseases spreading to humans.” People can die because of this. I must say that we have to do something about this problem. It will soon be clear that we are also ruining our oceans. For example, every second sea animals die from pollution in our water. It’s ruining our ecosystem. Fish, seabirds, sea turtles, and marine mammals can become entangled in or ingest plastic debris, causing suffocation, starvation, and drowning. Another reason that overfishing is reducing fish populations. Fish are being caught faster than they can reproduce, hindering their ability to maintain healthy population numbers. Finally, ocean expert Hailey Kim says, “Throwing plastic bags in the ocean harms sea turtles.” Many sea animals die because of plastic in the ocean. In the ocean, plastic pollution impacts sea turtles, whales, seabirds, fish, coral reefs, and other marine species and habitats. In fact, scientists estimate that more than half of the world's sea turtles and nearly every seabird on Earth have eaten plastic in their lifetimes. For certain, throwing plastic in our ocean harms everyone. As you can see, it’s now or never to stop pollution! We need to help our community and save the planet! This is why we need to stop destroying our forests, polluting the air, and ruining our ocean. We need to take better care of our environment!