What? Make a difference in the whole world . . . How could I do that? I’m just one person! Well, actually it’s much easier than it seems! Anyone can make a difference in their home, community and yes, even in the whole world too. There are so many ways to make a difference and everything you do will help! Below are ten simple ways to help change the world. Just follow these and you’ll be helping the world in so many ways. The power is in your hands!!!
- Under “Take Action at Home” there are some lists with ways you can reduce your environmental impact at home. Please take a look at these! By living sustainably and thinking before you make an action, you’ll greatly reduce your own environmental footprint. Everything you do will help!
- Share your knowledge with others. Whenever you see something being wasted or an environmental problem, suggest a greener alternative and explain why it would help. Then you’ll have already started to spread the word!
- Encourage your class to think about the Earth. Try to suggest environmental problems as discussion topics, help create and maintain a sustainable classroom and try to focus on environmental topics for your school projects, so that you can educate your classmates about the environment. This is an easy way to spread the word to a group of people!
- Have fun learning and sharing your knowledge about the environment, by signing up for after school eco classes or summer camps. Check to see if your local community centre offers any green classes or summer day camps. In the summer, you might want to try going to FUN Camps (www.funcamps.ca/Home.html) or Catching the Spirit (http://www.catchingthespirit.com/). These are both really fun camps where you’ll learn all about the environment and ways to help!
- Join your school environmental club. If you don’t already have one, then start one! Find a teacher sponsor who might be interested and pick a day to have meetings. With your club, you can make you school green, encourage students to think about the Earth and help the environment in many ways. Get your school to recycle and compost (if they don’t already), start a vegetable garden, encourage students to walk or bike to school and bring litterless lunches, and donate students’ old clothes to charity. You would be surprised to learn how much this helps our Earth!
- A great way to make a difference is through donations and fundraisers! By yourself or with a group of friends, pick an environmental charity and start raising money for it. Great ways to do this are through lemonade stands in your neighbourhood, or coin drives or bake sales in your school. You can ask your principal to speak about the charity at an assembly, make announcements and put up posters around your school to advertise for your fundraiser. Then I assure you, you’ll get a great turn out and raise lots of money! You can also become monthly or annual donors to may charities and encourage others to do so too.
- By yourself or with a group of friends, start an environmental action campaign or awareness project. You and your friends can get together to work on a project that will spread the word about what you’re concerned about. You could do something as simple as set up a table in front of one of your houses and put up posters to tell everyone about your topic. Or you could try to run a campaign through your school, such as selling reusable stainless steal water bottles! You and your friends could even make your own environmental club to run several environmental campaigns throughout the year. We have made several action projects ourselves, including this environmental awareness website, an environmental magazine that we made several issues of and shared with our friends, and an eco cookie company that sold organic cookies packaged in environmental packaging. Try thinking of a way that you can teach others about the Earth and really make a difference!!!
- Volunteer for green organizations and green events in your community. Many organizations need volunteers to help run their events. Whenever you hear of a green event coming to your community, look for a way that you can volunteer to help run it. There may also be several projects that you can help with in your community, such as community gardens and beach clean ups. Find out what eco things are happening in your community!
- If you’re concerned about something, speak up! You can always voice your opinions by writing to the mayor or premier about your concerns. It’s also a good idea to support your opinion with signatures from others who agree with you. Your letter may make a huge difference!
- In the future, consider getting an environmental job. There are many green job opportunities in most places. This way you’ll be making a difference everyday!
If you have more ideas, please comment and add to this list!!!
