Earth Day: MCLA Students Share Their Thoughts
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Jaimie Wallace, 19, of Sutton; Jen Boyce, 21, of Albany, N.Y.; Adam Carmichael, 21, Bellingham; Dan Bisson, 22, Lowell; Valerie Hope, 22, Oxford; Kim Lawrence, 19, Weymouth; Elin Hardenberg, 22, Lebanon, N.H.; Danielle Gismondi, 20, Long Island, N.Y., Dan Cullinane, 20, of Acton and Tom Coppola, 22, of Richmond, were in general agreement that not enough was being done about environmental issues.
CULLINANE: Earth Day? I don’t know much about Earth Day — it's kind of just another day to me. I think the environment gets plenty of attention. I know the earth needs some work, so I try to do my share and recycle. It wouldn't hurt anyone if there was more attention brought to people about the environment, though.
GISMONDI: Right now, I think we're giving a lot of attention to saving the environment. There is a lot of hype about it, but I don't think it's doing anything. People aren't taking enough action.
What do you think about Earth Day? The environment?
LAWRENCE: People need to pay more attention to saving the environment and save it. I wish Earth Day would be more celebrated and that people would do more eco-friendly stuff on Earth Day.
BISSON: I think the meaning of Earth Day is taken for granted. I don't see my friends recycling or celebrating Earth Day.
GISMONDI: I'm seeing a bigger movement to treat the environment in the right way. I think it is becoming more popular, but knowledge is being brought through marketing and advertising. I don't think the way we are being educated today is doing its job to make people care more. It has a point, but people aren't getting it.
Do you think the environment needs protection? Have you ever confronted someone else over their disregard for the environment, such as scolding a litterbug?
HARDENBERG: Yes, the environment needs protection. My friends at home throw things like candy wrappers and cigarettes on the ground, and I tell them not to. One reason why I wouldn't want to smoke is because I know I’d contribute to littering.
GISMONDI: The environment needs protection now. A while ago, it could have fixed itself, but since we messed it up so much, now we need to work to fix it. I yell at people to pick up their litter all the time. But even though I tell people to recycle, I don't really know where it goes to, so I can’t get that mad when people don’t take more action.
CULLINANE: Yes, I think the environment needs protection. I tend to get frustrated with my friends for littering. It is their choice whether they want to recycle or not, but there is a reason for the presence of trash cans and dumpsters.
What do your friends and family think about these issues? Do they agree with you?
WALLACE: My mom doesn't recycle. They don't care like I do.
HOPE: It's taken me a while to get my parents into recycling, but my friends respect my decisions in environmental awareness.
COPPOLA: I've kind of MADE my house recycle ... and my parents, at home, recycle now, too. We should try to conserve energy by closing doors, turning off the lights, not leaving the TV on, but none of us are really in a powerful position of change.
LAWRENCE: My parents are really big on recycling. My dad rides his bike to work to contribute less to pollution.
BOYCE: Yes, the environment needs protection. And yes, I yell at my friends for littering.
Do you think your generation has a greater responsibility to maintaining the environment?
CULLINANE: My generation does have a bigger responsibility for caring for the environment. If past generations knew what we know today about what harms the environment, then it wouldn't be as bad now. Since generations in the past didn't know, though, we have to do our best not to harm it any further.
BISSON: Since the environment has been trashed for so long, we see how bad it’s gotten and now is the trend of changing that. It is our responsibility to make a change.
LAWRENCE: My generation has a greater responsibility in maintaining the environment because we are more aware of the environmental problems than before. Caring for the environment is kind of in our faces now.
BOYCE: Yes, because if we don't get it done now, it'll never get done and the environment will get even worse.
What do you think the world will be like for the next generation, in terms of the environment or ecology?
WALLACE: There will be no polar bears, king penguins, and no trees. We're just going to lose a lot of stuff and have to make a lot of sacrifices. There'll be no more natural resources.
COPPOLA: What environment? I dont see much more. I mean, once sea levels rise — which they're going to — and the temperature of the Earth rises, making certain areas just inhospitable, which it's going to ... I just think future generations are just going to sit back and blame us for not doing anything, just like we're sitting back and blaming the past decades of environmental decapitation on them.
CULLINANE: It's hard for me to judge because technology is evolving so fast, and I'm sure that will play a huge part in the environment. That could be good or bad, but I hope people use technology to benefit the environment.
HARDENBERG: I think it will be a lot more difficult in the future to keep up with saving the environment.
In what ways do you think society can help save the environment?
CARMICHAEL: Start a systematic method of decreasing the population of polluters.
HOPE: Society can help save the environment by increasing awareness, through the conservation of resources, and increasing/using renewable energy sources, such as geothermal, wind power, and solar power.
GISMONDI: Things should be simplified. Less is more. There is a better chance of people taking action if it is simplified.
LAWRENCE: Society could help save the environment by riding bikes instead of using vehicles that increase pollution. We can also recycle and get more involved. People should be more self-sufficient and should be less wasteful. We can help with things like cleaning up New Orleans and other disaster areas and plant trees, etc.
CULLINANE: If people stopped littering and recycled more, the environment would be better. There are so many people in the world that I don’t think the environmental issues will cause complete destruction … I think someone will come up with an idea on how to help out.
WALLACE: Reduce pollution, recycle, and protect wildlife places.
COPPOLA: We can help the environment by charging more for trash removal and making recycling free, or charge in-state fines for not recycling. What about evaluating homes, water consumption, garbage production, et cetera?
(You don't think that more expensive trash removal will cause people to care less?)
I dont know. I think it would force people to recyle more ... I mean, just make it available. No one on campus recycled until there were bins EVERYwhere, because it was just easier to toss it in the trash — it's an accessibility thing. I think recycling is associated with upper middle class, not a blue-collar, lower middle-class thing — people who are "hoighty toighty" and care about the environment recyle and "go green."
