Big Straws

Big+Straws

giselle xochitiotzi, staff writer

Hello everyone, it is Giselle Xochitiotzi and I am a senior at ERHS and I am here to discuss the topic about how businesses and companies can create new ways to produce Eco- friendly products so we can start saving this world from fully disappearing. There are many issues wrong with using non Eco- friendly products and by just being wasteful of them, most of these harmful things end up affecting the wildlife which results in killing them and the rest of the waste becomes a garbage patch in the ocean and on land as well, which is probably one of the most unhealthy issues that exists in our environment because of all the chemicals and bacteria that are being secreted, which then passes into the air pollution- causing diseases to spread. 

Changing your lifestyle does not have to be drastic or expensive, you just have to learn what is not environmentally friendly and what is because if it is affecting our outside world well then what difference will it make to our bodies. An easy way to help the environment that does not cost much is to buy organically made shirts, in one of the paragraphs in the article “Why your Business should produce sustainable and Eco- friendly clothing” it explains that by using non-synthetic fibers to make organic fabric will make clothing last longer and create a cleaner wear each time.

Everyone should start taking into consideration that almost everything we use on a daily base is a big deal on why our world is being slowly destroyed and sooner or later there will not be anything left for us to enjoy because we continue destroying it. Another simple way to help the environment is to buy reusable water bottles, cloth napkins, organic cleaning supplies, shorter showers, LED lights, and etc. There are many substitutions for switching our everyday uses to something Eco- friendly.

Companies like Johnson & Johnson, Seventh Generation, Keurig Green Mountain, IKEA, The Hershey Company, and etc all participate in donating money to save the environment and they try not to use wastes that will end up outside, ruining our environment . A well known company like, “Patagonia” has found ways to make their products Eco- friendly and they are seeking for new alternatives for their clothing and supplies so that they can continue helping. According to the article “6 Eco-friendly Brands That Will Inspire you to go Green” Patagonia has also donated about $70 million to help environmental organizations to help take down dams, restore forests, protect endangered species, and promote sustainable agriculture practices.

I strongly believe that our issues will never be solved unless bigger companies and organizations make the effort to do it first because people with lesser money can only go as far as their own community and bigger industries have the money, time, and people to create a bigger and more noticeable movement. I spoke with one of my peers, Jered Tarin and he said, “Another easier way to change this problem is to create a law that limits the amount of plastic dumped into the oceans and if more than the limit is dumped, the people or person should pay a  large fine. What would also be better is if it is banned fully so that we would not have to have this issue.”

I agree with what Tarin said because that way companies who do dump their scraps will know that it has a bigger consequence and also so that they could choose an Eco- friendly way to get rid of plastic and substitute the plastic for something that is biodegradable.” Sometimes buying biodegradable things will cost more money but it is worth it if it saves our home that we call, Earth. With all this being said I would like to finish off with saying that we cannot ignore these issues forever because sooner or later it will be too late to fix it and we will not be able to do anything about it. Everyone should be thinking of more conservative ways to use products that are not bad for the world so we can avoid the consequences for it.