In recent years, the earth’s condition has been a hot topic. It seems like every few months we get years shaved off of our lives by scientists. With the constant consumption of single-use products, it is no surprise that we are killing the earth more and more every day. I believe that this can be changed easily if we all just alter our lifestyles in the smallest ways to lessen our impact on the earth’s lifespan.

Recently, it has been a trend to use metal straws and bamboo silverware. This is one of the best ways we can start with saving our earth. Not using plastic straws at restaurants, buying reusable bags for grocery, riding a bike to places instead of driving and even eating less meat and dairy are all the ways we can decrease our usage of harmful products. Actions like these are the ones that slowly bring us to being more aware of our impact on the earth.

Every year, the world produces 146 million tons of plastic packaging a year, according to ourworldindata.com. This is ridiculous. We use plastic packaging for everything, even when it’s not needed. For example, lots of people have had numerous amounts of snacks in which every piece of food was individually wrapped. Sure, it is convenient and good for keeping contaminants out, but how bad would it have been to make the bag out of durable paper and just make the bag resealable? Companies these days focus on profit, and that is one of the main reasons for situations like these happening. Consumers should take this into account considering how big companies, that create millions of tons of product a year, are affecting the earth. Instead, they should stray away from these companies and products that tend to have more plastic than necessary.

To solve this, people should try to buy things with no plastic packaging or little amounts. Buying in bulk is a great way to solve this. More and more grocery stores are allowing customers to buy certain products in bulk and using their own reusable bags.

Another way we can combat the climate crisis is to decrease our use of everyday activities that seem harmless. One of these is driving. Yes, carpooling is effective, eliminating another two cars or so would have been on the road creating pollution, but riding your bike to school or work can cut carbon dioxide emissions to zero. If everyone did it, even every now and then, then it would positively affect the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

I think everyone should try to use reusable products and a more economically friendly lifestyle for at least a couple days just to see how easy it is and how good someone will feel for not using plastic for the most minuscule aspects in life. It is simple to save this Earth. We just need the discipline to do so.