LucyKalkowski

On April 22, Earth Day was celebrated with the theme “Our Power, Our Planet.” Earth Day is not only a holiday, but a movement to unite the world against climate change and its effects. It is also meant to raise awareness about various environmental issues and ways countries or individual citizens can take action.

Freshman Kelsey Rudloff is a member of Sustainability Board and helps organize the different recycling, compost and trash bins during lunch. “I think Earth Day is so important because nowadays there is a lot of plastic that gets made because it’s convenient and easy to discard. But all that plastic goes to these big garbage dumps, and it gets in the ocean sometimes. I feel as though Earth Day is important because it reminds people that we need to take care of the Earth and that plastic isn’t something that just goes away,” Rudloff said.

Science teacher Mr. Nick Miller is one of the Sustainability Board advisors who also helps with sorting out trash during lunch. To him, Earth Day “gives everyone a chance to do something positive for the environment, and maybe it can serve as a reminder that this is the only place in the entire universe that we know for certain has life. We should protect that and enjoy it, not abuse or ignore it,” he said.

He also adds another important point. “On the other hand, there is nothing different or special about Earth Day other than what shows up on a calendar. We don’t have to wait for a specific day to make a choice to recycle more, or plant a tree, or carpool instead of driving individually— those are all choices we can make any day,” Miller said.

Every person can make a difference in preventing litter, waste and more. “Little things students here can do to help the Earth are just if you get a piece of paper, don’t just put it in your locker and throw it away. Instead, recycle it or if you notice somebody put something in the wrong bin, point it out,” Rudloff said.

Miller is proud of the sustainability efforts at Marian. “By now, I am fairly certain everyone in the building knows about the composting and recycling that happens at lunch—we even have all of those options in the staff/faculty lunch areas now. That is one area we have definitely improved as an entire school, which is very encouraging! We can make a positive change if we decide to do it!” 

At Marian, one of the biggest problems Rudloff sees is food waste. “I see a lot of orange chicken that just goes in the compost bin because they just didn’t eat that much…And I think if you don’t have that big of an appetite, just ask one of your friends if you can have one or two pieces. Another thing I see is people who get ice cream in the last five minutes, and they take two bites and put the rest in the compost bin. I feel like we need to cut down on the waste that goes in the compost bin,” Rudloff said.

Miller also sees another source of pollution at Marian that could be improved. “One area that we have discussed occasionally at our Sustainability meetings is the parking lots— the number of cars that idle in the morning or after school is something we could certainly reduce,” he said.

Earth Day is a reminder to do more for the environment and to pay attention to even small things that could harm it. “It might not seem like such a big deal, like one piece of trash going in the trash instead of the orange bin or the blue bin. But if you do that every single day while you’re at Marian, it accumulates and gets larger and larger. Other people do that too, and so it’s just one big problem,” Rudloff said.

Miller encourages students and faculty to not ignore the problem, but to find a way they can help the environment. “One simple action that anyone can take when they are outside is to pick up any litter you see. You don’t have to carry around a bag all of the time, but by being aware of the litter around us, we can each make a small difference that adds up. The opposite of that would be to not contribute to the problem—don’t throw trash out of your car window, and keep the lid on your outdoor garbage can so trash doesn’t blow out,” he said.

Earth Day reminds us to look at climate change from a larger perspective. “Even though humans are the dominant species on Earth, we shouldn’t trample over everything else as we live our lives. But that doesn’t mean that everyone should major in conservation—each person has their own passions and I think that is a very good thing! But there are some areas of life that we share and should all care about, and I think the environment is one of them. I remember one of my high school teachers telling us that no matter what we are passionate about, it all depends on the environment of the Earth,” Miller said. “Whether you care more about hunger, poverty, homelessness, abuse, or any other societal problem, if we pollute our atmosphere to the point where it is unhealthy to breathe, it will affect crop and livestock growth, it will affect rich and poor, it will affect more than just humans.”

Miller understands the difficulty of making big changes. “I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to only ride a bike around Omaha or not living a zero-waste lifestyle. Our society isn’t built for that, unfortunately. But we can all do simple acts like recycling and composting, buying more used clothes instead of new, or picking up litter outside, which all help in some way,” he said.

In the end, Earth Day is just like any other day. But it serves as a special reminder that if every person makes one small decision to help the environment, it makes a big difference.