An enlightening journey into the depths of the teenage mind
Hello again, everyone. As I was watching a TV interview with Paris Hilton recently, a thought came to mind. “Not every teen (mentally Paris is a teen) can be this stupid, right?” I immediately got to work to find out. Over the course of the next few weeks, I asked sixteen teens one question: “In your opinion, what is the most important thing that you can do to be eco-friendly?”. These are their answers:
Nina Genatossio – “Unplugging chargers and other simple things to help conserve energy.”
Kelley Devillers – “Saving the rainforest!” (Unfortunately, she had no other word on this)
Courtney Sullivan – “Turning off lights and watching less superfluous TV. Read the news instead of watching it, then recycle the newspaper!”
Morgan Tienhaara – “Common things like recycling. Don’t just throw everything away.”
Liz Baer – “Spread the word!”
Sam Sousa – “Reducing carbon emissions and planting trees. Invest in more efficient ways of transportation”
Lanny DiFranza – “Driving cars with lower gas mileage”
Erika Leahey – “Carpooling, with everyone splitting money for gas. It saves money along with the environment.”
Casey Nordberg – “Using less water, while still being hygienic!”
Maia Valcore – “Replace all of the light bulbs in your home with energy efficient ones.”
Blayc Therkauf – “Don’t heat your house unless it’s needed.”
Lily Harper – “Use a woodstove instead of central heating. It may be more work to load the wood, but it burns calories!”
Harry Apostoleris – “Let the temperature of your house vary. It’s very old-fashioned, but very effective.”
Annie Therkauf – “Turn on lights only when they are necessary and shut them off when you leave the room.”
Corrina Parham – “Do your best to conserve water, even if it means showering less. If you need your every-day shower, try to make it less time. A half-hour shower wastes a ridiculous amount of water.”
Erin O’Donnell – “I use a compost pile. Cutting down consumption and waste is very important.”
As you can see, their answers range from tragically misinformed to truly thought provoking. If I had to choose a favorite, I would say that it is the simple, “Spread the word”. This quote was one of my reasons for writing this article. So, even if you’re not saving the rainforest, take a teen’s advice and do something green for a change!
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Actually, there are a lot of teens who ARE informed about being eco-freindly. Many have gone beyond being informed and have actually come up with ideas and inventions to make our earth more sustainable. For instance, Smith Ramakrishna founded AWAKE that helps raises awarness for water conservation and santiation practices. To read more about eco-friendly innovators, I would suggest you check out http://www.bkfk.com