Jackson Free Press

"There's no such thing as global warming!"

I uttered those words at the mere age of 13 when I felt that global warming was a conspiracy that scientists made up to scare people. Little did I know that my ideas about the issue would evolve and change drastically.

The actual moment my views changed was during a viewing of the film "An Inconvenient Truth" in my 10th-grade biology class. While everyone else in my class fell asleep due to boredom, I couldn't keep my eyes off the television screen.

In Al Gore's PowerPoint presentation, the former vice president presented information about the effects of global warming in the next 25 years and the ones that are already occurring today. But the impact of his message wasn't in the description of what could happen as a result of global warming but instead that we all can prevent these horrific events by the little things in life that we do every day.

Watching the movie brought back moments in my past when I was taught lessons of caring for the planet. In the first grade, my teacher urged our class to recycle paper during a project where we used old paper to mesh into new paper that we could use to write letters. Later in middle school, I visited an environmentally safe house that fully ran on solar energy. In high school, we made compost by using old fruit peelings as fertilizer for rich soil.

The truth is that when we are little, we learn to hold certain values that should stick with us throughout life. When we grow up, however, those values don't necessarily stay with us. One of those values is taking care of our home, planet Earth.

While legislators from all over the country are battling on Capitol Hill over how to solve the problem of global warming, the issue is getting worse each and every day. As citizens of the United States and residents of the planet Earth, we can do our part to help lessen the effects of global warming. You can start by recycling your old newspapers, beverage bottles and cans. By recycling these products, you will save them a lifetime in a waste-field that sometimes can outlast the lifespan of a human.

Instead of just throwing away your clothes, recycle them or return them to a consignment or thrift shop. In the long run, this will cut down on factories wasting fossil fuel to create clothing.

Have a cell phone you don't use anymore? You can recycle it by returning it to your cellphone provider, or sell it on eBay. By recycling your cell phone the parts can be reused for new cell phones in the future.

How about starting a garden and growing your own organic produce so that your family can consume fresh fruit and vegetables? Instead of driving try walking sometimes. This can reduce the emission of fossil fuels in the environment and also give you a workout.

Little things will help the Earth in the long run, and it can help you save money, too.

These efforts can also help your social life. By participating in group activities aimed at making the planet a better place, you show that you care for the planet and the people who live in it with you.

By realizing that being good to the Earth is important, I have realized that this helps me be a better person to myself and my community. This isn't just my Earth, it is our Earth. It's sad to say it, but we are only given one, unless NASA comes up with a way of colonizing the Moon or Mars, which is nearly impossible. We should do all we can to take care of our planet.

Al Gore made a statement in his film that will remain with me for the rest of my life: "Future generations may well have occasion to ask themselves, 'What were our parents thinking? Why didn't they wake up when they had a chance?' We have to hear that question from them, now."

Hopefully, we will wake up as a human race and never have to ask that question.

Editorial intern Gerard Manogin graduated from Murrah High School this year and will study journalism at Ole Miss this fall.