Buyer Beware: The Need for Environmental Education

"Paper or plastic?" Everyone knows this common question at grocery stores. Everyone does not know, however, what hazards these products create. Environmental Science is a school course that should become mandatory for all students in high school. This course educates us how to better our health, prevent illness, and more importantly, not take our Earth "for granted." By educating the public, the United States can create an Earth friendly culture, and reduce the multitude of problems mankind faces today.

Through educating people about Environmental Sciences, our children will learn to not take the environment "for granted." As Al Gore effably demonstrates in his movie "The Inconvenient Truth," America is responsible for a multitude of global problems concerning our environment. Americans do not understand that you cannot just throw something "away," and all garbage can has to go somewhere. The United States throws "away" 12 billion metric tons of trash each year. However, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) states that 86% of all trash will eventually leak into our drinking groundwater. The "pure" bottled water, ironically, is only increasing the problem, because the public is now putting an extra 2.5 million plastic bottles in our landfills every hour. To make matters even worse, only 5% of scientifically labeled Hazardous Materials are regulated by the federal government. The remaining 95% of scientifically labeled hazardous materials leak into our groundwater and enter our public drinking systems. This results in health hazards increasing all over the country from drinking water. By learning environmental sciences, people will discover environmental problems, and then change their behavior to control these problems to better their health.

Another problem the public can learn and prevent is the pesticide problem. The U.S. Department of Agriculture states there are ten times more pesticides on one acre of housing than one acre of U.S. cropland. Everyone in society thinks that pesticides get rid of bugs, right? At least, that is what the advertising says. People do not know that when a pesticide is sprayed, all the predators that eat the bugs, eat the pesticide as well. In fact, because all the predators are eating numerous bugs everyday, they are getting that much more concentration of pesticides than the bugs are. What is the result? The pesticides kill off everything that is eating the bugs. The very predators, which are the main factors for controlling a pest's population, are exterminated. Why do pesticide companies do this? So more people will have to use their pesticides. That's right. Pesticides, pesticides, everywhere. The very substances that originated from World War II chemical warfare are being used in our backyards. Pesticides are also responsible for the increasing cases of ADD and ADHD, allergies, autism, cancer, birth defects, and mental retardation. The public does not understand why labels say, "Do not take if pregnant, or may become pregnant," and why many cases of mental retardation, mental impairment, infertility, and cancer occur. Scientists cannot identify which chemicals cause these lag phased health problems. All of mankinds' materials are tested for their toxicity on a recent phase. In other words, substances, such as bleach, bug spray, makeup, and shampoo, are tested for the side effects they cause in a few months. Toxin control centers do not have the energy and funds to treat what every manmade substance does to a human in the next 20 years. As a result, many substances impair humans in their later years, such as cancer. Our public, through being simply educated about these things, can prevent all of these unnecessary deaths and disabilities. Through education, the public will discover ways of decreasing the environment's chemical concentrations, using alternative methods, and avoiding potential health hazards to develop healthier lives.

So, "Paper or plastic?" If every citizen in the U.S. used one less grocery bag, it would prevent a landfill. How many landfills do grocery bags create alone? Europe does not use grocery bags, so why does the United States? Because it leaks into ground water and is unhealthy for our future generations. To continue the destruction of our planet is to continue the destruction of mankind, and education can prevent this. Mankind must understand through Environmental Sciences that Earth does not hold a contract guaranteeing human survival. Earth, instead, is nothing but a shopkeeper saying:

"Buyer Beware."