10 Ways to Create Change to Protect the Environment to Keep Animals Safe

Kaylin O’Wade

1. Watching for what liquids gets into the soil. For this, I’m referring to my paints and

paint water. I enjoy doing arts and crafts outside in the warmer months. However,

sometimes my paints and paint water can be knocked over and spills onto the ground.

Here I simply need to be more careful when I’m painting outside so my paints or

paint water, doesn’t go everywhere and no animals can eat it.

2. Don’t let trash laying around. Continuing from painting outside, sometimes my

supplies may blow away. Paper towels, my paint cup, the plastic wrap from a canvas,

etc., blow away or get lost. I usually give up and accept it’s gone. What I could do is

have something to weigh it all down or keep it in a bag, so nothing ends up lost

outside. This way no animals find anything I would have lost.

3. Recycle what be recycled. Doing a lot of art, I have various paper and sometimes

plastic scraps I don’t need. Anything that I don’t plan to use for something else or a

craft, I could recycle. This would keep trash out of landfills and the ocean keeping

everything cleaner for the animals to live in.

4. Be more aware. Here I need to remember to use my reusable bags I have. I always

forget to take them then I end up having a plastic bag collection. Remembering to use

my plastic bag or remembering to recycle what can be, would help cut back on litter,

which again would help keep the environment from becoming cluttered with trash.

This would make everything better for the animals.

5. Don’t use aerosol cans. I love to use certain art mediums such as spray paint and

using hairspray. However, I can use both without needing an aerosol can. Both are

not good for the ozone layer and without that, it would not be good for us humans nor

the animals.

6. Use less plastic. Again, I could start using my reusable bags more or paper bags

instead of plastic bags. I also can keep using my reusable water bottle instead of using

a plastic bottle. I also can use reusable containers instead of the kind you get from

restaurants and throw out. All in the end helps reduce on waste.

7. Take public transportation to create less cars use or carpool. Between commuting to

school, work, and going to wherever else I need to be, there is a lot of traveling and

car use. I could carpool more often, especially when myself and a friend are going to

the same place. This will keep the air cleaner, which is good for humans and animals.

8. Don’t use pesticides. I haven’t started on this one and now I don’t plan on starting to

use pesticides. Keeping it out of my garden will help my plants and the soil healthy

and would be better for the animals not coming across the pesticides.

9. Plant more trees. Here would be something I could do and really enjoy. I already have

some small house plants and do a garden every year, so to keep on going with plants,

I could plant more trees. Trees clean the air and create a home for many animals.

10. Have windmills for clean energy, use solar panels, or use less electricity. This last

change I could make, would be better for the air quality. One day I’d like to be able to

use solar panels or have a windmill, but for now I could cut back on using electricity

when I can. Less electricity makes for less air pollution for people and for animals.

These are my ten changes I can make.

 From the videos we could watch, I feel two of the videos’ ties into my ten changes. For

numbers 2-7 and 10, would go with “Greta Thunberg on Climate Change”, since Thunberg

(2021) discusses how to rid of fossil fuels and what to do to help climate change. For numbers 1

and 8-9, I feel relates to the “Reforestation: Earth Day Message 2021” video. Here the video by

Nature (2021) explains how to bring back land after it hasn’t been taken care of and is dried out.

People come to together to start digging holes to keep water retained, this way the ground stayed

moist, allowing plants to grow and then created a place where animals could live. My points

have to do with air quality and keeping the land in good shape. Therefore, I feel both videos fit

the points I have explained.

 Resources

“Degraded Landscapes Return to Green”. Youtube. uploaded by Natu’re, 30 Jan 2021,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3rGbTobN-A&t=2s

“Greta Thunberg tells US to ‘use your common sense’ on climate crisis- video”. The Guardian,

22 April 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2021/apr/22/greta-

thunberg-us-house-testimony-climate