COLUMN: Show respect for the environment

From Michelle Weinberg's, "Ror Every Action," Fall '99 From Michelle Weinberg's, "Ror Every Action," Fall '99On this Earth Day, how many of you will reflect on the role that the environment plays in our lives? Will you think about the ways that your behavior has both positive and negative influences upon the world around you? Do you even know when Earth Day is? Today's Earth Day celebrations are significantly smaller than the first Earth Day celebration -- which was marked by a series of teach-ins at high schools and universities across the country, and boasted an estimated 20 million participants -- but that is not because there is no longer a need for a strong environmental movement. On the contrary, environmental concerns should be brought even further into our national consciousness, as pollution, crowded landfills, deforestation and other environmental issues become more complicated. I am not a scientist, so I won't be able to spout a series of facts and predictions about global warming and the depletion of natural resources. Nor am I a philosopher, so I can't perfectly articulate every conviction of the environmental movement. However, I do believe that the environment has an intrinsic value that must be protected and preserved. A lack of concern for the environment is a lack of concern for life in general. Being an environmentalist does not necessarily mean living a radical, hippie-like lifestyle. It can be as simple as demonstrating consciousness for the environment through daily actions. Everyone has heard simple advice such as "turn the lights off when you leave a room" or "don't leave the water running when you brush your teeth." Of course, saving the planet isn't that easy but every little thing helps. For instance, when shopping, how many of us actually consider the waste that will be created as a result of our use of a particular purchase? The little things that we do can also impact our environment. One thing that angers me on a regular basis is watching the complete lack of concern for proper disposal of trash. I constantly see people throwing recyclable materials into the trash cans, even when a recycling bin is only a few feet away. And don't tell me you didn't see that recycling bin because trust me, they are fairly abundant on this campus. Furthermore, all you cigarette smokers out there can walk an extra five feet to toss your butts into a trash, rather than onto the ground. And the next time the weather is nice, please pick up after yourselves on College Green. Respect for the environment begins in our own backyards. On a much broader scale, environmentalism is also about human rights. The preservation of biodiversity and a clean, healthy environment inevitably affects the health of human beings. Without clean water, protection from the ozone layer or medicines provided by exotic plants, human life as we know it would not exist. Additionally, environmental justice movements have grown significantly, defending the rights of all people to a clean environment. Did you know that people of color are disproportionately affected by toxins in their environment, regardless of their economic status? Siting for landfills, incinerators and other waste facilities have historically targeted minority neighborhoods. How many of us who grew up in predominately white, middle-class suburbs know where our trash goes? Most of us don't have landfills in our towns but it has to go somewhere, and more likely than not, it ends up in an area populated by people of color. Furthermore, the preservation of the environment is tied to economics and globalization. There are numerous examples of profit-driven attitudes leading to environmental neglect. Companies like the Home Depot, the world's largest retailer of old-growth forest wood, continue to destroy the environment in the name of profits even though sustainable wood harvesting methods exist. Shell and other oil companies drill in Nigeria, destroying farmlands and polluting the water and the air without regard for the pleas of the people who want these companies to stop getting rich off of the destruction of their land. The United States still has not ratified the 1994 Basil Convention ban, which would end abusive forms of hazardous waste trade, such as the dumping of wastes from rich, industrialized countries to poorer, less-industrialized ones. Allowing market forces to dictate how we treat the environment and people is a misdirection of values. To further explore many of these issues and others, join the Penn Environmental Group in celebrating Earth Day all week long. Highlights include Tuesday's panel on Environmental Justice at 7 p.m. in Civic House and Thursday's speaker, Kevin Danaher, who will give a talk entitled "Corporations Are Gonna Get Your Mama" at 7:30 p.m. in Room 350 of Steinberg-Dietrich Hall.