Environmental Studies is a real eye opener. During our solid waste unit, Mr. Brocksmith slapped me in the face with facts about the effect humans throwing things away has on the environment. For example, every day the average American throws away almost four and a half pounds of trash that wind up in landfills or floating in the ocean. I am simply not OK with this. That is the reason that this month, I went a week without wasting.

Unfortunately, my house does not have recycling pick-up along with garbage. Most of the time, I keep a bag for all the paper products I throw away, so I can take them to the bins outside of most schools for recycling. But that doesn’t account for everything I throw away. I had to be conscious of what I was using and whether it could be recycled. Styrofoam became my enemy. By the end of the week, my record wasn’t perfect, but I think the most impor­tant part was becoming educated on the topic of recycling. From now on, I will be making a conscious effort to reduce what I throw away. There is no way four and a half pounds of garbage will be coming from me anymore.