Environmentally active family members can open your mind to the movement

Depending on the person you are speaking to, the environment can be a very touchy subject. The most intense environmental advocates will argue to their grave about what they feel should or shouldn't be done to save Earth. Many times these people convince their family and friends of the urgency of this situation. One of these people happens to be my older sister, Katherine.

Her sudden environmental breakthrough occurred some time during her junior year of college. She changed her major, became a vegan and put a ‘Give Earth a Chance' bumper sticker on the car we shared. Although I was embarrassed to drive a car sporting a large sticker decorated with growing trees, my embarrassment was short-lived because someone ripped the sticker off the car about a month later.

I was pretty ignorant for a while and, instead of supporting her decision, I would bite down on juicy hamburgers or wave a piece of cheese in front of her asking if she wanted any. But when she came back from volunteering on a farm in Michigan, I finally listened to what she had to say. She made valid points for how her vegan lifestyle was helpful to the environment. After craving an egg sandwich one day, Katherine is now only a strict vegetarian.

In addition to her diet, she devoted many other aspects of her life to environmental activism. Currently in South Africa, she is gathering with other activists to discuss climate change at the United Nations Climate Conference in Durban.

Although people might call her a hipster, tree hugger or a greenie, her activism has helped me become more aware of the small measures I can take to slowly help the environment. I haven't cut meat out of my life or started taking environmental courses, but I pay more attention to simple things like recycling and paper usage.

I look at the bottom of my containers, consistently checking which can be recycled and which cannot. I try to print as little as possible and choose to read documents on my computer rather than wasting paper to print them out. When reading my news updates, I pay attention to environmental articles when in the past I ignored them.

Here on campus, Loyola is gradually making efforts to ‘Go Green.' Some of the more obvious steps were made when more and more teachers encouraged students to read their syllabuses online rather than handing out hard copies in class. There are different garbage cans titled COMPOST or RECYCLE. Some classes like ‘Beans and Bugs' have influenced people to become a vegetarian or a vegan.

Unfortunately, these efforts probably aren't enough to change the world, which is why a lot of people don't even pay attention to the simplicity of recycling. Why should I bother throwing my water bottle in the recycling side when the truck will probably throw it in the same place as my food wrapper? How will throwing a stack of papers in the right can instead of the left can save the earth? How will drinking out of a reusable water bottle make the world a better place?

Out of respect for my sister, I have started to take small steps in my sustainability. I will never be able to fully devote my life to saving the earth, but I try to incorporate little things into my day to day routine. I feel that having someone close in my life that pays attention to the environment has personally influenced me, while people without such figures in their lives might not care as much. Not everyone is able to go completely green, become a vegan or attend conferences on environmental issues, but we can all afford to become more aware of these important issues, do our individual parts and save the earth for generations to come.