Every year we celebrate Earth Day at my school. This time, though, instead of going out to plant trees or pick up litter, we stayed in and had a visitor from the local authorities. He asked everyone to put down their environmental pledges for the next month on the whiteboard. Most of us declared that we would make small changes like “I won’t let water run while I brush my teeth,” or “I will turn off the lights when I leave a room.” Now they are all on the wall of our classroom. Once a week everyone ticks the promises that they have managed to keep. I think it’s a great way of motivating yourself to stick to what you have pledged. Why don’t you try it?

I was shocked when I read the statistics in a local government bulletin showing that in my town there are thousands of dripping taps that people don’t bother to fix. I made some calculations and the next day, after school, I went around my neighbourhood asking people to check their kitchen and bathroom taps. Many of them were indeed leaking! In order to motivate their owners to replace the faulty taps immediately, I provided them with my figures showing how much they could cut their bills annually by stopping water from dripping down the drain. Judging by their reactions, my campaign met with general approval and will bring results soon!

Last summer my friend and I worked as assistants at a day camp for little children. Once we took our group on a hike to see an abandoned mining site. I’d never been there before and when we got to the place, I got scared. I saw an ecological bomb – a big pool of dirty, greasy water with a rusty lamp post sticking out of it. I called the District Council the same day. It turned out that they had no idea that the place existed. I sent them a few pictures asking for immediate action. They answered that they needed to find $1000 to test the water for dangerous chemicals but promised to fence the pool off straightaway.

I’m a member of an ecology club and I’ve always been active in recycling. I’m angry that people keep getting new plastic bags instead of reusing the ones they already have at home. So I came up with a project that we carried out last Saturday. We stood outside a supermarket, and before customers went in, we talked to them about the environmental threats caused by plastic bags. The following week we learned from the shop manager that even though they recorded a higher-than-average turnover on Saturday, the number of plastic bags handed to customers in fact dropped by 35%. As you can see, it takes very little to raise people’s awareness and encourage them to make choices that are better for the environment.