Humans. We are so caught up in our own busy lives that when it comes to other issues that may seem less important than taxes or paying the bills, we become lazy. Especially when talking about Americans. So busy with the present, things like charity, starving people, or even the world take a back seat. Well, we need to stop being lazy couch potatoes and stop playing Call of Duty: Ghosts and living in our own bubbles to see what is happening around us. The world that we live in is becoming dirty.

Most people are starting to realize the human’s effect on planet Earth and have began to campaign for recycling and coming up with more eco-friendly energy and products. In America, there has been an approximate 100% increase in the total recycling. That may seem good, if you didn’t know what percent of solid waste we actually recycle. The EPA estimates that 75% of solid wastes are recyclable, however Americans only actually recycle 30%.

The US has the most pounds of trash per person in the world (4.6 lbs per person per day, 1.5 lbs are recyclable material). It would be so easy to come up with solutions to bring those numbers down, but Americans are too lazy to do that.

The most used materials in the US, other than food, are recyclable. Aluminum, for example, can be recycled forever without losing any of its quality. That is a good thing considering we use 80,000,000 aluminum cans each year.

It is much more simple and easy than people realize. Most states and places you can recycle even from your own home. Yet, one of the easiest items to recycle, plastic, we don't recycle. Every hour Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles, most of which are just thrown away! Some might argue that the throwing away doesn’t affect us; it just affects all the animals in the sea like those adorable sea turtles. Which, may I mention, love to eat jellyfish and those 1 billion plastic bags we use every year look just like a delicious jellyfish. Well, you would be wrong.
Microplastics have made it into the limelight. Professor Kara Lavender Law, of Sea Education Association (Woods Hole, MA), and Professor Richard Thompson of Plymouth University (UK) are two of the most prominent authorities on the matter. Published in the journal Science, both scientists ask for urgent action saying, “turn off the tap”; stop plastics from traveling to the ocean. These microplastics are microscopic particles that are widespread throughout the ocean and can cause physical and toxic harm to organisms.

Ask yourself the question; if microplastics can be in the ocean can they be in our drinking water? Yes, because what makes microplastics being disintegrated into particles is water itself and moist ground. So small that maybe they can find themselves in the water that people drink. If that is not enough to convince you, what about the fish that most of the world consumes as a main source of protein?

Yes, plastic has its perks, like being able to ship clean water to countries in need. But we, as Americans, are more obsessed with “convenience”. Food industries use plastic because it is cheap and convenient for you and them, that is why you see plastic cups, bowls, forks and spoons littered throughout “fast” food restaurants including Chick-Fil-A and Panera Bread. Seriously, the amount of paper and plastic cups, forks and spoons is enough to circle the equator not once, but three times!

The next time you go to get your morning or afternoon Starbucks fix, think about the fact that the average coffee (Starbucks) drinker throws away 250 disposable cups per year. The American population is 313.9 million and is the leading country with the most coffee drinkers; you do the math.

If you aren’t interested in caring for the environment or cute animals, fine. What about the fact that recycling can save money and energy? Yeah, you know the whole issue of the world running out of fuel and such? Just one recycled glass bottle can save the energy to run a computer for 30 minutes. And one ton of paper mix recycled can save the energy equivalent to 185 gallons of gasoline.

You care about breathing? You know those trees that give the world oxygen? To produce each week’s Sunday newspaper, 500,000 trees must be cut down. If Americans just recycled 1/10th of their newspaper, we could save 25 million trees each year!

So please, my fellow Americans. Don’t be lazy and myopic. Stop thinking of just your life, and think about the urgent crisis that is happening right now, at this very moment.

Think of Nemo and his little friends. Don’t be their demise. Recycle.