Acting To Save Mother Earth

Everday we hear more bad news about our planet. Reports tell us that wildlife and forests are disappearing at an alarming rate. Newscasts give the latest word on how quickly earth is losing its protective shirld and warming up. Newspapers lament the pollution of our air, water, and soil. What can we do in the face of such widespread gloom?

In fact, we do not have to feel helpless. We can each learn practical ways to better our environment.

For example, saving and recycling newspapers has a number of positive results. First, recycling newspaper saves trees. The average American consumes about 120 pounds of newsprint a year-enough to use up one tree. That means close to 250 million trees each year are destroyed for paper in this country alone. If we recycled only one-tenth of our newpaper, we would save 25 million trees a year. Second, making new paper from old paper uses up much less energy than making paper from trees. Finally, this process also reduces the air pollution of paper-making by 95 percent.

Another earth saving habit is "precycling" waste. This means buying food and other products packaged only in materials that will decay naturally or that can be recycled. The idea is to prevent unrecyclable materials from even entering the home. For instance, 60 of the 190 pounds of plastic-especially styrofoam-each American uses a year are thrown out as soon as packages are opened. Be kind to your planet by buying eggs, fast food, and other products in cardboard in...