In 3 Words

Before starting my internship at the Reynolds Boys and Girls Club in Las Vegas, I knew I wanted to take the initiative to do something that would better the community. It wasn't an easy task to get the teens excited about reducing their use of non-friendly earth products, reusing materialized possessions, and recycling plastic and paper. Fortunately to my surprise, throughout the experience of reusing, reducing, and recycling products - the students were changed. After just one day of being aware of how easy it can be to better the planet, the Reynolds teens were enthused and excited about the project as a whole. So excited, that they have decided to transfer these duties into the Keystone club for the entire summer. The Keystone club is a group of dedicated students who daily partake in bettering the earth by helping the community in varies ways. This has been a great experience and one that I am proud to have been a part of. In the words of David Orr, "When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves," so always remember to reduce, reuse, and recycle!

 Howdy there! Living on my large open ranch, electricity is quite expensive. We live in the middle of nowhere surrounded by nothing but grasslands and horses, longhorns, and bulls. This means that we have to pay more to connect to the grid for electricity and the pipes for water. Here on our ranch, we seek to conserve energy whenever and wherever we can. We use the manure as fertilizer so we can remain self-sufficient, since we are so far from the big city. Whenever the bulls feel like running, we can hook ‘em on up to a treadmill to generate electricity. Once the scorching summer heats come, our bulls are too lazy to run. This means we really have to watch what we do around the ranch. After riding my prized wild Mustang home from school, I usually study for a few good hours. Once the dinner bell rings, I am always sure to turn off the lights behind me. You see, even if you step out the room for a few minutes, your lights are burning kilowatts on the meter. Why pay for electricity you haven’t even used? Heck, this is Texas- we do everything differently down here. Yes, even though I ride my horse around town and always enjoy myself a good rodeo, I love to conserve energy. Energy powers everything, including our own bodies. To generate electricity, coal is usually burned in Texas which releases terrible greenhouse gasses which pollute our environment. In fact, just getting the coal involves a loss of biodiversity, disruption of habitats, and pollution. I live out our calling to save energy, save our planet, reuse, reduce, and even recycle.

Due to the terrible consequences of our use of energy and not respecting the Earth that I have learned about while in Environmental Science, I have made it my mission to be green. Whenever I see trash on the ground, I pick it up. Whenever something can be recycled, I recycle it. Whenever I am not in my room or in the house, I turn the lights off and unplug appliances and electronics I don’t need. I even try to conserve water, turning it off when I am not needing it while I brush my teeth. As a family, we try to carpool wherever we go. At school, I made sure every classroom had a sign that said “Seek to Conserve,” a play on words of our school motto, “Seek to Serve.” Each week, I went around with other members of my Student Council to collect recycling. Being green has allowed me to care for our planet and for future generations who will inhabit it. Saving the planet should be the top priority of every citizen of the world, but for me, Richard Paul Joubert Jr., I live it twenty-four/seven. Yee haw!

 By converting the sun’s rays into usable energy for your home or city, you can save money and help the environment by using solar panels. We did. One significant advantage to solar electricity is that absolutely no carbon emissions are created or released by the panels. There are no costs for fuel because, well, the sun is free and the power lasts as long as the sunlight does. For my family, our solar panels have slashed our electric bill by a third. This not only helps our family financially but also ensures we are doing our part to help the world. Solar power also has an advantage over other renewable sources, such as hydro and wind power. Both sources, which require large turbines that can disturb marine habitats or even harm or kill birds. With unbelievable clean benefits and no threats to its surrounding area, solar energy is nothing but good clean energy.

My family used to go through at least 6 plastic water bottles a day. We would recycle the bottles, but it still felt like an unnecessary waste of energy and resources so we bought a water purifier and drank tap water. However it was inconvenient to carry around, so my parents and I went shopping for reusable water bottles and now we can’t believe we ever survived without them. Not only are reusable water bottles good for the environment, they are good for our health as well. Always having a bottle at your side causes you to drink more water a day without your realizing it. After 2 months of carrying around my bottle, I had lost 7 pounds, and my body just felt better overall.