There are so many easy things students can do to help the environment: plant a tree, recycle, pick up litter, turn off appliances, bike to school. Earth Day on April 22 is a day of the year that is dedicated to helping our earth, but do enough people know about this holiday and is just one day enough to make a difference?

Students and people in general need to spend more time helping the environment. “Every day should be Earth Day and there should be more general awareness of how the Earth impacts our lives and how we can help the environment,” freshman Moira McCarthy said.

“Due to climate change it is becoming a more important holiday and should be recognized,” freshman Emerson Egly said. There are several effective ways to spread the word in the St. Paul Academy and Summit School community that would boost awareness.

One way would be to have posters displaying information, organizations, and ways  students can help on Earth Day. “SPA should have something like for MLK day where ideas for how to help are posted somewhere so students could get involved,”senior Kaia Findlay said.

The SPA community can become better educated about the environmental problems facing our generation by reading and educating themselves.  The last great way to raise awareness would be blue sheet announcements including all of the aforementioned resources.

Earth Day is a great opportunity to raise awareness about global environmental issues, but it shouldn’t be viewed as the only day of the entire year to do something for the Earth. There are little things students can do every day like biking instead of driving, turning off appliances, recycling, picking up litter, composting, and educating themselves and others about environmental issues. These acts may seem small, but if a student did something small every day for five years, think about how much they could accomplish. And think if all of their friends did the same. That’s a huge impact. “If everyone could pick up litter for at least 5 minutes just walking outside or something, we could make such a difference,” McCarthy said.

SPA is teaching students to change the world, but the only way they can be knowledgeable enough to make a difference is to obtain some education beyond what SPA can give. To truly make a difference, a certain world and environmental competence is needed and the way to get this is to, yes, read. Read about the monarch butterfly’s Mexican migration forest being cut down or the pipelines being installed all over the country. Read not just about the melting glaciers, but about the rising temperatures in Alaska. And after you read, do something about it. Don’t be a bystander saying that someone else will help, because if not you, then who?