Earth Day is being celebrated or will soon be celebrated all over the world. It’s a day when many people consider our world and the way our lives impact the earth. However, there are also many people who don’t really think much about Earth Day.
Earth Day will soon be celebrated in Japan. However, if I ask my students why they don’t have school, many of them will not be able to tell me. They don’t know what holiday it is. All they know, is it’s a day off school. Sad? Perhaps. Then again, perhaps not.
Many people in Japan act as though every day is Earth Day. Electric or hybrid cars are very widely used throughout the country. Most offices and homes are very conscious of using too much heat or air conditioning. Many cities require citizens to carefully sort trash into categories: metals, two types of plastics, paper products, food waste, and other “burnables” or “non-burnables.” This allows for widespread recycling throughout the country. Also, public transportation is widely used. Many citizens also frequently use bicycles.
Sure, Japan also has its environmental issues and improvements to be made. Also, many of my students are not very environmentally conscious. However, as a whole, I believe Japan to be much more environmentally-friendly in quite a few ways, compared to America.
This Earth Day it’s time for us to step up to the plate and do our parts to try to keep our environment healthy. It’s not difficult to make a few changes in our lives to do this. If we all did a little recycling, a little less driving, or did other things to help reduce our environmental impact, we could make significant improvements in our country and the world around us.
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