3rd Place Essay Winner: 9-14 Age Group

“How Am I Going Green?”

Samantha Ribaudo
Haysville West Middle School
Haysville, KS

Do you want to know why and how I'm going green? It's because the environment needs us. The Earth needs us to clean up the environment. The population of Earth is so big that we need more energy to survive. Going green for me includes growing our own food, different ways to save energy, and recycling. We can help the Earth's environment.

I try to eat healthy with a mix of organic and non-organic food because organic taste better and is healthier than non-organic food. Non-organic tastes okay but has chemicals in the food from shipping or the factory. Chemicals may cause cancer or the other illnesses. Scientists at Washington State University have proof that organic food often tastes better than non-organic food. Every summer, my mom, my grandpa, and I go to the store to buy the seeds to plant the garden and set the fences up. We grow tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, hot peppers, and five kinds of herbs. I help my family live a healthier life with organic food.

I try to careful to use less energy at home. The store is close to our home, so riding in a car is waste of gas. I use my mom's bike to go to the store. During the winter nights, I wrap myself up in three blankets. I become a ball on my bed. On the computer, I try to not use Google but instead use Blackle; it saves energy because Blackle has a whole black screen with no light and no color.

I always recycle cans at home. I even donate the cereal boxes to Mrs. Gamble, my math teacher, for the Humane Society for the homeless pets. I helped my dad pick up the dead trees from the park. We save the wood for the smoker or fireplace in my home to be comfortable on cold days. Did you know that recycling began in the 1970s? I never knew what the recycling symbol meant until I looked it up on the Internet. There are three steps: collecting (collect the recycled thing), reprocessing (make a new recycled thing), and buying recycled (buy a recycled thing).

Going green can help the environment and protect the Earth. Why protect the Earth? We the people of the Earth are because it is our symbol. Symbol or not, we are still protecting and cleaning up the Earth! Going green, plus the environment and Earth need our help. That is how I'm going green, no matter what.