Earth Day -Nate Born

Today I began my Earth Day 2014 on a sore note. The poor weather made me feel cynical about Mother Nature, despite all that the earth provides for mankind. I even threw my paper bag in a trash can instead of recycling it because I didn’t want to take a few extra steps. Little did I know, my good friend MaKealy would soon teach me a valuable lesson about taking care of the Earth. As I sat in the APO office eating my French fries and Burger King crispy chicken sandwich (only $4.99), she explained that everything we have comes out of the earth. Even that crinkled up paper bag I had just thrown away! The earth has nutrients in it and from that plus a seed, a tree sprouted roots. As the tree got bigger from more nutrients, water, and nitrogen (which comes from the air too), the earth was feeding it. After the tree got big enough, a lumberjack chopped it down using a chainsaw (which also comes from the earth). The lumberjack took the wood to a paper factory, most likely along the north-west coast of North America. The wood was pulverized and transformed into a paper bag. When I threw the paper bag in the trash, I was really throwing a part of a tree in the trash. After MaKealy taught me this Earth Day wisdom, I decided to take a few extra steps to throw my styrofoam cup into the recycling bin. Thank you MaKealy for teaching me a valuable lesson in taking care of the Earth!