Backgrounder
When we hear about damage to the environment caused by big paper and chemical factories it seems that the causes of pollution are far from us.
We think that we are simply victims suffering from these assaults against the environment and our health.
However, in one way or another, we all contribute every day to air and water pollution, and to the destruction of forests. We get trapped in the habits of our daily routine. We forget to stop and think about what we are doing, how we are doing it, and the effect what we do might have on the environment.
Every day, by producing garbage, burning garbage (when we burn garbage fumes go into the air), and wasting water, we damage our own health. At the same time we are harming the environment and using up our natural resources.
Even when we do our daily house cleaning we directly affect the environment. The cleaners we use get into the soil, rivers, lakes and streams.
Some of them can be dangerous. What we pour out with waste water can end up in our drinking water. Our effort to protect the environment should begin in the home.
Let’s remember to: recycle garbage; choose products that are natural, or less harmful to the environment; find out more about how commercial products are made, and try to be more selective about buying and using them; value our natural resources as the source of life.
Acknowledgements
This script was written by Guadalupe Mateos, a Mexican sociologist and environmentalist currently living in Toronto, Canada