Birth Of Green Planet
- greenplanetproject2
- Jun 2, 2022
- 3 min read
MISSION/VISION
Green planet is a local youth led volunteer organization based in Cary, North Carolina. Our mission is to build a community of environmentally responsible individuals who are determined to make a difference through volunteering and contributing towards achieving a safe, healthy and green environment! We want to work towards building a world in which there is no plastic on the ground or harmful toxins in the air, but one where there are trees everywhere and an abundance of healthy air for all.
CLIMATE ISSUES IN CARY, NC
Air pollution, specifically through carbon emissions, has been a big issue around the nation and in our local area. In fact, the ‘Environment North Carolina Research & Policy Center’ stated in one of their articles titled ‘Trouble in the Air’ that “In 2020, 237.6 million Americans - more than 70% of the population - were exposed to more than a month of elevated levels of ozone and/or fine particulate pollution”. The effects of air pollution can be harmful to human health and can worsen global warming! First of all, polluted air can cause damage to the respiratory system, harm the cardiovascular system, result in premature death, affect the immune system, result in the development of cancer and even increase the risk to Covid-19. In addition, air pollution has been proven to interfere with the circulation of air in our atmosphere, which keeps the air pollution closer to the ground making it more harmful for humans. The most common and dangerous effect of air pollution is the production of greenhouse gases that heat up the atmosphere. This can result in destructive wildfires, especially in dry areas!
SOLUTIONS
Cary has set a goal to reduce town-wide carbon emissions 25% by 2025 and 100% by 2040 compared to a 2018 baseline and one of the things that they plan on doing is establishing a carbon baseline and progress metric. A carbon baseline is a catalog of sources of carbon emissions from activities caused by businesses. The town of Cary will establish a baseline year to benchmark future progress with the amount of carbon emissions. This will help indicate if the following action steps are working. We will be looking at the Carbon Reduction Recommendations from the Town of Cary's Environmental Advisory Board Executive Summary for the main action steps we need to take as a community to help. The town of Cary will be promoting renewable energy by providing examples of items people should be using to create renewable energy such as, energy storage, green building materials, and green stormwater infrastructure. The town of Cary is looking to improve transportation with several different strategies. They will be increasing opportunities for telecommuting or encouraging scooter and motorcycle use instead of cars. This will help in using less gas and putting less carbon dioxide in the air. We want to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide being pushed into the air because it is harming and helping in the depletion of the ozone layer which is crucial for life to sustain on earth. The Town of Cary also looks to improve green infrastructure. Green infrastructure elements are important to a community and especially for limiting carbon use. Neighborhood scale infrastructure with city planning could include planting rain gardens or constructing a wetland near a residential housing complex. This also includes protecting open natural, green areas. The town of Cary is working to promote sustainable food habits to reduce food waste. They encourage you to opt for personally or locally produced foods instead of store-bought items. They want to educate the citizens of Cary and to build a joined community to help in reaching their goals. As a community we need to work with municipalities across North Carolina to help in advocating for state level changes. We need to work together as a community so that we can help in getting North Carolina to a better place little by little. There are so many things that you can do to help the earth become a better place such as cleaning up your local parks, recycling more, picking up litter when you see it, ect. To find out more ways that you can help your community, you can follow and look on the Green Planet Instagram, @green_planetproject.
Comments