Every year, 192 countries set aside a day to demonstrate their support for environmental protection in honor of the world we live on. The Earth Day Network coordinates Earth Day every April 22 in order to raise awareness towards environmental issues and challenges people to change wasteful habits.

When asked about the event, sophomore looked up towards the ceiling with a blank expression on his face.

Sophomore Alejandro Torres, although familiar with the term ‘Earth Day,’ was not too sure what the purpose of the day was for.

“Earth Day, sounds familiar but I can?t say I know anything about it,” Torres said. “If I had to guess it would have to do with the environment, but the whole thing sounds really vague so I don?t know.”

Emily Gonzales, ?17, shared the same puzzled expression as Torres?. She maintained an idea of what the event stood for but was ultimately unsure.

“I have no idea what that is,” Gonzales said. “Is Earth Day where you just acknowledge the earth? I guess I just don?t know.”

Daniel Thao, a sophomore at Sanger High School, who also works on his family?s farm, believes Earth Day is a time to remember all the earth has provided for people.

“I think the purpose and reason for celebrating Earth Day is to simply remember,” Thao said. “The point is to remember that we live on the earth, and that earth has given us so many different resources that have helped form our lives today. We need to remember to give back to earth, and not just take from it.”

Even though the City of Fresno?s Public Utilities Department acknowledges that Fresno is located in an area that has droughts, it appears that people still consume too much water. According to the City of Fresno?s Historical data, Fresno residents consumed 306 gallons of water per capita in 2008. The consumption of water dropped to 240 gallons per capita when water became fully regulated by meters in 2013.

Some residents have already taken steps toward living a greener and more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Some steps that can be taken are purchasing Starbucks promotes Fair Trade, which helps local coffee farmers. Purchasing music on an mp3 and getting rid of CD?s is cutting back on wastes.

Another helpful action could be starting to plant drought-tolerant plants instead of other plants that require large amounts of water to keep them alive. Small changes like these could help cut back on water usage exponentially.

The City of Fresno is putting on a water-wise plant conference at Fresno State?s Greenhouse at Fresno State’s Horticulture Greenhouse, May 3. People can learn, free of charge, on how to better manage their gardens and plants.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a reminder that trash does not simply disappear. Millions upon millions of plastic and garbage particles have conjoined together into one massive amount of garbage that drifts around the Pacific Ocean. Though massive, the exact size of the garbage patch is unknown because satellites are unable to examine it due to interference.

Though the full size of the garbage patch cannot be measured, people have been able to make estimates according to samples they have taken. Sizes have ranged from 270,000 square miles to 5,800,000 square miles of garbage and marine debris. No country takes responsibility and therefore no funding has gone towards remedying the problem.

Science teacher, Dan Harris, believes that caring for and managing the environment is part of a person?s job on this earth.

“My perspective is that God has put us in charge of the planet,” Harris said. “So that means we have to manage it and take care of it. I don?t necessarily think that the ‘natural state’ of the environment is the very best use of it, but I also don?t think we should be careless and negligent in how we treat the planet.”

According to the Huffington Post there are at least “17 Ridiculously Easy Things you can do to Help Save the Earth Everyday.” Here are a few helpful tips from the Huffington Post website to be more environmentally friendly.

?Stir your coffee with a dry pasta stick instead of a plastic stirrer that will get tossed after one use.
?Start using a refillable water bottle. In the US alone, 1.5 million barrels of oil are used every year to make disposable plastic bottles.
?Don?t put glass in the trash. It can take over a million years to decompose.

This writer can be reached via Twitter: @RRoggenstein. Follow The Feather via Twitter: @thefeather.

For more on environmental awareness, read the April 24 article, Earth Day: Waste your habits away.

For more features, read the April 23 article, Annual Sadies gains interest: Join the Discussion.