Help! i need some advice on what to say? Ok so I was talking to my friend, and I think everyone should help and contribute the the global crisis by doing small things like unplugging an electronic device when not in use, shorter showers, cloth napkins instead of paper and recycling, stuff you don%26#039;t have to go out of your way to do, and she was like people are making too big of a deal about this. After i tried explaining to her how this IS a big deal, she cut me off and went on to say the world will work itself out, like she said that it will get really cold after the heat and then everything will go back to the way it was, its just a cycle.....so my dilemma is how do i talk to her to get her to see what I%26#039;m trying to show her. That the Earth is NOT just going to work itself out when people keep polluting it and using up natural resources, without sounding hostile or attacking, because i feel very strongly about this topic and feel everyone should try to help.

thank you

Best Answer

Tell her about EPA Superfund sites like Love Canal in New York, or about the Radium Dial Company in Illinois.

I live within the region historically known as the Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, in Pennsylvania. There are many EPA Superfund sites all over the place. Nothing says %26quot;think green%26quot; better than otherwise beautiful mountains with no trees on it, because the trees literally fell over and died 100 years ago. The people who lived and worked in and around the Palmerton Zinc operations which caused it didn%26#039;t think it was a big deal either, until all that happened - when it was already too late. There are still people in denial about it. Not even a big cinder dust cloud which once covered the whole town one night could make some of them realize how bad their problem is/was. In Pennsylvania, it%26#039;s hardly the only example of what can happen if people aren%26#039;t careful with Mother Nature. People with profit as their motive will deny it until their last breath if it means making one less dime.

You and your friend should check out a worldwide effort called freecycle.org Learn as much as you can, be involved and help make the world better for everyone.

Read all you like, especially the %26quot;About Freecycle%26quot; link. Look in that link and check out the %26quot;Freecyclopedia%26quot; link. Then click on %26quot;Links we Like%26quot;. It contains plenty of sources of credible information, like the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that will help you win this battle with your friend! freecycle.org epa.gov

Asker's Rating:

thnx!

i%26#039;ll def. check out the cite

you really helped =]

Other Answers (7)

• Its cool that you%26#039;ve tried to open up her eyes but lets be realistic, people will do what they want to do regardless of the truth thus the problem we face :) If you really value her as a friend perhaps it is better to agree to disagree and stick to subjects a little less emotionally charged. Pushing the issue may put a nasty strain on your friendship.
• You have done your good part. If your friend do not want to listen, that is not your problem. She may be feeling that you do not have the expertise to tell her things...she is not appreciating your good intentions. The Authorities have not done enough to put the message across...
• tell her what will happen if she doesn%26#039;t do those things like the price of things will go up and one day she may not have some of the things she has now and some wild animal (use one that she loves) will lose it%26#039;s home someday.
  Good Luck!!
• perhaps convience her to save on her energy bills and unplug things etc. This way shes helping out and not eveing knowing it and she herself is in a self-centered way helping herself.
• look, you can%26#039;t convince everyone. as long as she doesnt do things, like litter just in spite of it, then leave her alone. the fact of the matter is, i love the earth, but your friend is right. things will work out, whether our kind lives to see it or not. the earth is not being destroyed, just the life on it is at risk. life will not end unless it is supposed to, we%26#039;re not powerful enough to keep this downward cycle up forever. things will fix, but what can u do? i try to help, but everyone does not. just move on, and keep doing all YOU can.
• What about all the water you use washing the cloth napkins?
  
  I, personally, do everything I can to conserve. Except the shorter shower thing. I try, but I%26#039;ve got ridiculously long hair and it just plain takes me a while to deal with it. However, I only wash my hair once every three days (depending on how icky it gets) so I take extra short showers when I don%26#039;t wash hair, so I guess it makes up for it. I unplug everything except for lamps that are plugged into the socket that is activated by a light switch. No sense in my killing myself just to plug in a light. Everything else gets unplugged. Oh, except my alarm clock. That would suck.
  
  YOU are responsible for YOU. Some people just won%26#039;t see the light. You are wasting an awful lot of personal energy that could be used towards something else.
• Obviously you two sound like you each have ideas that strongly contradict the other.
  
  Maybe no help here, but all those calories used unplugging appliances probably burns more calories, leading to a possible cumulative effect of requiring more crop space and/or ranching land for food. Even communicating the idea of the environment being bad can be bad for the environment.
  
  Go log-off line, sell your stuff so it can be reused and illegally live off the land in some remote location of the world, or in a barbaric, but friendly, intelligent community in a similar and/or the same location. I really doubt you will or would go threw with that though.