Imagine this. The year is 2060 and Earth is now classified as an unsafe place to live.

Anytime you walk outside, you must wear a mask to avoid carbon dioxide filling your lungs. The air is yellow, and there are no trees left.

There is nothing left that can reverse the detrimental effects on the environment. This may sound like it will never happen, but this will eventually be the haunting reality of life on this planet as we know it. However, the year is not 2060. We can still fix this, but if we are going to it has to happen now. C02 emissions are climbing and everybody has to and can do something in order to reverse the effects of climate change and avoid the sixth mass extinction.

Everyone on this planet, including high school students can make an impact on the Earth, anywhere they go. This must happen now in order to reduce carbon emissions, so here are five ways that you can help the environment.

1. Writing a political leader or attending rallies are two political ways to get involved in solving climate change. Freshman Izzy Muffet attended a climate change rally on Sept. 20 and said, “Rallies bring together a lot of different groups of people who think the same thing and then they can fight for what they believe in.”
2. Using compostable and reusable products is one of the best ways to reduce your waste that would otherwise go to landfills or oceans. When any type of waste breaks down without oxygen, it releases a heat trapping gas called methane. Biology and forensics teacher Sandford Herzon utilizes trash by taking out “all kinds of containers that [he] find[s] in the trash [that he] use[s] to put materials in.”
3. Not only is food that grows fresh from a garden delicious, it actually promotes environmental well-being. A way of enriching soil to grow food more effectively is called composting, the act of returning organic materials back to the Earth and letting them breakdown and turn to soil. This will drastically lower the amount of trash in landfills, and according to Carla Kasberg, Greenhouse Associate at Potomac Garden Center, trash in landfills “can even leach into streams.”
4. Going vegetarian or just cutting red meat out of your diet will have a lasting effect on the environment. It won’t happen overnight, but being passionate about the Earth and animals will make going vegetarian much easier. Millions of acres and pounds of carbon emissions are constantly being used to produce meat and other environmentally damaging products such as palm oil.
5. Most large corporations and everyday brands have factories that are located thousands of miles away from stores, creating a need to transport merchandise on vehicles that are not eco friendly. This has two simple solutions, which are shopping secondhand and shopping at small businesses. Small businesses eliminate the need for lengthy transportation, and shopping secondhand eliminates the need for producing extra merchandise, not to mention all the unique and cute clothes you’ll find.