Being responsible without accepting responsibility

April is the Month of Easter, Earth Day and moody weather. For these reasons, and with UTRGV celebrating Earth Fest last week, I’ve had the planet on my mind. After reflecting, I was left with one thought: It’s not our responsibility to save the planet, but our lives are better when we try.

For a lot of people, caring about the planet feels pointless and they aren’t entirely wrong. Even if every UTRGV student and staff member became 100% environmentally friendly, our planet would probably still be in trouble.

Like our bodies, the planet is also impacted by everything that happens in or around it. We individually decide at what point a minor, bad thing becomes an obvious problem.

For example, littering is bad; however, seeing trash on the side of the road doesn’t scare me as much as hearing about the effects of landfills and microplastics.

So why shouldn’t we feel responsible, if the reason we feel powerless is because we are finally seeing the manifestation of all the minor bad things we let slide? We shouldn’t feel responsible because we aren’t responsible. It would have been impossible for any one individual to create the climate crisis and it can’t be solved by any one, average person either.

Our planet is being destroyed by major corporations who have the power to create problems this big.

Corporations are destroying our natural resources and creating replacements to sell back to us. With a profit at stake, many major corporations have exploited communities and harmed our air, water and land. If we accept we are responsible for fixing these problems, then we won’t actually have a fight against the climate crisis.

We need people who have authority over these multi-billion-dollar companies to change their practices and give us the resources we need to fix the damage.

For years we have been socialized to believe that if we have a need or desire then we need to buy a product for it. This mentality makes us forget that our relationship with the planet should be mutually nurturing. There are plenty of herbs, fruits and vegetables that naturally heal internal and external conditions.

When you decide to incorporate environmentally friendly practices, it just starts to make more sense. Supporting local farmers and businesses means that you are helping your community and not giving money to corporations that are causing these problems. Recycling and reusing allows us to be resourceful and reduces the amount of things that end up in landfills. Using natural remedies instead of man-made products is usually healthier and saves you money.

There is a difference between feeling responsible for these issues and just feeling like you’d be better off not contributing to it. When we start to care for the environment out of our own morals and for our own well-being, every aspect of our lives is uplifted. When we accept responsibility for the planet out of guilt, we are playing into an agenda that only benefits the people who are destroying it. The most impactful and influential thing we can do for the planet and, consequently ourselves, is live a sustainable life.