Reasons To Love Our Planet | Earth Day Interview with Shalise Leesfield

Written by Shalise Leesfield, Youth Eco-Warrior

This year for Earth Day (April 22^nd), Kidzworld decided to ask some kids what they thought were important reasons to love our planet. Here are their answers!

Most Popular Answers:

1. The Earth is our home.
2. The Earth provides us with life.
3. Where else are we going to live?
4. Because of the beautiful animals who live here.
5. There is no Planet B in the whole Universe.
6. A healthy planet is a healthy us.

Celebrate Earth Day

Our Favorite - When we love our planet, we love ourselves.

Kids Writing Mentor, Lorrie Holmes, from KiDS NEWS & REViEWS hand selected this very impressive 12 year old, eco-warrior to develop a story for us for Earth Day. Shalise Leesfield is reporting to us from Lake Cathie, Australia, where she has created her very own Climate Change Movement. Her BFF is a real live pelican called Mr. Percival who joins her on the beach for her daily shoreline cleanups. Stay tuned to read all about the DAILY ocean conservation work she does in her upcoming feature story at KiDS NEWS & REViEWS. Today, Shalise will be speaking to us about Earth Day and what it means to her. Now let’s hand this over to Shalise!

I love our planet because it gives us all of our human needs which are air, water, food and shelter. In my talks that I do at schools and festivals, I tell people that it’s the only Earth we have and we are all sharing it with one another and we must always remember that there is no Planet B in the whole universe. So we have this one amazing planet and we have one chance to take care of it.

I remember always being told by my parents that if we look after Mother Nature, then she will look after us in return. For example, if we clog the oceans with plastic pollution or cut down all the forests, we are only hurting ourselves. A healthy planet equals a healthy us! Another reason that we should love our planet is because of the beautiful animals that live here also. If we don’t look after our Earth, then there will be no other living animal species. We share this planet with animals and we need to do our part to protect them and their habitats and keep them thriving and safe.

I am an environmental campaigner. This means that I campaign for our environment. Campaigning means that (definition).There are many different ways to campaign for the environment. How I have chosen to do this is by taking on the marine world and targeting ocean litter such as plastic pollution and fishing line debris. I have created my very own climate change movement and my mission is to protect marine life by ridding Australia’s beaches of plastic debris. I speak at schools and festivals where I educate my peers about plastic pollution and teach the next generation how to protect our environment.

I have won many awards and recognitions for my contributions to our environment. You can learn more about them in my feature story at KiDS NEWS & REViEWS that just came out today! I’m so excited that I was able to develop both of these stories in my own voice! I love offering advice to our future generation about what they can do to help love our planet. I think it’s super important that us youth to stick together and share and inspire each other to do our part for our future. Us kids need to show the world that we mean business when it comes to leaving our planet in better condition than we found it. What we do on Earth Day - and each day - really does take a toll on the planet and we need to be a little kinder to our world. Us humans create a lot of waste and many of the things we use contribute to the pollution in the air, water, and the Earth. The good news is, a few small changes in our daily routines really can make a big difference in our personal footprints.

As someone who cares, these are the reasons I think it’s important that we all help out and take care of the environment. I recommend we all try to learn as much as we can about environmental issues so we are aware of what we need to do to protect our environment. Hopefully we can all commit to doing something for the environment on Earth Day. Below are some helpful suggestions to help clean our planet.

Become Eco-Conscious

Caring for the environment doesn’t require you to become an environmental activist. Just be eco-conscious!

Speak Out – Become an Advocate

For example, you could speak out for the conservation of endangered species and forest habitats. You could become an advocate for a particular animal species.

Beach Cleanups

One of the ways I enjoy spending Earth Day is helping out at beach cleanups. Living at the beach, you really do see, first-hand, how much rubbish ends up there on a daily basis.

Sponsor an Endangered Species

Sponsor an endangered species and see how you can adopt and help pay for the care of one of these beautiful animals in need.

Volunteer Your Time

You can volunteer some time to an organization that puts effort into helping the environment and see how you can help. You can get your family and friends involved and excited about it too.

Plant A Tree

You could also plant a tree. Trees are a big part of our earth, and planting one will just add to the health and wellness of the world that we live in. National Arbor Day is April 26^th, 2019. So let’s get together and celebrate the importance of trees by planting new trees!

Gardening

Try to bring more nature into your garden at home with plants that attract butterflies and bees and make your yard an oasis for these amazing creatures.  

While you are at it, you could try and start an organic vegetable garden.

Live Sustainably

Also live more sustainably and cut back on plastic consumption - One way you can help the ocean pollution issue is to reduce your amount of plastic use. Avoid purchasing disposable plastics, like bags and bottles, and instead, replace them with reusable products.

Do A Clean Up

Do a cleanup in your local community by organizing a group to pick up rubbish in a local park or waterway.

Turn Off Lights

When you’re at home, keep lights turned off as much as possible.

Conserve Water

Also conserve water by not leaving water on when brushing teeth. Limit time in the shower too.

Thank you for reading my story and sharing in my passion! I also hope we can all use this year’s Earth Day as a starting point for great change, and make every day an Earth Day by looking at what can be done through the whole year and make taking care of the environment a regular part of how we all live. Remember, every action you take to reduce your carbon footprint will help create a cleaner planet.

Sincerely,
Shalise

Share Your Thoughts

What are your plans for Earth Day? What changes have you made to be more eco friendly?  Comment below or write a story on your profile!