Imagine that you are on the verge of death. Incapacitated, unable to move, you are nothing. Then a large green woman comes and takes you in. She shelters you, feeds you, builds you up to your maximum strength and gives you everything you will ever need to succeed simply because she is kind and she is able to.

Now imagine that you are restored; you are alive, thriving and happy. You turn around and see the green woman smiling pleasantly at you and then you pick up an axe and begin viciously attacking her. That green woman is mother nature, our planet. That person is you.

I know you hear it a lot, and I am sure you probably disregard it, or think that there is nothing you can do, but the truth of the matter is that everyone in this building has an ecological footprint that they are leaving on this planet, some bigger than others, and believe it or not, there are ways to reduce that footprint and help sustain Earth for future generations.

One large step individuals can take towards achieving an ecologically friendly status is clean and uncomplicated: recycling. Yes, recycling is good for the environment, yes, it preserves landfill space and saves energy, but an often time overlooked fact is that recycling is also beneficial for the economy. Many American companies rely on recycling programs to provide raw materials for the manufacturing of new products. The current recycling industry in the U.S. is worth $236 billion a year and employs 1.1 million people nationwide, according to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability for Higher Education.

Reduce, reuse, recycle: three words that are constantly being reused and recycled in our daily language yet somehow in the United States, the message is reduced and lost when compared to other countries. The United States recycles 31.5 percent of its waste, making it seventh in the world for recycling. Americans only represent five percent of the world’s population, but we are generating 30 percent of the world’s garbage, according to the Natural Defense Council. Why? Why do we feel the need to chop so many trees, burn so much petroleum, destroy so many habitats just so we can greedily claim title to world’s biggest consumers? Reduce, reuse and recycle. Just because we can have something new and shiny, does not always mean that we should.

So the next time you are holding a plastic bag, a water bottle, an empty tissue box, a paper towel roll or even an old razor blade, do not be allured by the nearness of a garbage can. Instead, try and conjure an image of your future children, grandchildren and great great grand nephews; think of your little rose bush outside, that elephant you once saw on TV, the transparent cleanliness of the lake a few years ago when you went fishing with your grandpa and all the lurking inhabitants of our oceans. Think of the future. Do the right thing. Recycle.