Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

A few months ago I visited India, my mother land. Upon my arrival there, I was devastated to find the amount of pollution that was not only left on the streets,but also in the uninhabited areas. This was new to me because I guess I never realized the trash in my surroundings at home too.
I have always been a person who loved the outdoors, and when I got back to the US that passion still remained. I take long walks and spend time fishing at the lake almost every day. There's just a certain joy that comes from being one with nature, that no man made object can emulate. I have planted many plants in my backyard and I love helping nurture and care for them.
When I returned home, for some time, I did not feel any remorse at all when seeing litter and pollution around the areas I visited. However, one day as I was fishing I noticed the amount of trash was increasing at an alarming rate. Not only was the trash an ugly thing to see, but it also was harmful to the animals and vegetation in that area. Then and there I realized how much influence we can have to help the wildlife continue to flourish and how little energy it takes.
Since then I have made it a personal point to get trash out of the premises whenever it is sighted as well as spending time looking for the harmful pollution and disposing of it.
Some people may think when your in highschool, you cant have any influence. But I say quite the opposite, you do have influence and exercising responsibility over the influences you have been given at this age is the key to helping the environment, others, and yourself for the rest of your life.
I love the quote by Stewart Udall:
Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.