You Can Make a Difference for the Planet

A new year brings us a fresh slate. It's a time to begin again, to do it over, to be all that you can be. It's a time to revaluate if our train is running on the rails of our choosing, heading in the direction of our green goals.

Do you have a green cause in your heart? If you are passionate about changing something, from ending war to cleaning up your neighborhood, you have the ability to get involved. Sometimes it's as easy as a good idea, or recognizing an ignored need.

Perhaps "get involved" has become a cliché catch phrase, but every day, ordinary people are changing the world. They aren't super heroes or politically powerful people; they are individuals like you with a sense of duty, willing to take one step in the right direction.

Ten years ago we were introduced to a powerhouse of a woman who was the ultimate portrayal of green grassroots organizing. Before her story was told to us on the big screen, she worked as a management trainee for Kmart, but quit after a few months and entered some potentially lucrative beauty pageants. After winning Miss Pacific Coast in California in 1981, she gave up pageant life, and became a stereotype-bucking, working-class mom, transforming her professional inexperience into an asset and helping to coordinate one of the largest class-action lawsuits in U.S. history. And this was all from a single mother of three who worked as a secretary in a law firm.

Erin Brockovich found a cause and championed it. She didn't set out to become famous, but she saw a need, opened her heart, and moved forward to overcome any obstacle or negativity she encountered.

She took on Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). The utility company was accused of contaminating the water in Hinkley, California, and Brockovich doggedly pursued the case against them. After many personal and professional setbacks, the case was settled by PG&E and the residents of Hinkley were awarded $333 million and were given a pledge by PG&E to clean up the contamination.

This unsuspecting woman waged an all out war against hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing chemical which has been detected in the tap water of 31 of the 35 U.S. cities tested for Environmental Working Group-commissioned studies. That's contamination in 89 percent of the cities sampled.

According to the EPA, hexavalent chromium is "likely to be carcinogenic to humans." Yet, as EWG reports, "Despite mounting evidence of its toxic effects, the EPA has not set a legal limit for hexavalent chromium in tap water nationally and does not require water utilities to test for it."

And then there is Severn Suzuki. She's full of fire about the environment. She spoke to the United Nations at the age of 12. She spoke of deforestation, chemicals in the air, the waste and greed in our society, and the wanton destruction of animal and plant species that can never be brought back to life again.

A child speaking before adults representing all the countries in the world—yet her speech was anything but childish. It was a galvanizing scolding and a plea to everyone to help stop the devastation of the earth's resources. She was quoted saying, "If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!"

She's a scientist. She realized that the best way to achieve change is to stir people to modify laws, so that future generations, including hers, will still have a livable world to inherit. She realized what many environmentalists discover at some point in their careers: that living your life as the example and taking action whenever you can is what works.

Erin Brockovich continues her crusade around the country for better drinking water. Her goal is to empower communities to fight against large polluting corporations.

Participate in making the world a better place by helping your fellow man and the Earth. Buy phosphate-free laundry detergent and dish soap. Take shorter showers. Carpool. You can make a difference every single day, even while sitting on your behind.