Herd Member | Sydney Tappy

Hello Herd! I’m Sydney, and I’ve been a part of the herd for a while now. Part of being in the herd is showing your stripes and embracing your passions. While a huge passion of mine is horses, which I’m assuming is shared through many of us, I also have a huge passion for the environment and the issues surrounding it.

Our planet has been the source of all life forms to ever be known. It is what has given us all of the beauties and treasures we see in everyday life. But a problem has been arising that needs to be addressed and taken seriously. Climate change.

Over a year ago, I began to realize the impact us humans have been making on our home. Being fifteen years old at the time and hearing stories and seeing articles about the downhill direction the environment is going, I instantly felt attracted to the cause. Now, at 16, I have changed many parts of my lifestyle in order to combat climate change and really drive forward progression in the environment.

The impact that us humans have made on our climate, is far from good. Many forms of aquatic wildlife has been dying due to human plastic and micro-plastic pollution. Deforestation has been increasing at drastic rates due to human demand for natural resources. Extreme global temperatures and natural disasters caused from, you guessed it, human pollution, such as wildfires, blizzards, tsunamis, etc. have been sweeping through nations and destroying numerous life forms. These are just a few examples of the devastation us humans have caused to our world; the one that gave us our lives. It is our job to take back our actions and make the climate and environment great again!

Here are a few things that I do that are easy for anyone to do, in order to take small steps towards bettering the environment:

• Use metal straws
• Stop using/buying styrofoam products
• Reduce dairy and meat consumption (I am a vegetarian and it is not as hard as you may think!)
• Use reusable shopping bags
• Buy organic and local foods
• Buy reusable coffee/drink cups and water bottles
• Reduce paper towel use
• Reduce plastic baggie use (use reusable containers instead!)
• Upcycle/thrift clothes (you can find some really cute, unique stuff this way!)
• Carpool, carpool, CARPOOL (as much as you can!)

Showing your stripes means following your passions. Making these small changes is show my stripes.  If everyone makes small changes such as these, a big difference can be made. I have found little challenges in making these small lifestyle changes and it feels so good to know that you are giving back to our Earth! It is so crucial that people begin to notice and make changes for the environment before there is no turning back (which is too close in the future). Trust me, if I can do it, you can too!

Follow me on Instagram @sydney.nicholee