There's more to a person than meets the eye, especially in Ines Ware's case. While she may have charisma, style, and not to mention, she's cute as a button, this girl knows that there's more to life than deciding which club to go to Friday night. Hailing from Durham, NC by way of New Jersey, she is majoring in Environmental Studies and Political Science [yeaaah, she's not playing]. She's currently in DC, interning at 1Sky, a non-profit organization advocating for climate policies to stop pollution in the environment. Since the BP disaster, her blog [Concrete Jungle] has been the go-to site to keep up with its happenings and her views on it all. She has had a passion for the environment much before the disaster and is on a mission to bring change and awareness, one post at a time.
What inspired you to become an advocate for the environment?
My uncle worked for the EPA until retirement in Jersey. I remember him having a bunch of recycling bins and I asked him what they were for. That's when he told me about recycling. He also lived right in front of the Hudson River which is super polluted and he told me about how bad pollution is for the environment and how we should take care of it. So, I assume that's what pretty much inspired me to be such a "tree hugger". Oh and of course "Captain Planet". He's my hero, we're going to take pollution down to a zero. =)
Do you think the government is doing enough to protect the environment?
Of course not. The government has the power to do a lot for the environment and they don't. I really feel as if they only do the minimum just to keep the environmental activist quiet. They have the power to take all the cars off of the street and replace them with Hybrids, enforce stricter environmental laws and really move forward with alternative energy. But so far, all of our presidents are only interested in getting rich quick with the dirtiest energy resource, oil. However, Obama is trying to give the EPA more power and rule over how we treat the environment so, I hope that goes well. We missed out on Al Gore. He advocates for climate change focusing on global warming.
Let's take it back to elementary school quickly, what do you want to be when you grow up?
My ULTIMATE career goal is to become an administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency which is a government sector. Until then, my goal is to fulfill my purpose in life which is to make a difference in cleaning up the environment all around the world.
Do you feel that people, specifically young people/ know enough about the current state of our environment?
I always say, "If you knew better, you'd do better". So no, people, especially young people really do not know what is going on with the environment. They don't know that the US has cut down 90% of their natural forests. They don't know that 70 countries have lost their forests due to deforestation. Most young people don't even know that we NEED trees to survive because they give us oxygen to breathe. The oil spill is just the tip of the iceberg on everything that's going on in the world. Gas companies are always having oil spills, but people who aren't interested don't know. So I don't blame people for being oblivious to what is going on in the environment because they simply don't know. Environmental education isn't mandatory in any school. That's what my blog is for. To open the eyes of my age group and show them and teach them about the world around us and that we need to protect it because ultimately, this planet is all that we have.
The oil spill is probably one of the biggest man-made environmental catastrophes that's occurred in our recent times, for those who aren't too familiar with the details of it, could you give us background information as to how and why it
has become such a catastrophe?
The oil spill is such a big deal because of the massive amounts of oil being spill, the number of wildlife being killed and of course, oil washing up on the beaches. Like I said, oil spill happen too often for comfort but they are never as huge as this oil spill. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill surpassed the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 being that now, there has been millions of gallons of oil being spewed into our ocean. The world is already making its way to a clean water shortage so this did not help at all. And also, with this massive oil spill, environmental activists are using it as a platform to say, "You see?! THIS is why we do NOT need offshore drilling". The ban of offshore drilling has been lifted along the east coast down to Alaska. This is bad news because the east coast shores are fragile so therefore, they will be more prone to oil spills of this size. Meaning beaches such as the Jersey shore, Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach down to Miami Beach will be at risk of oil spill which could taint the waters and wash up oil on the shore.
What do you hope for the world's environment and for the world to do to save it?
I just hope people educate themselves and realize this planet is not just for them to, for a lack of a better word, shxt on. Just like you have to take care of your home, you have to take care of the planet. How we use the planet will determine how the planet takes care of us. People should simply be more environmentally conscious. Recycle, don't be too "saditty" to take public transportation or ride a bike places, NEVER pollute and liter. It's never been a question of saving the planet or saving the environment. It's more like saving us from ourselves. The planet will always be here, we won't.
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