Green Our Rivers, 3 Ways to Start

This probably won?t be a newsflash for anyone: many of our country's rivers are polluted. Surprised? Didn't think so. The reason nobody should be shocked is because we're all so used to the idea?but maybe we shouldn't be. Pollution in our rivers is still getting worse?every year, over 860 billion gallons of sewage gets spilled or dumped into our rivers. You read correctly: 860 billion gallons.

Problems like this are the trickiest kind?you know, the kind with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But there are certainly things you can do to help prevent pollution in our nation's rivers, some of which may make little or no visible immediate impact. But we?ve got to start somewhere.

Three Ways You Can Help Green Our Rivers:

1. One good place to start is to support green companies?large corporations contribute a huge portion of pollution to our nation's rivers. Investing in the ones that don't can start encouraging greener practices.

2. If you notice an overload of pollution in rivers near you, alert your local environmental agencies or write to local politicians. Just this year, renewed attention to the topic lead the state of California to instate new legislation to reduce storm water pollution.

3. Finally, watch what you drop down your drains or flush down your toilet. It?s a little depressing?and definitely disgusting?but whatever goes down may indeed come up. Ugh.

Want to know what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint? Find out on Planet Green TV's Wa$ted.