Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. This date is Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
It's never too early to get your children involved in helping the earth. Whether it's teaching them about recycling, participating in an "Adopt a Highway" program, or simply planting a tree.
Whether or not you believe in Global Warming, doing what you can to save and protect the earth for the future is an important thing. There is a great article today on ABC News entitled "7 Easy Ways to Conserve". Here is a summary:
- Watch how you shop. Whether you're shopping for a book or a new refrigerator, online or in the store, there's a way to consume with the environment and your bank account in mind. For starters, look for appliances and items with the Energy Star label. Backed by the Energy StarEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy, this label indicates a model that has met minimum federal energy efficiency standards.
- Measure Your Miles. Gas prices may be down now but, even so, fuel costs can still eat up a large portion of the family budget. And, in the United States cars are responsible for about 25 percent of the greenhouse gases produced, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) says. Purchasing fuel-efficient, less polluting cars is an option. So is keeping your current car in good condition with regular tune-ups and properly inflated tires. Car pooling and biking when possible also save money and cut down on emissions.
- Unplug when you can. It's one of the easiest things to do: unplug. Standby (or phantom) power, may be haunting your house -- and costing you more money on energy bills than you bargained for. Standby power eats up electricity on common appliances throughout your home while they're not even on. Seem unfair? Phantom power in the United States is responsible for 5 percent of the total energy used and $3 billion in actual dollars wasted, according to the Department of Energy.
- Choose greener power when you can. Save energy even while you're plugged in. San Ramon, Calif.-based Green Plug recently announced the Innergie mCube 90G, a universal power adapter that eliminates the need for multiple chargers.
- Don't waste water. Wasting water is an easy way to watch your money go down to drain. But there are several ways to fix this. First off, take a minute and listen for the soft, "drip, drip," sound coming from your sinks or shower. The NRDC estimates that leaky faucets wastes about 3,000 gallons of water a year.
- E-Cycle. Have an out-dated iPod or computer? Is your cell looking a little tattered? You could make a buck selling it for cheap on Web sites like eBay, or you could give something back to the environment by recycling it. YouRenew.com lets you easily sell or recycle your electronics. You can get cash for the electronics with value or ship it to the company for free and they'll recycle it for you.
- Change a light bulb. Yes, you've heard it before. But the fact remains that the simple, cheap, and very easy act of replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs saves you about $30 over their lifetimes. In just six months, they pay for themselves
- Better World Books - Better World Books collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide.
- Carbonfund.org - eading the fight against global warming, making it easy and affordable for any individual, business or organization to eliminate their carbon footprint with our offsets and hastening the transformation to a clean energy future.
- Fuel Efficient Centers - Drive smart, drive green!
- Natural Resources Defense Council - Works to protect wildlife and wild places and to ensure a healthy environment for all life on earth.
- YouRenew.com - We have a mission to make it easier to sell electronics and recycle electronics than throw them away.
- Earth Day Network
- EarthDay.gov
- EPA Earth Day
- World Wildlife Federation Earth Day
- Google Earth Day Gallery
Sow the seeds of the future by getting your children involved in helping to make a greener planet TODAY. Willow is 19 months old and she LOVES to recycle. That is, she loves taking things into the garage and throwing them into the appropriate bin. And yes, she knows which bin is for which recyclables. It's so easy to "help" save the environment, why not get your children involved and set a good example?
