Honoring Earth Day, April 22, 2015

Honoring Earth Day, April 22, 2015

Earth Day is a worldwide holiday, that was started in 1970. The meaning behind it was to honor the earth and promote peace. Over the years, Earth Day has grown into Earth Week in some communities, and the focus has grown to include mitigating the many environmental issues that we face here in our world.

We like to think that everyone can do a little something to make the world a better place. You don’t have to march in a parade or donate money to the cause. All it takes is one small change in your daily routine to promote the health and wellness of our earth.

Here we present 10 ideas for easy things you can do or begin doing on Earth Day, 2015 to reduce your carbon footprint and live a greener life!

1. Build a compost bin for your yard. Click here to learn how to build a compost bin that will take you just 15 minutes to assemble.

2. Plant a tree…or two, or three! Arbor Day is in two days, so your timing couldn’t be more perfect.

3. Change your light bulbs. Replacing even a few of your traditional incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lightbulbs will save energy, plus they last 5 times as long as incandescent.

4. Install water-saving fixtures in your bathroom and kitchen.

5. Wash clothes in cold water. Believe it or not, about 90% of the energy used to wash a load of clothes in hot water goes towards heating up the water. And today’s detergents are very effective in cold water, so unless you really need to kill germs, stick with cold.

6. Unplug your gadgets. This one is a no-brainer, and very easy to accomplish..just make sure all your chargers are unplugged when you aren’t using them.

7. Use environmentally friendly cleaning supplies. There are many such cleaning supplies on the market today. However, if you want to go cheaper and easier than that, white vinegar and baking soda are examples of common household items that have many cleaning uses around the house.

8. Start using re-usable grocery bags. This helps the environment, and may also save you money, as many cities now require grocery stores to charge a nominal fee for paper and plastic bags.

9. Invest in your own coffee cup. Got a coffee or tea habit? Invest in a high-quality portable coffee cup, wash it out each night, and take it with you each morning. You will save at least 5 paper cups a week!

10. Before your throw something away, consider giving it away! You may be doing this already with certain items, such as children’s clothing, but here are some other ideas for ways to help others with items you were just going to toss anyway:

Donate old tools to a job-training program
Donate still-nice-but-no-longer-needed women’s professional clothes to a local “dress for success” program
Habitat for Humanity may be able to find a use for building materials that you don’t plan to use
Other items to consider donating: children’s toys and car seats, bicycles, sporting equipment, exercise equipment. You can even donate a car to charity!