8 Ways to Green Your Earth Day
This story is part of Earth911’s “Green Eight” series, where we showcase eight ways to green your life in various areas.
Let’s be honest: Earth Day is Christmas for the green year. We all start thinking and acting a little more eco-friendly as April 22 rolls around.
As you prepare to celebrate, here’s eight great options for optimizing your Earth Day experience:
1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
It sounds simple but it really works. Get in the habit of incorporating the “three R’s” into products you use on a daily basis. This process can have an effect on what you choose to buy. It also affects how you use and dispose of things you already have. Recycle your household waste using Earth 911.
2. Green Your Garage
Chances are you’ve got more than a few items sitting in the garage that you don’t know what to do with. It could be:
Not all of this stuff can be recycled. But it can all be reused and/or properly disposed. Use Earth 911’s recycling locator to find a location that will take these supplies off your hands. Your community may be holding a special collection event for Earth Day.
3. Create a Compost Pile
Earth Day is in late April. Winter is over and gardens are in bloom. One of the key ingredients to your perfect garden will be nutrient-rich fertilizer.
Luckily, you can make your own fertilizer and reduce waste at the same time. This is known as composting. You just mix raw food scraps from your kitchen with leaves from your back yard and water.
4. Buy Recycled
You likely already do this without knowing it. When products are recycled, this material is used as the main ingredient for new products. So buying recycled content creates a market for recycling. Most times the packaging will be labeled if it is recycled content, so keep an eye out.
5. Party Smart
Late April is also a great time for parties. But parties can generate a lot of waste. Here’s a few tips for an eco-friendly party:
- Set up recycling bins for plastic bottles
- Buy large quantities of food and drinks to reduce packaging
- Encourage guests to bring their own glasses and/or plates to reduce waste (there will also be less confusion about which drink belongs to each person)
6. Take Advantage of the Weather
Depending on where you live, this time of year has some of the nicest weather. Try opening windows instead of running the air conditioning and/or heater. This will also save some money on your energy bill.
Nice weather is also a great excuse to drive less. Walking helps your health and is better for the air.
7. Use Water Wisely
Saving water around the house is important because it is a limited resource. Here’s a few easy ways how:
- Take shorter showers
- Put a filled bottle in your toilet tank (less water used per flush)
- Reuse water around the house, such as using cooking water for plants
8. Stay Informed
At Earth 911, we’re all about Making Every Day Earth Day™. You can keep the environment top of mind by subscribing to weekly green tips email. They may help you go green, but they won’t cost you any.
bravenewleaf
posted on March 24th, 2008 at 11:52 am
I’d encourage people to consider participating in the Sydney-driven Earth Hour this Saturday, March 29th as well.
Last year, the entire city of Sydney shut off their lights from 8-9pm to raise awareness about environmental issues and climate change. This year, they are going global, and dozens of major cities around the global are participating. You can sign up to participate as well at their website.
Click here for more information:
http://www.bravenewleaf.com/environment/2008/03/please-particip.html
hippychicky
posted on March 30th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I was always told that one person could not make a difference in the environment. But I believed different, and I raised my kids to believe that they can make a difference! So I was very proud when I got a phone call from my daughters 4th grade teacher telling me that she got a school wide recycling program started! I am so proud! :) And we take our cloth bags to the store instead of using paper OR plastic. I am so happy to have found other people who is as passionate about Mother Earth as I am! WE can make a difference for the future!
raptor235
posted on April 18th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I hope everyone tries and make some small changes in their life, change begings at a personal level… personally I used to have 5 screens for web development and two PCs and a laptop… I switched over to one Mac laptop and one mac Mini pc at home and just 1 screen.. my energy bill for our condo went from $120/m to $55…
We also switched our lightbulbs at the same time to energy saving ones… I was amaized at how much difference that made…it really shows you can make a difference and that’s just doing two things…
Cool place to find more green tips, anyone else know of any good places to find tips?
loki
posted on March 2nd, 2009 at 5:19 am
it’s a nice post to us, so we can realize about problem we had.
can i use some of this post in my blog so i can spread the message to save our earth
if i’m not permited, plz email to me and i will erase it from my blog.
thanx alot