Earth Day

Making the world a greener place is a passion of mine. here a few small things you can do this year to reduce your impact on the planet my children will have to live on!

For those of use who are just really lazy:
-go see Disney's "earth" opening night tonight. every ticket bought during opening week is a tree Disney plants.
-take back 25 plastic bags to Wal-Mart tonight and in exchange you will get one free reusable shopping bag.

Here are 12 easy things you can do today to make our planet a better, safer place.

1.Have a meatless meals day. By taking meat out of our diets for just one day a week, it would be like taking 20000 medium sized SUV's off the earth.

2.A mug of your own. Every year Americans throw away 25 billion polystyrene cups(fast food drink cups) and 25 billion individual water bottles, most of which end up in landfills. Instead buy a reusable to-go mug and a bottle that you can refill with filtered tap water. Bring your own (to a coffee shop, a meeting), and you cut down on Styrofoam.

3.Cone Zone. A cone beats a cup. Cups are made of plastic, therefor adding to our epidemic and cone are in your stomach. if you don't like cone's try using a spoon, lick it until you can't lick anymore, and spoon the rest out. Using a reusable metal spoon of course. A cone will biodegrade, a cup is for life.

4.Clean without chemicals. Vinegar and baking soda make a great chemical free cleaner. by switching to natural cleaners you can save up to $165 a year. and they safe for baby's and pets to slobber and suck on! tip a bit of lemon juice and veggie oil works like charm on woods. and leaves a real lemon scent.

5. get a reusable cloth bag for groceries and other tasks. Not only will you be saving plastic, but for you bussers out there it super easy to carry around. Leaving you with more hands to do more. We through away 100 billion plastic bags every year. and those don't go away. Ireland made a law that each plastic bag given out would cost the customer 50 cents. in three days the plastic bag consumption went down 95%! way to go Ireland.

6.Stop the junk mail! no one likes junk mail, so way not nip that one in the bud. 100 million trees a year get cut down to deliver us junk mail. take your names off the mailing lists. Use eBill for your bills, and order the paper online! save some trees this year.

7. Switch to recycled Toilet paper......I know that sounds disgusting but its not made from used TP. It may be a little less luxurious than 3 ply, but it saves the homes and lives of millions of people. Who get put out of there homes, and robbed of there land. So companies can plant trees for TP. plus it drastically cuts down on paper waste in our landfills.

8.Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) use four times less energy than incandescent ones. If every American family substituted five CFL bulbs for incandescent, it would be equivalent to taking eight million cars off the road for a year.

9.Lint builds up after every dryer cycle, reducing the machine's efficiency. Removing it does a lot to decrease its usually massive energy use. Also it cuts down on house hold fires, just a note you may want to consider. 3 second to delint the dryer or a life time of memories destroyed in a fire!

10.According to the Environmental Protection Agency, architectural coatings such as paints and varnishes are the second-largest source of fumes from volatile organic compounds, substances that evaporate at room temperature and react in sunlight to form photochemical smog. Look for cans with "No VOC." We'll all breathe easier. Also if you don't use a whole can these paints can be recycled for money back!

11.shorten your showers and turn your water heater down 10 degrees. for every 2 minutes you shave of a shower you save 10 gallons of water. and by turning your hot water heater down 10 degrees and insulating it you can save up to $200 a year on water cost. And really you can't feel the 10 degrees less!

12.The average computer left on all day uses nearly 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, producing more than a ton of carbon emissions. So turn off your computer anytime you're not on it, and eliminate the screen saver function, which uses more energy than the sleep mode.

There you have it readers 14 ways to help the planet, and you pockets. make it your goal this year to be a little more earth friendly!
The planet will love you for it!!!