Happy Earth Day Everyone!!
Here are some simple resolutions for you as you celebrate earth day today.
Evaluate Your Imprint
You'll be pleased to know that an annual eco-friendliness checkup is much easier and more comfortable than your annual physical. In fact, it won't take more than about half an hour and is likely to result in you not only learning some interesting facts about the environment and your habits, but also ways to change them that will be more economical. Since it's easy to forget what you've committed to doing about environmental issues or to assume your impact is smaller than it is, a yearly (or, better yet, several times a year) checkup on the different effects you're having on the environment is a great way to stay aware of your actions and keep yourself on track to green goals.
To get a good estimate of your various impacts, try some of the environmentally-focused online calculators---even though they're not a perfect science and usually based on national or regional averages and statistics that may not always be true in your exact case. To start with, you can measure your carbon footprint on the Inconvenient Truth carbon calculator (and then offset it at a sister site). Check your wattage at WattzOn.com, a site that estimates the amount of watts you use, compares it to other people in your area and suggests easy ways to reduce the number. Don't forget your water footprint, either---although it's an easy one to overlook, our changing environmental state and excessive consumption could mean we one day join the more than one billion people who currently lack a reliable drinking water supply. You can utilize the Water Calculator at H20 Conserve to estimate your water usage, but don't be surprised if the number is higher than you'd expect; seeing the figures, while scary, may give you more perspective on the issue.
Once you've assessed your impact, you can think about how to act. The biggest critique of Earth Day is that it's just one day, when the only solution for environmental problems like global warming is to change our ways for every day to come. So take advantage of the information you gather on Earth Day (and the fun offers), but don't let it be an ineffectual holiday, make it last.
Put Down The Water Bottle
We've said it before and we'll keep saying it until we see even more people carrying Siggs and other reusable water bottles. At this point, it's widely recognized that bottled water is bad for the environment (making all the disposable water bottles for the U.S. requires enough oil to fuel 100,000 cars), but convenience can keep you from fully switching to a reusable water bottle. Maybe you like the cold, pre-filled bottles ready to be grabbed out of the fridge or don't think you'll dig carrying a stainless steel or aluminum water bottle around all day. The reasons are legitimate, but when you consider that the equivalent oil that is used to create and transport your bottled water could fill it to a quarter of the bottle, it does start to seem like a wasteful and unnecessary habit-especially when it may not even be as safe as filtered tap water.
Buy For Keeps
The average American creates up to 56 tons of trash per year and often it's from items that don't need to be disposable. If we can get past the sometimes cheaper prices and temporary conveniences of disposable items, we'll also prevent products from sitting for several lifetimes in landfills. This Earth Day, commit to getting conscious about what you throw away and whether you can find a way to avoid the waste. Whether it's reusable containers for packaging leftovers and lunches or reusable shopping bags for trips to the grocery store, start to assess your trash and then give it an overhaul. When you're buying products, look for little to no packaging and packaging that is biodegradable or recyclable.
Unscrew Your Incandescents
Yep, it's time to get rid of those classic bulbs you've always bought and move to compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs or LED light bulbs. Light bulbs, like water bottles, may seem like such small things that you wonder what good it'll really do to change, but traditional incandescent bulbs are big energy drainers in comparison to new alternatives and even have higher lifetime costs than CFLs and LEDs. Switching out light bulbs is pretty much a perfect Earth Day-motivated change: You can switch out the bulbs on Earth Day and you'll be reducing carbon emissions---while saving money on your electrical bill---for the rest of the year. It's minimal effort with maximum results.
Other Simple Efforts include: Recycle, Buy Organic Cotton, Use Non-Toxic Household Products and Personal Care Products, Plant a Garden (see my previous post), plant a tree, and get yourself a composter!
Live Green,
Dr. M
