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Happy Earth Day
Earth Day has sent the message loud and clear that citizens around the world want quick and decisive action on clean energy. April 22, 2007 was one of the largest Earth Days to date, with an estimated one billion people participating in the activities in thousands of places like Kiev, Ukraine; Caracas, Venezuela; Tuvalu; Manila, Philippines; Togo; Madrid, Spain; London; and New York. But what about Canada? Check these top 10 things Canadians could do to help save Mother Earth . . . .
Earth Day Canada’s Top 10 Actions...
to help the environment
1. Park It — Leave your car at home for a day (or a week or a month) and try walking or biking. If work is too far away to walk, take public transit or carpool. One city bus eliminates the emissions of 40 cars.
2. Shut Down — Turn off the lights, the computer and the TV when they are not in use.
Using only highly efficient and money saving appliances can reduce the electricity consumption of an average household to one tenth of the U.S. average.
3. Where’s The Beef? — Try eating meat-free at least one day a week. A meat-based diet requires seven times more land than a plant-based diet.
4. Eat It — Choose foods produced organically, locally and in season. Support your regional farmers & farming industry: buying locally and in season is better for the environment than buying foods that have been shipped hundreds of kilometers to your local market.
5. Let It Rot — Put a composter in your backyard or use your green bin to reduce household waste.
6. Don’t Be Idle — Turn off your car’s engine if stopped for more than 10 seconds. If every driver of a light duty vehicle avoided idling by five minutes a day, collectively, we would save 1.8 million litres of fuel per day, almost 4500 tonnes of GHG emissions, and $1.7 million in fuel costs each day (assuming fuel costs are $0.95/L).
7. Keep Your Eye On The Temp — Set your thermostat above room temperature in the summer and below room temperature in the winter. For each degree you adjust, you can save five per cent on your utility bill and one per cent on your energy use.
8. Bright Ideas — Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). A CFL uses only 25 per cent as much energy as an incandescent bulb and lasts 10 times longer.
9. Don’t Dump It — Blue box it. The simple act of recycling has more impact on the environment than the average Canadian thinks.
10. Tell Someone — This is a great opportunity to brag. Tell someone what you’re doing to make the world a better place. Support the cause. Encourage them to get involved too.
These are just 10 of the things Canadians can do right now to help save the environment. Find out more and learn exactly how much greenhouse gas, water, electricity and money you can save. For more information, visit : www.earthday.ca/pub/index.php.
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