Happy Earth Day!!

I like to think of Earth day as one day to learn and put into practice, something that will benefit our planet for 365 days of the year and for many years to come. Here is my list of some of the things I currently do or plan to start doing.

1. I would like to plant a tree. This will help with lowering the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere. Trees breathe in CO2 and exhale oxygen. Not that CO2 is bad, but right now the ratio is way out of whack and we need to get it back to being balanced. As the forests meet our roads there are always baby trees trying to help expand the forest. Municipal workers often clear any growth that is growing to close to the road. So a free option is to dig up one of these seedlings, and plant it somewhere where it can flourish. You can even think of it as saving a tree.

2. I want to find a good phosphorus free detergent. Too many phosphates in our waters lead to algae blooms and plant life growing out of control.
http://www.lcbp.org/Factsht/P-free_detergents.pdf

3. I wash my clothes in cold water. Heating up the water for the laundry really produces a large quantity of CO2 gas and switching from hot to cold water can not only save me money but it can also help heal our planet. This has already become a habit of mine and I will continue this process going forward.

4. Cut out some meat from my menu. Meat production also creates a lot of CO2. If interested check out the chart on this link attached below. I found it very interesting. This one will be heard because I oh so enjoy the classic meat and potatoes type dinner but I will try to make a vegetarian dinner more frequently.
http://timeforchange.org/eat-less-meat-co2-emission-of-food

5. Unplug any appliances in our home that are not in use. As I make my way to bed flipping off the lights, I find all of these little blue, red and green lights hiding all over the place. These items don’t need to be on and I will be making a more conscious effort with turning them off.

6. Turn down the heat in our house and bundle up. Oh yeah long johns, two pairs of socks with slippers and warm sweaters. That is my cozy little heaven right there. We have a programmable thermostat which helps keep the temperature to our desired level and if I start to feel too cold I find a quick run up and down the stairs or a few pull ups on my rock climbing trainer really warms me up fast.

There are many more ideas out there but these are just a few. I personally find that it is hard to stay focused on this stuff but once in the habit, it should be much easier.

Here’s to a greener planet.