April 22nd marks the 55th anniversary of Earth Day! Celebrated worldwide, it is a day all about protecting our environment.
Earth Day has its modern-day roots in 1970 Wisconsin where Earth Day founder Senator Gaylord Nelson recruited like-minded people to demonstrate against oil spills, pollution, toxic dumps, pesticides, and for saving wildlife. This mobilization led to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency. Now more than a billion people around the world observe Earth Day and strive to take care of Mother Earth. Here are some easy ways your family can join the fight and save some money too!
- Reset Thermostat: Keeping your temperatures no lower than 78 in the summer and no higher than 68 in the winter can easily save $100 a year and will cut back on the production of hydrofluorocarbons.
- Clean Air Condition Filter: You can save another $150 per year by changing the filter once a month and twice a month in the summer, reducing the workload on your air conditioner.
- Turn Off Unnecessary Lights and Fans: Do a walk-through before you leave the home and you will be surprised at how many lights are left on. In the daytime open the blinds or drapes before turning a light on or open a window instead of turning on a fan!
- Unplug Electrics: 40% of the energy used by electronics is used by the standby "phantom" mode. The appliances that are the culprit of this are cable boxes, satellite dishes, Tivo, stereo systems, TVs, DVD and VCR players, cable modems and computers. Power strips can be used for these to turn everything off with one button. That alone can save $9 a month not mention all your kitchen appliances like coffee pots, microwaves, toaster ovens. Don't forget to leave your phone chargers unplugged because all of these little things add up!
- Compact Fluorescent Light-bulbs You can save about $30 over the lifetime of the bulb although they cost a little more up front.
- Energy Efficient Appliances: Cut home energy cost by 50% when you use Energy Star rated appliances. Save even more when you don't use an automatic ice maker and water dispenser.
- Low-Flow Shower Heads: Water heaters use 25% of the energy in the average home. Using less water conserves the energy to heat it. You will not only save energy you will conserve water. Wash your dishes by hand.
- Hang Dry Laundry: you will save $0.49 per load for an eclectic dryer and $0.31 for gas. That's about $193 or $120 each year in savings.
- Kitchen Towels: You will be amazed at how much money you can save by using kitchen towels to dry hands and dishes. You may still need paper towels to drain grease from fried foods, but you will find that you use far less.
- Water Pitcher: Add a “green” pitcher next to your kitchen sink for water the kids didn't drink, ice that dropped on the floor, etc. When it's full, use it to water your plants. Make or buy a rain barrel for watering a garden or outdoor plants.
- Battery Tester: Let’s face it, we live in a battery-powered age. It is amazing how many remote controllers we have in our houses for everything from television and video games to overhead fans. If a single controller stops working, the 4 batteries inside probably have not all died. A battery tester takes out the guesswork and lets you replace only the offending battery. This way you don't get rid of perfectly good batteries.
- Recycle Pill Bottles: Make little emergency kits, and fill them with things like band-aids, alcohol swabs, and even a pair of plastic gloves. Keep your earbuds inside a bottle. Since I started using an empty pill bottle to store my earbuds they don't get tangled, and I can find them in my purse much easier!
- Cone vs. Cup: When buying ice cream at the ice cream store, pick the cone - you eat it, so there's nothing left to throw away.
- Reusable Grocery Bags: All those one time use plastic bags end up in our land fills and oceans. The floating bags look like jelly fish to sea turtles. Consuming plastic bags can cause the turtle to choke, give them a sensation of being full so they quit eating and starve to death, or create pockets of air in their gut which prevents them from being able to dive. Please just stop using them! Also, There is also no need to place vegetables into yet another plastic bag at the store. Just put them loose into your cart and then wash them when you get home, which you should be doing anyway.
- Recycle Paper Items: Use paper towel rolls/toilet paper tubes/shoeboxes, etc. for art projects. Cut a slit down the side of a toilet paper tube to put it around a roll of wrapping paper to keep the wrapping paper securely in place. Use one as a fire starter by stuffing it full of lint from the clothes dryer. Push in the bottom of a toilet paper tube to form an enclosed bottom. Fill the tube with planting soil and then plant some seeds. When your plants begin to grow, you can transfer them right in the cardboard tube to your garden. It will disintegrate on its own!
Happy Earth Day! If we all do a little, it will make a big impact and leave a better planet for our children and grandchildren!
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