EARTH DAY 2007

I took time from getting ready for our vacation tonight, to watch "20/20"on ABC, which was about Earth Day coming up on Sunday. Since I won’t be here on Sunday to post, I thought I would write about Earth Day this evening, to remind you about it.

Many facts from this show to remind us how much we waste, and how much we need to be concerned about global warming, our water, and conserving energy. The show also gave us some ideas what we can do to help.

Some Disturbing Facts:
-- 2 out of every 5 animals on earth are in danger of becoming excinct.
-- 90 per cent of the big fish in the ocean are gone.
-- Australia could be the first to find that clean fresh water could be more valuable than gold!
-- The great barrier reef is at risk.
-- Elephants in Africa have been noticed to be spraying themselves with sand to cool off from the heat, because they can’t find water.
-- The world’s supply of water is shrinking.
-- Our increase of greenhouse gases is mainly due to our use of gasoline.
-- We need to make animals worth more alive than dead. Eco-tourism and private game preserves are helping with this.

Ways each one of us can help:
-- Think every day what we are wasting and try to make changes:
-- Use recycled paper towels. Buy recycled items. Recycle all that you can.
-- Don’t use plastic bags from grocery stores. (I’m guilty of this)* but see below's p.s.
-- When using plastic bags, think “do I really need to use this bag?” Do we want to leave behind plastic bags or trees?
-- Cut down on your shower. If everyone in the US would cut down their shower time by just one minute, there would be enough water to provide the cities of Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles for two months!
-- Turn off the water while brushing our teeth.
-- Replace light bulbs with CSL bulbs. If everyone in US would replace just one bulb in their home with a CSL bulb, it would be like taking one million cars off the road!
-- Drive less, use less gasoline. Buy fuel efficient cars.
-- Press car manufacturers to build more efficient cars. If we could get 35 m/p/gallon with each car, we could end our dependency on foreign oil by 2025 (That’s not that far off!)
-- Set your thermostat down by just 2 degrees.
-- Be aware of the ways you and your family can be more eco/friendly.

The Good News:
-- Conservation works – the Blue Whale is making a come back due to a ban on hunting them. Some of our animals that were on the endangered list, are coming back and being taken off the list.
-- France has the cleanest air in the industrial world because they use much more nuclear power. The US is looking at France.
-- There is a company working on a car that can run on Litium Ion Batteries!
-- More people are aware of and making use of wind power, which is the fastest growing renewable energy. Solar panels use is also on the rise.
-- Remember about my post about bamboo – another renewable energy. More things are being made with bamboo fibers, and there is an effort to get more companies to do so.
-- There is an effort being made by scientists and companies to figure out how to take CO 2 out of our air.
-- According to a report on our local news tonight, there are 150 houses that have recently been built in Duluth that were built eco/friendly, with more to come.
-- Contractors in Duluth are not taking down all the trees on the land when building. (Yeah)
-- People in Duluth are taking advantage of the “Hazardous Wastes” sites to get rid of dangerous chemicals in their homes.
-- "GO GREEN" everywhere you can.
HAPPY EARTH DAY!

PS: Saturday morning - The Duluth Tribune had a feature this morning about bags, plastic, paper, etc. I'm glad to read that if you use plastic bags to bring your groceries home and "recycle" them by using them for garbage bag liners, totes, and all kinds of other ways to reuse them, then it's not so bad to use them. They actually take 91 percent less energy to recycle than paper. I noticed that the Whole Food Co-op Store here in Duluth will give a 5 cent per bag refund to members who bring their own bag. The article lists the pros and cons - you choose. To read the article click on my News Tribune link on this page. Also, here is a web site where reusable bags of canvas or other fabric can be made or purchased, visit:
www.reuseablebags.com

Now, we are off to Hudson, then on to Florida tomorrow. Have a great week!