Today, April 22nd, 2010 is the 40th year we are celebrating Earth Day and raising awareness of the need to be more environmentally conscious. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970 with the hopes of inspiring a true appreciation of the Earth's environment.
Forty years later the need to be more "Green" is greater than ever before. Some cite the climate change as one of the greatest challenges of our time. I view it certainly as one of the scariest! However, it calls for not only our nation, but for the entire world, to come together like never before and work to build a clean energy economy to safeguard our planet's future.
As Miss Greater Rochester I plan on leading by example and speaking out to raise awareness about the need to be more Green. What do I do as an individual to add to this cause? It's simple! And these are all things that you can do too and inspire others to do as well!
-Set up a Recycling Center for your home. Commit to recycling all paper, cans, bottles, etc.
-Take your recycling a step further and recycle cell phone batteries, computers, and other electronics
-Use a reusable water bottle instead of buying disposable water bottles for each use
-Use environmentally friendly cleaning products-Just read the label!
-Pay bills online instead of receiving paper bills in the mail
-Shop at the Farmer's Market and buy local and organic food (and we are so fortunate to have an amazing Famer's Market in downtown Rochester!)
-Use public transportation! Or carpool! Or walk/ride your bike-save the planet and get some exercise? Yes, please!
-Wash clothes in cold water whenever you can. A surprising 85% of energy goes to just heating the water
-Shop with a reusable bag rather than using plastic bags
-Turn lights off when you're not using them
-Take shorter showers
-Set your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter and a few degrees highter in the summer to save on heating and cooling costs
-Install compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) when your older incandescent bulbs burn out
-Talk about it! Talk about the danger our earth is in and how important it is that everyone does their part in becoming more green. Raise awareness! These are all very small efforts but when combined they can make a huge impact
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