Apr 22, 2009

Let's Celebrate Earth Day Every Day!


Today, April 22, 2009, is Earth Day!

I'd like to urge everyone to celebrate Earth Day every day! I try my best to celebrate the Earth by recycling, reusing, and buying recycled products.

Here's some simple tips for you to try at home, if you don't already.

1. Use cloth napkins rather than paper

2. Use dish towels rather than paper towels to clean up messes and dry dishes; Just don't use the same one for both tasks.

3. Rather than get a cup of coffee in those paper or Styrofoam cups, use a reusable coffee mug for your car

4. Same goes for your water, soda, and whatever drinks you need on the go; use a reusable bottle, like these from Sigg.

5. Another great tip I saw on Oprah today was to use reusable lunch ware, which you can find here. If you go to Oprah.com, you can a limited time 20% off coupon.

6. If you get plastic bags from the grocery store, you can reuse them to pick up after your pets, rather than buy those individual baggie products to pick up animal waste.

7. If you get paper bags from the grocery store, you can reuse those to cover your kids books, and they can decorate them however they choose.

8. Really, you should use a reusable canvas bag, and I know you book bloggers have them for all those books. Reappropriate one for your groceries.

9. There should be no excuse for not using energy efficient light bulbs, which are widely available and some stores sell them in packages of 4 and 6.

10. Make sure to turn off the water while you brush your teeth and turn off lights in rooms that you are not in or using.

11. My biggest tip is to walk where you can and take public transportation whenever possible.

Here are some great links:

Earth Day.Net

Smart Living in the Washington Post
A Patchwork of Books' Living Green Tips
Green Living Tips
Leaving Green Now
People's Garden Project
Community Gardening

What tips can you offer? I challenge you to post your living green tips and leave a link here.

***Giveaway Reminder***

Don't forget to enter the Keeper of Light and Dust giveaway, here and here. Deadline is April 28 at 11:59 PM EST.


There's a giveaway for 5 copies of Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch, here; deadline is April 29, 2009, 11:59 PM EST.

13 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Great post, Serena. We try to be environmentally friendly in our household, but we can always use reminders.

Amy said...

Great tips! I need to be better about using canvas bags.

Ladytink_534 said...

Great tips! Happy Earth Day!

It's not easy bein' green but it's so worth it!

Serena said...

I try to find new ways to be green all the time. I have to really get more involved in buying green.

Anna said...

Great tips! I'm bad about the plastic bags, but at least I reuse them. Sometimes I wish the prices of the green products would come down. Especially in this economy, it's hard to buy green. I try to buy the green cleaning products, but I wonder if they're really as green as they say they are? Well, anyway, Happy Earth Day! (Though I'm a day late on this post...)

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Serena said...

Buying green is tough, but that new aluminum foil that's recycled isn't that much more expensive...I'll spend the few extra cents for it.

Anna said...

I don't mind spending a bit more, but I can't do it all the time. I looked for that recycled foil the other day, and they didn't have it! :(

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric

Serena said...

Anna: I got mine at Target and its been all over the television lately in commercials.

Wendi said...

What great tips - we do many of those alread, and I'm always looking for more ways to be green. :)

Yeah!! ~ Wendi

Dawn - She is Too Fond of Books said...

We've been using cloth napkins for about two years; it has the added benefit of making dinner feel more civilized, too :)

Thanks for sharing all these great tips! Earth Day has extra special significance for me and my husband - we met 19 years ago at an Earth Day brunch!

Jeannie said...

Wonderful post, Serena.

I got down to #4 and said, "Hey, I saw this on Oprah." Nice to see you saw the same episode. It was a great show.

Here's an Earth-friendly suggestion: Unplugging things when not in use. Do we really need things like televisions and stereos plugged in if we're not even home to enjoy them?

Energy Efficiency Can Start With Unplugging Electronics

Serena said...

Jeannie: Awesome suggestion. I forgot to mention that one. We unplug a lot of our appliances we are not using or when we leave the house...they're like vampires...sucking up energy they are not using.

Serena said...

Dawn: That's wonderful. You have a lot to celebrate!