Since 1970, Americans have promoted conservation of our natural resources by designating April 22 to celebrate our Mother Earth.
Perhaps in 1970 our society was still bit too conservative in their collective thinking to recognize what we as a society needed to do to conserve natural resources. Back then, the bottom line seemed to matter more than anything-certainly resource conservation did not seem to be the serious matter it is today.
In 2009, we are seeing that resource conservation is indeed critical to our bottom line. Car maker GM is facing possible bankruptcy, and one reason is that they are behind the times in developing alternative fuel vehicles. Maybe if they had spent time developing the hybrids instead of a better, bigger SUV, they wouldn’t be in the predicament they have found themselves in.
The good news for us as individuals is that our bottom line, and our carbon footprint can really see an impact by practicing simple conservation. Experts say that the most dramatic effect on reducing carbon emissions will be through simple energy conservation measures implemented in homes and businesses.
- Replace your household light bulbs with energy efficient ones
- Turn off lights and appliances when they are not in use
- Unplug the battery charger when not in use
- Turn off your computer overnight, or at the very least, turn off the monitor.
- Drive 55 MPH-it really does conserve fuel!
- Buy produce locally at farm stands and farmers markets. It’s fresher, tastes better and doesn’t use as much fuel to transport because it isn’t being trucked across the country.
- Use reusable grocery bags
- Recycle and reuse what you can
Of course these methods won’t show much impact to your bottom line or your carbon footprint if you just try these for a single day. You must make EVERY day Earth Day to really make a difference.
Here are some more things you can do to celebrate Earth Day all year long
And few other links to learn more about energy conservation:
Do you know other ways to conserve resources? Post them in the comments.
