Erin The Great

As not many of you may  know, today is Earth Day! Happy Earth Day!! I am from Oregon where there are parades and crazy happenings on this day. Since I moved to Utah, the most common response I receive is ‘Earth what now?’ OY! I’m surrounded by barbarians.

Since It’s Earth Day, I’m going to give some tips as to how to reach into your inner-hippie (it’s there even if you don’t want to admit it) and help save our planet.

First and most important….Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE!!!!!

Re-Use Plastic Bags

1. Old bags make great in-car trash containers.
2. Use them as shoe protectors in the garden.
3. Re-use them to clean up kitty litter, or to pick up dog droppings when walking your pet.
4. Use them in your smaller waste bins around the house.
5. Fill a few with shredded paper and tie them off for cheap, reusable packing materials. They’re also a handy way to maintain the shape of your favorite tote.
6. Cut a slit in your bags and use them to protect clothes from dust, moths, and other pests.
7. Take them with you for easy disposal of diapers.

Water conservation

1. In the shower - If you have to mix your hot water with cold, your thermostat is up too high and you are wasting energy. Why heat up water just to cool it down? Simply adjust the thermostat in your water heater to your perfect temperature.
2. In the washing machine - Using cold water instead of warm cuts down on energy use by 90%! In fact, using cold water is often better for your clothes.
3. In a bottle - Buy a water filter and drink water from the tap in a reusable bottle — that’s where 40 percent of all bottled water comes from anyway. The average American drinks 22.6 gallons of bottled water a year. Making all that plastic releases over four pounds of carbon dioxide per person and consumes a surprising amount of petroleum (.005 barrels, or nearly a quart of oil per person).

Save Energy

1. Use Energy saving Light Bulbs
2. Turn off lights in your houses when you’re not in the room!!! This saves an unbelievable amount of energy!
3. Don’t use your oven or stove in the middle of the day when it’s spring/summer. You’re Air conditioner will take a beating trying to cool down your house after you use appliances. Try opting for a sandwich or some fresh fruit.
4. Turn your air conditioner off during the spring when it starts to cool down at the end of the day.

Last but not least… Give your gas guzzeling SUV or Hummer the old heave-HO!

It doesn’t take much to help save our planet! Not only do these ideas help our environment but they will also lower your cost of living. If you have no heart and don’t really care about the environment, do these at least to save yourself some money! For more Tips on how to help our planet go to Earthshare.org & Consumerenergysaver… Have fun saving the planet and helping with global warming!