By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Happy 51st birthday Earth Day.
Although the planet itself is much older, we as a civilization decided to dedicate a day to conservation and protection awareness for earth on April 22, 1970. Earth Day is an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection in 193 countries for 1 billion people.
When Earth Day was founded in 1970, it was about a good 25 year run of us taking it series with campaigns, signage, documentaries, TV specials and at-school events. With the cost of awareness going up, we’ve kind of scale back the efforts to inform the public.
Now we have to depend on earth-loving people, recycling specialists and go-green labels on our products. From hybrid cars to energy efficient appliances, preserving earth’s life is a steady process. But every once in a while we need a reminder to boost up the effort to take care of the third planet from the sun.
This week’s Best Sellers’ List has a top 10 things to help take care of earth and my Earth Day a daily observance.
10. Better Cars
A study says if we cut two days a week off the road we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds. But like most U.S. Americans I have to get to work almost every day and drive plenty of miles. And in this country we don’t do much walking. If it is over 5 miles away, we will crank up our motorize vehicles.
So the solution is our car companies need to produce more energy efficient cars and more environmentally friendly vehicles.
The recent boom of Zoom has helped keep a few cars off the road in 2020. Working from home might have added a few years to earth. But once we get fully back to normal, we need to see more green leaves on the back of cars.
9. Walk, bike or ride in groups
If it is truly within walking distance, please use your feet to get to where you’re going. Get a FitBit or step-watch to get those 10,000 steps in each day. You’ll be healthier and you will save 5-miles worth of toxic fumes from going into the atmosphere.
Got a bicycle, use it for quick stops. And MATA will like the business from you when possible. And good old fashion car pooling will prolong the life of your motorize vehicle.
8. Composting
We throw away almost everything we no longer have use for. About five years ago, U.S. Americans generated 262.4 million tons of trash. Our landfills are packed with our waste.
If we educate ourselves on what can be reused and even what can add nutritions back into the earth, we’ll be doing all of us a huge favor. Some trash makes great natural fertilizer.
7. Energy efficient homes
In Millington, a bunch of energy efficient homes were recently built. For us who live in apartments and older homes, invest in some new appliances. I recently bought an energy efficient dryer. That bad-boy is super quiet and gets the job done in half the time of my old dryer.
On the perimeter of your home keep this in mind, windows are responsible for 25 to 30 percent of residential heat gain and heat loss. Insulation is also another crucial factor of an energy efficient house. Quick fixes are replacing your air filter regularly so your HVAC system. Also install a programmable thermostat to assist those windows.
6. Limit use of plastics
We buy around 1 million plastic drinking bottles a year around the world… every minute!!!
We’re responsible for 8 million tons of plastic that end up in the ocean every year. We must cut back our purchasing of bottled water and let’s try not to get plastic bags at the store anymore.
5.Conserve water
This one goes hand in hand with limiting plastic use. Conserving water by using filtered tap water is a start. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth. Little things like that will help save gallons of water. Take a few more baths instead of super long showers.
4. Plant a tree
We can help fight global warming and protect the O-Zone layer by planting more trees. Trees not only cool us off in the summer time, but just being around can lower the earth’s temperature over time.
Planting trees will give us more fresh oxygen and just make the planet look prettier. But seriously, trees remove all other kinds of bad air like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and small particles. So observe Abhor Day by planting a tree annually.
3. Eat sustainable foods
A lot of what we digest these days comes from a lab. Organic can be more than just a trendy diet and cool isle to shop on at the grocery store.
That processed food we eat accounts for 25 percent of the greenhouse emissions. We need to give our farmers a boost by buying fresh products more often. And your body will enjoy and benefit from eating more whole grains, fruits, nuts, farm-raised meat, and vegetables.
To save a few bucks, plant your own garden. Get a few tomatoes, corn and even okra brewing in your backyard.
2. Switch to LEDs
I just had a great idea. A light bulb just went off in my head. Let’s switch to LED lights in our homes. It works on cars having a super long shelf life. I bet it will do the same in our bathrooms, living rooms and kitchens.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Also they use at least two-thirds less energy. But our best option is light-emitting diode bulbs. They emit light in a very narrow band wavelength so they’re super energy-efficient. LED bulbs can last around 25,000 hours compared to the 1,000 hours that incandescent bulb. Bonus, they can also do cool tricks if you get the type businesses and schools use. It’s worth the money in the long run.
1. Reduce, reuse, recycle
The good old fashion “Three R’s” were drilled into our heads in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. And if we make a conscience effort to reduce, reuse and recycle, we’ll pretty much be doing all the other 9 things on this list.
Now I realized could have cut this list down to one thing and save the most precious thing God has given us – TIME. And we want to prolong the time earth has in the solar system with us on it.
From taking reusable bags to the grocery store to avoiding the use of disposable plates, spoons and napkins, we can all do our part. Lets look out for earth and take care of it before time runs out.
THOMAS SELLERS JR. is the editor of The Millington Star and both the sports editor and a weekly personal columnist for West 10 Media/Magic Valley Publishing. Contact him by phone at (901) 433-9138, by fax to (901) 529-7687 and by email to [email protected].
