Earth Day 2016

Let’s take care of Mother Earth as if our future depends on it…because it does!

The inception of Earth Day on April 22, 1970, launched the modern environmental movement. While an annual focus is essential to sustaining global environmental awareness, taking care of Mother Earth needs to be a personal lifestyle choice for all of Earth’s inhabitants.  While this may seem daunting at first look, there are many things that we can do daily to take care of Mother Earth.  A good source for environmental education and ideas is the Earth Day website at http://www.earthday.org/earth-day.  I have highlighted a few ideas as inspiration towards a more sustainable personal lifestyle.

Limit your Meat Consumption — Did you know that the meat industry is responsible for approximately 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions? In fact, producing one calorie of meat requires nearly twenty times the amount of energy as one plant calorie!  With global meat consumption tripling over the last four decades, the meat industry now emits over 36 billion tons of greenhouse gases annually and is showing no signs of slowing down. If we want to make a real dent in the world’s carbon footprint and reduce our own personal footprint, we need to eat less meat.

Turn Your Spoils into Soil! — Each year billions of pounds of food are needlessly thrown away, ending up in landfills. In fact, more than one third of all food produced around the world for human consumption is wasted every year. One way to reduce this waste is by composting.  Composting is a biological process during which naturally occurring microorganisms, bacteria and insects, break down organic materials such as leaves, grass clippings and certain kitchen scraps into a soil-like product.  It is a form of recycling—a natural way of returning needed nutrients to the soil.

Stop Using Disposable Plastic — Currently about 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year to make bags, bottles, packages, and other commodities for people all over the world. Unfortunately, only about ten percent of this plastic is properly recycled and reused. The rest ends up as waste in landfills or as litter in our natural environment, where it leaches dangerous chemicals into the nearby soil and water, endangering humans and wildlife alike. Switch to sustainable alternatives such as reusable tote bags and recyclable packaging including your hair care and beauty products.  Ask your beauty professional for recommendations.

Need some plastic-free tips and inspiration? Check out Beth Terry at My Plastic Free Life!

Reduce Your Footprint: Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz — Humans are consuming natural resources at an alarming rate. For the past couple of decades we have consumed more resources annually than the Earth can replenish. Today humans consume the equivalent of 1.5 planets’ worth of resources every year and, unless something changes, we are expected to consume 2 planets’ worth of resources by 2050!  If we don’t act now to reduce this unsustainable behavior, we will cripple the planet and threaten the living conditions of future generations. Go online to http://www.earthday.org/earth-day and take the Ecological Footprint quiz and learn how you can reduce your individual footprint and help make a difference.

 Together let’s take care of Mother Earth as if our future depends on it …because it does!