Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year!

Get rid of those Christmas trees responsibly this year….recycle them.  Why recycle?  Christmas trees take up tons of space in landfills, and the decay of the trees are painfully slow due to the lack of oxygen.  Instead, the trees can be ground into wood chips or made into useful compost.

Check with your city’s online website to find if your township is holding a Christmas Tree Recycling day…and most cities do.  You can also check out Earth911 for additional resources to get rid of that tree responsibly.

Start the year off  Green and do the right thing.  Recycle!

For every 38,000 bills paid online, 5,058 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided and two tons of trees are preserved, according to NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association, a non-profit. Using direct payment also saves a person about $150 annually in stamp and check costs and late fees, NACHA estimates.

Have your employer pay you through direct deposit to further cut back your paper trail.  If you feel you absolutely must continue to get paper billing, make sure and recycle the paper.  Very simple steps make a huge impact on the environment.  Step up to the plate and do your part.

We all know the 411 when it comes to recycling, and that’s simply to DO IT.  We know better than to make excuses.  We should also know it’s simply a way of life for us now.  It’s should be a way of life for your children, too.

So lets take it a step further and precycle.  What is precycling?  It’s Proactive meets Recycling.    Here are 10 ways to proactively recycle.

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1. Bring reusable bags to the store with you. Cloth or paper will do!

2. Buy Large Quantities. If you buy products in bulk or in large sizes and quantities, you can put them in smaller containers as you need them and this uses less containers.

3. Buy products with the least amount of packaging or none at all. Items packed in multiple containers may look nice, but they are a waste!

4. Buy products packed in recycled packaging. If you have to use a container, it might as well be green. Additionally, you help support green corporations. (Important: make sure you look for the recycled symbol)

5. Don’t buy disposable items (plates cups, pens, diapers, batteries, etc.) They only fill the landfill more.

6. Buy less paper towels and napkins or none at all. Use cloth ones!

7. Buy long life and concentrated items (batteries, bulks , etc.) This saves on packaging as well as product.

8. Don’t purchase styrofoam. It contains polystyrene, which is the most difficult material to break down in our landfill and is considered a hazardous waste.

9. Buy items in cardboard. aluminum, steel, glass, and plastic containers marked 1 and 2 ( They are stamped on the bottom 1 and 2). These containers can be recycled more easily.

10. Read labels for ingredients. Stay away from chemicals that harm our plant and animal life and poison our land.

Did you know that 84% of all household waste can be recycled?  Recycling is one of the easiest ways to go Green, yet makes a monumental impact to the environment.  At a bare minimum, everyone should be recycling.  Take care of the waste you create.  Be eco-responsible.

Plastic bags are not biodegradable. Even if they say they are, they do not decompose fully. Also the ink is made up of cadmium, and is highly toxic when it is released. Whereas paper bags are reusable and biodegradable. If your purchase is small don’t take any bag, this alone could save hundreds of millions of bags. Bring a cloth bag when you shop, or use string bags.

Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for four hours.  One glass bottle.  Think of the possibilities of that.  That’s amazing.  Think about what you can do…and do it!  Recycling requires virtually zero effort, but has such a huge impact.  You can recycle, starting today.   You can make a difference.  Starting right now, you can make a difference.  I always say, responsibility builds character.  Not to mention, being eco-cognizant is totally hot! 

It’s Earth Day.  It’s an attempt to bring cognizance to taking care of the planet. 

It’s a day to recycle.  It’s a day to change your light bulbs out for more efficient ones.  It’s a day to change the filter in your air conditioner.  It’s a day to plant a tree.  It’s a day to conserve water. 

Whatever you do today, make sure you do something for the planet.  Then continue that habit tomorrow.  And then the next day.  And so on.

Been wanting to compost to reduce your garbage output, create soil for your garden, and save the planet’s eco system at the same time?  Composting can be daunting and, admittedly, make a huge mess of your backyard. 

Luckily, The Earth Machine does this for you in one contained unit.  And, what makes it even better is the deal they have worked out with Hamilton County Environmental Services.  They are offering a one day only sale on The Earth Machine for $35, (regularly $100.) 

They will have two sale locations, one at Cincinnati State Technical College and one at Princeton High School.  The sale will be on Saturday, May 8, 2010 from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.

If you aren’t lucky enough to live in Cincinnati, contact your county’s local environmental services and ask them about The Earth Machine.  

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwhU-KT_Iqo

The average American consumes five times more energy than the average global citizen or 10 times more than the typical Chinese.

If the typical Chinese consumer used as much oil as the average American uses, China would require 90 million barrels per day—11 million more than the entire world produced each day in 2001. 

Source:  Worldwatch Institute