Earth Day is the day designated for appreciating the earth’s environment and raising awareness of the issues that threaten it. The first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970 introduced by Senator Gaylord Nelson, a US senator, to bring environmental issues onto the national political agenda. Earth Day is observed in 175 countries, and coordinated by the nonprofit organization Earth Day Network. Earth Day celebrates its 40th birthday this year on April 22nd.

In recognition of Earth Day, here are 5 simple things for the novice greenie to do that not only help save the environment but put money back into your pocket too.

1. Use reusable water bottles

Americans buy more than half a billion bottles of water each week. The issues with bottled water are numerous:

• Petroleum is used to make the bottles;
• About 27% of the bottles are recycled, the other 73% go into the landfills;
• Water, which is available from a tap, is transported from the bottling site to the store and ultimately to our houses causing greenhouse gases along the way;
• The FDA only requires that bottled water is as good as tap water. An NRDC study estimates that 25% of bottled water is really just tap water.

To save money and help the environment, buy a reusable water bottle and fill it up with good old tap water. If you do not trust the tap water, using a filter is still much better than buying bottled water.

2. Use reusable plastic bags

Single use bags in particular, plastic, are very bad for the environment. Not only are they made out from petroleum but the recycling rates are low. WorldWatch Inst. estimates that about 100 Billion are used and discarded in the US alone, at the cost of 12 million barrels of oil. Many of those plastic bags end up in landfills and some flow into the ocean and probably join the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which a floating island of trash estimated at twice the size of Texas where plastic particles are more abundant than plankton.

You can find reusable bags at most retail stores these days. Invest in a couple and you can save 300-700 plastic bags a year.

3. Unplug the Vampires

Many power cords suck up energy even if they are switched off, either because the appliance remains on stand-by waiting to be switched on with a remote control or an adapter, disconnected from the device they are supposed to be charging such as a cell phone or lap top, continues to suck up energy. This is known as vampire or phantom energy and can account for about 10% of your residential energy bill. The EPA estimates that the average US household spends $100 a year powering devices that are off. On a national basis, this standby power accounts for more than $10 billion in annual energy costs.

By using a power strip or unplugging unused appliances or power cords can reduce your energy bill as well as save the environment.

4. Eat like a vegetarian once a week

Farming requires fossil fuels to make fertilizer, run tractors, process and transport food. It takes many calories of grains to make one calorie of meat; animals and manure produce greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide. As a result, producing meat emits more greenhouse gases than growing crops. A 2006 United Nation report revealed that the “livestock sector” generates more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, trains, ships, and planes in the world combined.

Environmental Defense estimates that, “If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted a vegetarian meal, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads.”

5. Buy smart

Consumerism, the constant buying and disposing of stuff, leads to a lot of environmental issues, including extraction, manufacture, packaging, transportation and disposal of goods. Limit purchases to what you really need, after all, Reduce is the first of the 3R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

When you do need to buy something invoke the second R, Reuse, and save money by buying through thrift stores, online through Craigslist or eBay, or have fun visiting yard sales.

Have fun celebrating Earth Day 2010, and with these easy tips, save money and help save the planet too.

Where will you be when the lights go out? Earth Hour 2010 will take place on Saturday, March 27 at 8:30 pm local time. Even though it will spark a tirade of controversy just asking folks to turn off their lights for one hour, let’s see who would rather fight than turn off a switch. In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support and Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future. Do you have what it takes to make such a simple gesture?

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour to make their stand against climate change. A year later Earth Hour had become such a global force that more than 50 million people in 35 countries showed their support by switch off for a simple 60 minutes. Icons stood in dark silence as Sydney Harbour Bridge, The CN Tower in Toronto, The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, all did their part as symbols of hope for the future.

This year China’s Forbidden City heads up a list of some of the world’s most iconic landmarks that have confirmed their participation in Earth Hour – including The Great Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx. They will be joined by Italy’s Trevi Fountain in Rome and Leaning Tower of Pisa, Big Ben and Houses of Parliament in London, Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, India Gate and Red Fort in Delhi, Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Bosphorous Bridge in Istanbul, Hohensalzburg Castle in Salzburg, and Independence Angel in Mexico City. They join a comprehensive list of the world’s great man-made marvels and natural wonders, including the Eiffel Tower, Brandenburg Gate, Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Empire State Building, London Eye, Table Mountain, Christ the Redeemer statue, Sydney Opera House and the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, which will plunge into darkness for Earth Hour

Before you say “Why bother?” or “My contribution won’t make a difference.”, then think on this… Earth Hour has truly managed to raise our awareness of climate change issues. But there’s more to it than switching off your lights for one hour once a year. It’s all about giving people a voice on the future of our planet and working together. Even if you’d rather fight than flick the switch… you are participating. Whether you are an individual, a business, a school or a city, you can show your support for Earth Hour by turning off your lights at 8.30 pm on March 27 wherever you are on the planet. No one is saying you can’t use your computer or watch television. Bake a pizza and eat it by candlelight with your family! All it takes is the guts to show you understand and care enough to take action.

Do you have what it takes to flip the switch?

Source: Universe Today

The environment refers to the surroundings which occur naturally on earth or any other region thereof. These surroundings comprise of natural resources, living and non-living things. Lately, the environment has been under tremendous strain due to astronomical population growth which has in turn led to industrialization. As a result, there has been rapid depletion of resources and considerable damage has been done to the environment.

Problem appears before us in different forms such as air-pollution, water pollution, food pollution, noise pollution, moral pollution and paper pollution. Air pollution results from the greed of man because he in under way to cut down the trees and forest for setting up of industries and settlements. This has created a complex problem for all of us. The industries vitiate the atmosphere by emitting out fumes of smoke. Side by side combustion, manufacturing processes, agricultural activities, use of chemicals and fertilizers spread pollution in the air. All these releases harmful gases and thereby the air is polluted.

The noise pollution also leads to neurosis and other psychic disorders.

Trees and plants turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. When they are cut, the air becomes impure. Deforestation causes soil erosion. This widespread pollution is great health-hazard and puts a great danger to our life.

Humans consume natural resources for purposes such as manufacturing, power generation, utility etc. The challenge that lies ahead is that the resources are limited. With global population swelling each year, enormous strain is being put on the finite reserve of resources. For our future generations to experience better standards of living we must put efforts to save clean air, water and fuel for them.

One can participate in many ways to save the environment and provide a better future to the coming generations. It can be done by taking environment friendly decisions such as: planting a tree, using energy efficient equipments, buying green products and by employing right methods to recycle plastic, e-waste etc. Recycling is an important instrument as it helps in protecting resources in two ways. Firstly, recycling of material would prevent contamination of water, soil, air etc. as a result of dumping. Secondly, recycling of material like paper, glass, aluminum etc. can help save electricity which can be used constructively.

Thus, each one of us should employ various means to protect our environment and reward our future generations with a greener planet.