Earth Day should be Every Day.

We should all try to live organic and eco-friendly, not only to keep ourselves healthier but also to drastically reduce our carbon footprint.


I found these facts that might make you think twice before pitching trash on garbage day.

• Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to watch a TV for three hours - it's equivalent to half a gallon of gasoline.
• Earth Day is a relatively new holiday and was first celebrated on April 22 in 1970. More than 20 million Americans participated in this first Earth Day celebration
• Earth Day was founded by a senator of Wisconsin and the day is credited for creating the environmentalism movement.
• April 22 is the first official day of Spring in the Northern hemisphere and of Fall in the Southern hemisphere and was chosen to be Earth Day for this reason.
• Never underestimate the importance of recycling: if every newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year. Unfortunately only 27% of all American newspapers are recycled.
• More than 20,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of tinfoil. All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.
• Only 11% of the earth's surface is used to grow food.
• The world's first national park was started in 1872 at Yellowstone National Park in the US.
• The first major international conference on environmental issues was held in Sweden in 1972 and was sponsored by the United Nations.
• The first wildlife refuge was formed on Pelican Island Florida in 1903.
• The patron Saint of ecologists is St. Francis and the first proclamation of Earth Day was made by the mayor of San Francisco in 1970.
• A highlight of the annual Earth Day ceremony at the United Nations is the ringing of the Bell that was given to the UN by Japan. It is made from coins given by school children to further peace on our planet. 

Also...did you know?

• The garbage in a landfill stays for a for about 30 years.
• In 1995 over 200 of the world landfills were full. That is over 10 years ago!
• Each person throws away approximately four pounds of garbage every day.
• One bus carries as many people as 40 cars!
• More than 1/3 of all energy is used by people at home.
• Most families throw away about 88 pounds of plastic every year.
• We each use about 12,000 gallons of water every year 1/3 of all water is used to flush the toilet.
• The 500 million automobiles on earth burn an average of 2 gallons of fuel a day.
• Each gallon of fuel releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.
• Approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each ear ends up in the ocean.
• The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a traditional light bulb for four hours.
• For every 2000 pounds of paper (1 ton) recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water free from chemicals.
• Recycled paper requires 64% less energy than making paper from virgin wood pulp, and can save many trees.
• Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees.
• The amount of wood and paper we throw away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years
• Earth is 2/3 water. but all the fresh water streams only represent one hundredth of one percent.
• 14 billion pounds of trash is dumped into the ocean every year.
• It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones 5 billion aluminum cans are used each year.
• 84 percent of all household waste can be recycled.
• Computers pose an environmental threat because much of the material that makes them up is hazardous. A typical monitor contains 4-5 pounds of lead.
• Each year billions of used batteries are thrown away in the United States. This constitutes 88% of the mercury and 54% of the cadmium deposited into our landfills.
• Approximately only 10 percent of every landfill can be cleaned up.
• Ivory comes from dead elephants, its best not to buy it.
• Gelatin is collagen that comes from horses. Vegetarians beware! (Thought I would add that one in there.)
• Fur coats often come from endangered animals, it's best not to buy them.
• One gallon of motor oil can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of water. so dispose of properly!
• Here is an example of the water we use everyday: 3-7 gallons for toilet, 25-30 gallons for tub, 50-70 gallons for a 10 minute shower, 1 washing machine load uses 25-40 gallons, 1 dishwasher load uses 9-12 gallons. This is over 100 gallons of water a day per person!
• Here is an example of how long it takes some things take to break down: plastics take 500 years, aluminum cans take 500 years, organic materials, take 6 months, cotton, rags, paper take 6 months.

For information on where you can recycle, go here: www.earth911.com

Almost everything can be recycled! Shop smart, economical, and safe!

In future blogs, I will be posting household cleaners that can be homemade and are 100% safe for children and pets. Not to mention, they are inexpensive. Stay tuned.


Sources: http://www.planetpals.com/fastfacts.html and http://www.yumsugar.com/Earth-Day-Fun-Facts-219708