What My Family Will Do on Earth Day
This year on Earth Day, we will be taking positive steps to improve our environment, save energy, and make plans to be better stewards of the Earth’s resources in the future.
In our back yard is a collapsed metal building. We have a basement apartment and our last tenant built half of his storage building. Before he completed it, it was collapsed by high winds. Apparently he forgot all about it, because he moved away and left the mess in the backyard.
We’ve long since cleaned up the mess, but Earth Day will be the day we recycle the aluminum from the building. We will also clean out the garage and recycle a few pieces of copper pipe, aluminum rods, and lead pipes. There is also a stack of aluminum from the side of a barn we had torn down to build the Church. I don’t know how we inherited ten or so small sheets of metal, but we did. These, too, will go to the recycling station on Earth Day.
Since it is spring, it is time to plant flowers anyway, so we will be working in the yards on Earth Day. However, instead of working on gardens, we will plant two or three more trees in the vineyard. Not just any trees. Some numb skull we hired to cut the vineyard took it upon himself to cut down the peach tree.
Granted, it didn’t look like much, but it did produce a handful of small peaches. I don’t know why he cut it down, but I intend to replace it with a couple more. We will also use organic solutions on Earth Day to spray the apple trees and pear tree to keep insects at bay. The trees produce in abundance, and it is a waste to let the bugs nibble away at the crops.
Energy conservation is going to become a hot topic of discussion in our home on Earth Day. With three laptops, four cell phones, and far too many televisions, we have to discuss unplugging these devices when they are not charging or in use. We tried this for one month before and found that by unplugging chargers and unused televisions and game consoles the electricity bill was noticeably less. When the bill is less, obviously we are consuming less energy. We can only do our part, but we can do our part to conserve energy.
The discussion will also include reminders to turn off lights when you exit a room. Use a lamp when you don’t need an overhead light. Help check around the house to make sure we have made a full transition to energy saving bulbs. Lamps that are never used should be unplugged.
There is no need to pull even the slightest amount of energy when something electrical powered is not in use. Around here, that means unplugging fans, a musical keyboard, a toaster oven, a toaster, printers, surround sound systems, and DVD players. Even when these electrical items are not in use, they are pulling an ever so slight amount of energy. This has to stop.
If we travel anywhere on Earth Day, which my husband and I intend to discourage, we will travel with two or more people in the car. Honestly, we think it should be a day to stay home, keep emissions out of the air, and save the gas. Fortunately, we live in a situation which enables us to do that.
Will our small contributions on Earth Day make a difference? If everyone did their part they would make a huge difference. However, even if we make the adjustments ourselves and have the discussions, we will continue to change that has slowly become a part of our lives.
If Earth Day accomplishes a few changes in attitudes about recycling, carpooling, pollution, or energy consumption then it is worth it. It is also a chance for creative minds to think of new energy sources, and innovations which will save energy.
