RAC Aware – Earth Day

Provided by: www.cotap.org and www.earthday.org

25 Earth Day Tips:

1. Plant a tree or donate a tree.
2. Join a local park, river or beach clean-up.
3. Use environmentally-friendly, non-toxic cleaning products.
4. Eat locally-produced and organic food.
5. Change your car’s air filter regularly.
6. Use cloth towels instead of paper ones.
7. Read documents online instead of printing them.
8. Set your office printer to print two-sided.
9. Reduce your meat consumption to curb carbon emissions from the livestock industry.
10. Compost kitchen scraps for use in your garden — turning waste into fertilizer.
11. Form a “green team” at your office to find cost-effective ways to conserve resources and promote sustainability.
12. Turn off and unplug electronics you’re not using. This includes turning off your computer at night.
13. Turn off lights when you leave a room.
14. Take the stairs instead of the elevator to save energy (and get exercise!).
15. Lower the temperature on your water heater.
16. Use reusable bottles for water, reusable mugs for coffee, reusable bags for shopping and reusable lunch bags.
17. Contact your utility company and find out about renewable energy options.
    REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOT PRINT:
18. Increase your use of video-conferencing tools like Skype and Facetime. If you fly five times per year, those trips are likely to account for 75% of your personal carbon footprint.
19. Reduce drafts and air leaks with caulk, insulation, and weather stripping.
20. Buying used products and reselling or recyling items you no longer use.
21. Making water-efficient choices when purchasing shower heads, faucet heads, toilets, dishwashers and washing machines.
22. Replace inefficient incandescent light bulbs with efficient CFLs or LEDs. Reduces your carbon footprint by 450 pounds a year.
23. Keep your tires properly inflated and get better gas mileage. Reduce your carbon footprint 20 pounds for each gallon of gas saved.
24. Stop using disposable plastics, especially single-use plastics like bottles, bags and straws. Reduce your garbage by 10% and your carbon footprint by 1,200 pounds a year.
25. Move your heater thermostat down two degrees in winter and up two degrees in the summer to reduce your carbon footprint by 2,000 pounds.