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Digital News Report – Earth Day is April 22, 2011 which is this Friday. The Earth Day event started back in 1970 and the movement has become an international event. Committing to clean up the environment and preserve nature is the goal of Earth Day. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a great initiative to get people to commit to doing something positive for the environment with their ‘Pick Five’ campaign. You can also share video and photos promoting environmentally friendly activities with the EPA. The goal in the long run is to make everyday ‘Earth Day’.
The EPA’s Earth Day website at http://www.epa.gov/earthday/index.html, is a great place to find out more about ways you can help the environment and activities and events that are going on in your area. There is also a fun ‘Pick Five’ campaign that gets you involved in helping the environment. Then you can take photos and videos and share this with the EPA’s website. The EPA also has an “It’s My Environment” video project going on with submissions being accepted until June 6, 2011. They pick the best videos and assemble them together in a presentation. To find out more about this fun activity visit http://www.epa.gov/earthday/video/.
The EPA suggests saving the environment in several ways with their ‘Pick Five’ campaign. They have suggestions for water, air, land, energy, and other methods. They are asking for people to pick five things to take action for improving the environment.
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The EPA says that with water you should use only the amount needed and reuse it when possible. Or you can use biodegradable and environmentally friendly cleaning products to help keep the water clean. Another way to keep water clean is to dispose of solid and liquid wastes and medications properly to avoid contamination.
With air pollution there are several ways to help keep it clean. You can use human power to get around, walk, jog, ride bike instead or driving in a car. Take public transportation or carpool to save on gas. Also you can try to plan you trip to reduce the number of trips taken. Learn more about indoor air pollutants and make sure your home is safe. You can grow your own food or buy locally which will reduce the amount of gas used to get your food to your plate. You can plant a tree. Don’t burn you waste, find another way to dispose of the trash.
The EPA suggests taking care of the land by using pesticides safely either reduce or don’t use them at all. Composting your vegetable scraps is another way to save the land. You can learn more about ‘Greenscaping’ and then share your knowledge with others. Learn more about native plants and how non-native plants could hurt the natural habitats. Then plant some native plants in your landscape. You can even join groups that remove non-native plants if you want to clean up the problem plants.
Energy saving is another important way to help the environment says the EPA. They suggest saving energy usage in your home by picking energy-saving appliances that have the Energy Star logo on it. The say to add renewable energy such and wind or solar, or bio-fuel alternative energy sources into your life. Contact your local energy provider to see how much renewable energy is supplied to your home and find out ways that it could be increased.
There are still other things that can help to make it all more environmentally friendly. You can reduce the amount of stuff that you accumulate. If you do have to much stuff don’t through it in the dump, try to reuse it. You can donate to someone else the item, or you can even try to Upcycle it, which means that you take something and turn it into something of more value. Recycle items such as metals, plastics and papers. Also you can e-cycle things such as computers and other electronic devices. The EPA also says to through things in the trash and not to litter. When you do go shopping at the store pick items that use recycled, sustainable, or reused resources and to buy products that have less packaging material.
You can learn more about the EPA ‘Pick Five’ campaign at participate at http://www.epa.gov/pick5/.
By Victoria Brown