Happy Earth Day from the Environmental Awareness Committee!  Earth Day provides a perfect opportunity to evaluate the impact our choices and behaviors have on the environment.  The following tips can help you take steps to protect the health of our planet (and save money on energy costs, too).

Earth Day Tips:

• Reduce your carbon footprint: take the bus, carpool, walk, or bike whenever possible to avoid using your car. Take this Carbon Footprint Quiz to learn more.
• Recycle!  Recyclable materials include milk jugs, plastic soda bottles, laundry detergent bottles, aluminum and steel cans, and all colors of glass bottles and jars, newspapers, magazines, phone books, and junk mail.  Use these links to learn more about recycling programs in Toledo and Sylvania.
• At the office, remember to recycle paper instead of throwing it out (paper recycling bins for faculty and staff are located in the mail room area).
• Only use the printer when necessary, and when printing use both sides of the page.
• Don't throw out your old computer -- recycle it!  Goodwill's Reconnect program now accepts donations of old computers and computer parts. The service is free, and keeps harmful chemicals from entering local streams and soil.
• Switch to energy-saving light bulbs, which use up to 75% less energy than standard light bulbs...or better yet, rely on natural light during the day.
• Turn off the water when you are brushing your teeth and limit shower time.
• Buy local! Buying local not only benefits the local economy, but it also reduces the use of transportation (and gas) used in shipping out of town materials. Find out where to buy local at www.toledochooselocal.com.
• Allow grass clippings to stay on the lawn instead of bagging them. The cut grass will decompose and return to the soil naturally.
• Hang laundry out to dry instead of using the dryer.
• Rather than writing checks and stuffing envelopes each month, switch to online billing and reduce the paperwork associated with your bank and credit card accounts.
• Rent books and magazines from the library instead of purchasing them.
• In winter, turn your heater down a few degrees and bundle up; in the summer, only use the air conditioning when necessary.
• Instead of packing your lunch in plastic bags, opt for reusable containers.
• Bring your own bags to the grocery or retail store.
• Reduce your consumption of meat and dairy -- not only will you lower your cholesterol, but you will help reduce water pollution and land devastation.
• Buy organic! Help reduce pollution from chemicals.

In the spirit of St. Francis, the Environmental Awareness Committee believes in the importance of reverencing all creation and working for the sustainability of planet Earth. 

The purpose of this campus-wide committee is to:

• Coordinate campus-wide recycling efforts;
• Educate the entire campus on:

1. Recycling
2. The use of ‘green’ products
3. Energy conservation

• Promote environmentally friendly behavioral changes.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 9:20:18 AM (Atlantic Standard Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] |