Happy Earth Day everyone!
It's time we all started being a little kinder to our planet...everyday though, not just on Earth Day. We've all heard about ways we can improve the environment but how many of us are actually making changes that will make a difference? I thought I was fairly informed but Oprah did a "GREEN" show on Friday and I was surprised how much I learned from it. Hopefully my list below will help you find ways to make a few changes.

1) DON'T TAKE AN ATM RECEIPT.
There are 8 billion ATM transactions a year. If everyone left their receipt, it would save a roll of paper 2 billion feet long. That's equivalent to circling the equator more than 15 times!
Another example would be pay-at-the-pump gas receipts.

2) GIVE UP ONE NAPKIN A DAY.
How many people go to Tim Hortons for bagels or doughnuts and get 2 or 3 napkins? I realized I'm very guilty of wasting napkins when I go to restaurants. When I take the kids, I always ask for extra napkins. This is one change I can easily make!
If everyone gives up just one napkin a day, we could save 1 billion pounds of paper waste from going to landfills.

3) USE REUSABLE SHOPPING BAGS at the grocery store. (Zehrs is selling them for $1 apiece)
Just choosing paper over plastic isn't enough anymore. The plastic bags take 1000 years to decompose. As far as the paper bags, it takes 14 million trees in one year to make the 10 billion paper bags that are used.

4) LOOK FOR MINIMALLY PACKAGED ITEMS.
They don't need to make products that have packaging inside of packaging. If possible, choose companies that use less. At least at the grocery store you may have some options. Things like toys aren't so easy, you don't have much choice when you're buying that "perfect" kids gift, which is too bad. That is one of my BIGGEST pet peeves...the packages that toys are sold in now! It drives me insane...one Barbie will have plastic then cardboard and more plastic and THOSE WIRES!!! If Barbie was in her package she could survive any tornado or hurricane that came her way...she'll never come out of that packaging! It's absolutely ridiculous....how about Polly Pockets...OY!!! If I thought it would do any good I'd start a letter writing campaign to toy companies. Anybody with me?

5) IF YOU HAVE TO BUY "PAPER" PLATES try to choose ones that are made from 100% recycled plastic.

6) LOOK FOR RECYCLED ALUMINUM FOIL. (if available here in Canada, I'm not sure)
I just checked mine and the packaging is recycled but not the foil.

7) PLANT A TREE.
Every person emits approximately 94 pounds of carbon dioxide every day. It takes 4 trees to offset the carbon dioxide we emit in a one month period.

8) USE POWER STRIPS.

9) CHANGE LIGHT BULBS TO COMPACT FLOURESCENT.
If every family changed just one light bulb, it would be the equivalent to carbon emissions from 800,000 cars.

10) RECYCLE.
It takes 100 years for glass to break down.
One four foot high stack of newspapers is equivalent to a 40 foot fir tree.

11) DON'T LEAVE WATER RUNNING.

12) TAKE SHORTER SHOWERS.

13) WASH CLOTHES IN COLD WATER.

14) CLEAN OUT YOUR DRYER'S LINT FILTER.

15) CHANGE THE WAY YOU CLEAN YOUR HOUSE.
Switch from toxic to non-toxic cleaning products. They said that with all the chemicals we use we're basically creating a "chemical cocktail" when we have our houses all closed up and the heat on in the winter and air conditioning in the summer.

Matt Damon was also on the show talking about a group (www.greendimes.com) that he was so impressed by, he's now on the board. They are a group that among other things, tries to reduce the amount of junk mail people receive. To become a member all you pay is a dime a day ($36.50 per year) and GreenDimes will work to reduce your junk mail by 70-90%. They also plant one tree every month for every member they have.
Every year, 100 million trees are chopped down and 28 billion gallons of water is wasted just to produce junk mail.

A couple of the ideas above are from a new book by Elizabeth Rogers that will be on sale June 19. It is called the Green Book and contains 500 ideas for making small changes that will help our environment.

What changes will you make?