Happy Earth Day 2009

Happy Earth Day!

Last year on this day [when I was blogging on myspace] I wrote this blog about Earth Day and asked people how they help the cause, what they do to recycle, and strongly suggested people STOP littering.
This year will be no different, although I'll be adding some pictures of litter that I've been taking over the past few weeks.  It disgusts me!

Start noticing how many cigarette butts you see when you're stopped at a stoplight coming off the highway/freeway, really everywhere!  Not only is it completely dangerous to throw a cigarette out the window when driving [what if it flew into someones window OR what if there is a motorcycle behind you] - it's NOT good for the Earth!  It is one of my biggest pet peeves.
Last year I turned my focus on one of the guys here at work - He smokes and I kept [kindly] suggesting that he stop throwing his butts out the window on break.  I offered to get something for him to put them in, a cup or something from the gas station, anything!  A few weeks after I started [kindly] suggesting this, I walked up to his truck on break one day and noticed that he had a cup from the gas station full of butts!  Mission accomplished!  I just saved the Earth from probably 20 butts a day being thrown onto her.

Today is the day we can do something to help.  As one person, I cannot solve the worlds problems - as a blogger with a solid couple handfuls of readers, I can write my thoughts and maybe spark something in at least one of you.  I don't expect us [as a world] to change overnight, but Earth Day is a way for us to remember each spring that we need to take care of this place we call home.

Do you recycle?  If you don't; why wouldn't you?  It's so easy and imagine being able to reuse things rather than having to use brand new packaging.  You save room in your garbage and you keep a huge load of things out of our [already too full] landfills.  If you are a gardener, you should make a compost pile out of your organic materials - it's great for your plants and it also helps keep unnecessary waste out of our landfills - here is a link to help you get started.
Here is a way the city of San Francisco is doing their part... A whole city!  If they can... why can't we as individuals?

Start car pooling or ride a bike to get around [that's good for your body too!], turn off the water when brushing your teeth, reuse some old materials for a craft project [I'm in the process of turning a old window frame into a photo frame], host a Green party and use only recycled materials that can be recycled again and serve foods that can be throw into your new compost pile if they go bad, think of everyday as Earth Day - not just one day a year.

Go plant a tree, go buy an energy saving light bulb [and turn off the lights when they aren't needed], continue to recycle, and if nothing else at least get outside and enjoy the beauty of nature, take some photos, go bird watching, fly a kite - maybe that will help you appreciate our planet and help take care of it a little bit better.

Now that I've [kindly] suggested some things you can do to help our Earth on this day, I will leave you with some photos of the way people are helping to destroy it - this adds to the importance of why you should pitch in and do something, anything, no matter how small and insignificant you may think it is: