Happy Earth Day

Today marks the 39th official Earth Day celebrated across the world, which was created by US Senator Gaylord Nelson in hopes of creating awareness for the deteriorating environment. Although we have done a good job of taking steps toward a sustainable environment with the help of alternative sources of energy, natural agricultural techniques, more efficient products and use of recycling programs, there's still a lot work that we can all do to help.

Whether you believe that global warming is truth or fiction or if you are uncertain of its cause, the environment is being affected by our throw-away society. Take a second to think about how much trash you produce in a single day, especially if you don't participate in recycling. Take that small pile and multiply it by 303,000,000, the number of people in the U.S. today. It's tough, but try to imagine how much trash we all produce in a single day. Now take into account the amount of energy you use on a daily basis: this includes air conditioning/heat, gas, electricity (anything plugged into an outlet is drawing wattage unless the outlet is turned off), and the energy used to create the products you consume. This continually pollutes our air, ground and water and has already drastically affected many ecosystems.

I wasn't aware of the impact that I was personally having on the environment growing up, but now I realize how much waste I've already contributed to landfills and the pollution I've produced and it's not cool. Some guys on the team and myself have been more responsible in the way we go about our daily lives. For example, we recycle when possible, we try not to drink bottled water (most tap water is safe to drink, but if you don't believe that it is, you can buy a rather inexpensive water filtration system), we don't 'red-line' our cars when driving, we use public transportation, walk or ride bikes when possible, we use more efficient CFL bulbs at home and we use linen bags for shopping instead of plastic bags. There are numerous, little things that you can do to help the environment just like we have done here, and most of it will save you money either initially or over the long-run.

If you want to start recycling, but don't know where to do so, check out this website for a recycling center near you. I think we all can do a little better in this area. And if that wasn't compelling enough for some of you guys... girls really like guys who care about the environment!