I. The theme for Earth Day 2016, April 22 is "Trees for the Earth."
Why Trees?
Our planet is currently losing over 15 billion trees each year due to deforestation, land development, and bad forest management (that is roughly 48 football fields every minute). Earth Day network is announcing Trees for the Earth (#Trees4Earth), a plan to plant 7.8 billion trees by Earth Day’s 50th in 2020. That is one tree for every person on the planet!
Trees help combat climate change. They absorb excess and harmful CO2 from our atmosphere. In fact, in a single year, an acre of mature trees absorbs the same amount of CO2 produced by driving the average car 26,000 miles.
Trees help us breathe clean air. Trees absorb odors and pollutant gases (nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulfur dioxide and ozone) and filter particulates out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark.
Trees help communities. Trees help communities achieve long-term economic and environmental sustainability and provide food, energy and income.
Plant a tree this Earth Day! Here is a list of nurseries in Virginia to find one, listed alphabetically
II. Your Carbon Footprint
Whether we agree on the importance of planting trees or even the effects of Climate change, there are things we can do to both conserve and save money. However, you first need to understand your energy usage as defined in your carbon footprint .
What’s your carbon footprint ? A carbon footprint is defined here as:
"The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
"In other words: When you drive a car, the engine burns fuel which creates a certain amount of CO2, depending on its fuel consumption and the driving distance. (CO2 is the chemical symbol for carbon dioxide). When you heat your house with oil, gas or coal, then you also generate CO2. Even if you heat your house with electricity, the generation of the electrical power may also have emitted a certain amount of CO2. When you buy food and goods, the production of the food and goods also emitted some quantities of CO2.
"Your carbon footprint is the sum of all emissions of CO2 (carbon dioxide), which were induced by your activities in a given time frame. Usually a carbon footprint is calculated for the time period of a year."
You can check calculate your carbon footprint here. Find out how to reduce emissions and save money.
Let’s look at systems we use and how to both conserve and save money
Heating costs:
Cooling:
2. Reducing cooling costs and energy
3. Role of fans
Lighting :
2. Improving your light efficiency
3. Lamp maintenance to increase efficiency
4. LEDs, particuarly during the holidays
Water:
1. Conserving
Household appliances:
1. Laundry
2. Dishwasher
3. Stove
4. Refrigerator