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Little things mean a lot
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Little things mean a lot
  Earth Day is April 22. That means you have a whole week to think of how to observe the day. I rarely observe the day—the day is mainly to make people aware of what’s wrong, and what they can do to help. I’m aware, already. Even a little frightened. This is the only world we have, to date. And I kind of like it. I’d like it to be around while my grandchildren and their grandchildren get to know it and like it.  I think Earth Day daunts some people a little, because they know a lot of the things they buy and use and do are bad for the world, and they’re afraid changing all of it will make their lives harder. But here’s the thing: You don’t have to change your whole way of life. Take a baby step or two. Buy some fluorescent light bulbs and use them to replace your incandescent bulbs. Fluorescent bulbs are more efficient. The money you save may not be noticeable, but consider this: One estimate is that there 110 million households in the U.S. If everyone replaced their incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs, the energy saved would be in the billions of dollars over the life of the new bulbs. The more energy we save, the fewer power plants are needed, and since most of them still use fossil fuels to produce electricity, reducing the need for them reduces our “carbon footprint,” and helps stop global warming.  Just from using different light bulbs. Since we replaced our bulbs, we’ve also noticed how much less heat the fluorescents put out. That’s a good thing, too. Other baby steps we’ve taken here at The Last Homely House include not using chemicals on our lawn and plants—I use homemade insecticidal soap, and spray a strong vinegar solution to kill weeds. All the stuff we put in our yards ends up in the watershed and, eventually, in the Gulf of Mexico. One pleasant way to help the earth is by planting things that belong in this area, and reducing the amount of water and chemicals you have to use to keep your yard pretty. The Master Gardeners can help you there—on Saturday, April 19, they’re having their big plant sale, and all the plants there will be tested and approved for our area.  Of course we recycle—that’s another baby step that doesn’t take much effort on our part and results in a big payoff, when all that refuse doesn’t end up in our landfill. Drinking tap water is another baby step—landfills are filling up with empty water bottles. Our tap water is fine most of the time—the occasional chlorine “spike” is solved with a filter. A great deal of the bottled water we buy and drink is nothing more than filtered tap water.  Right now I’m working on reducing the amount of non-recyclable waste our household creates. At the store, I try to choose products with the least packaging that will have to be thrown away. I’m trying to decide whether I can live without paper towels. I use paper towels to clean up messes our dogs and cats sometimes make. I’m not sure I can face cleaning up the mess, then having to wash the thing I cleaned it up with. Baby steps, you know. Probably the best thing we can do to observe Earth Day is to think: Think of the things we do and use and discard; think of the little changes we could make that would improve the environment; think of how important it is to preserve this little blue planet we all live on. It is, in the immortal words of the late Harry Nilsson: “The most beautiful world in the world  |
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