Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day is celebrated April 22, and is a day designed to raise awareness and appreciation for our Earth's environment. it was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 and is celebrated by many countries every year.

I know we try to recycle as much as possible. But we can all do more to make a difference in our everyday life. Whether it be planting a tree, getting new energy efficient appliances, updating light bulbs, using canvas bags for your groceries, driving less, making less garbage...every little thing helps to make the world a better place for generations to come.

nifty facts about garbage:

1. The average person in the US makes 4.6 pounds of garbage each day
2. Every day we add 2000 tons of garbage into landfills
3. It only takes 5 minutes to empty a 18 ton truck trailer full of Garbage at a landfill
4. Only 27% of paper gets recycled
5. 15% of all garbage is uneaten food
6. only 5% of all plastics get recycled

This surprised me...how long it takes for things to decompose:

Paper ................... 2 to 5 months
Orange peels ............ 6 months
Milk cartons ............ 5 years
Filter-tip cigarettes ... 10 to 12 years
Plastic bags ............ 10 to 20 years
Leather shoes ........... 24 to 40 years
Plastic containers ...... 50 to 80 years
Disposable diapers ...... 75 years
Tin cans ................ 100 years
Aluminum cans ........... 200 to 500 years
Styrofoam ............... Never

Happy Earth Day!

Some good articles to check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

http://earthday.net/

http://www.blisstree.com/thriftymommy/33-things-you-can-recycle/