Help wildlands this Earth Day! Tip #2: Leave no trace

In the spirit of a principle I learned in kindergarten, Leave Your Space Nicer Than You Found It (LYSN TYFI, which I've started thinking of as "Listen, Tiffy!" in my head), our family has committed to reducing our household garbage to ZERO by the end of this year. If you are curious how this can possibly be done, check out my (NON-commercial!) blog at: http://garbagezero2010.blogspot.com/ There are no ads; just one person sharing the challenges and lessons learned from taking on this challenge. Thanks, and here's encouraging you to do just one thing today to LYSN TYFI!

After living off grid on a minimal solar system and hauling water for 2 years, here's what I came up with. Hope it's not too long...
Conservation Tips
Electricity Conservation Tips
• Read the labels on all your electrical devices. You’ll be surprised how much energy is required to run that blow dryer or heating pad.
• Learn which appliances have a phantom charge and unplug them when not in use. Usually, things like chargers and some kitchen appliances will have a phantom charge but lamps with switches don’t. If it has a light that stays on, it has a charge.
• Turn it off when you don’t need it. Every little bit adds up!
High Electric Usage: Low Electric Option
Clothes Dryer: Clothes Line
Electric Stove/Oven: Solar Oven or Gas Stove
Coffee Maker: French Press
Microwave : Solar Oven or Gas Stove
Desktop Computer: Laptop
Stereo/TV/DVD/VCR: Laptop with Speakers
Heating Pad: Hot Water Bottle
Hair Dryer/Curling Iron: Au Natural
Water Conservation Tips
• Slow the flow: start with a trickle then add more if you need a faster flow. Simply paying attention to how fast the water is flowing will save more than you know.
• Install low flow faucets in the kitchen and bathroom sinks and shower.
• Install low flow toilets and consider letting “the yellow mellow”.
• Install an On/Off button in the shower and turn the water off to lather up.
• Catch that shower warm up water and use for cooking, pets or houseplants.
• When washing dishes, instead of filling the sink with wash water, just lather up a sponge, wash the dishes, and then catch the rinse water for soaking more dishes or watering house plants.

Go Veg to Save the Planet, 1st - then we will have time to make all other lifestyle changes, including sustainable energy, transportation, etc!!!
It seems to be a little known; or at least not mentioned, fact that the number #1 contributor to our green house gas emissions is animal agriculture. Yes. It is true. We kill & slaughter billions of animal a year & this practice attributes 51% of green house gasses; mostly in in the form of methane, 23 (or 26?) times more potent that carbon dioxide + notrous oxide, which is a whopping 296% more potent than carbon emiisions. Not to the amount of resources to produce in camparison to plant based food. But don't take my word for it. The UN's Long Shadow Report of 2002 confirms that devasting effects that animal agriculture has on our environment & most recently the World Watch Institute confirms the same - see attachments. In addiiton many scientists, climatologists and environmentalists from around the world confirm this little publicized fact as well. Why are we so afraid to stop eating animals???
The number 1 best, most effective thing we can all easily do that will have the quickest most dramatically positive effect on our environment is to switch to a plant based diet. And if you think, "oh, I could never give up eating meat"...well, you'll just have to try some of the most delicious plant based meatless meat options available today. They are amazingly scrumptious!
Please see links below for more substantiating facts:
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.worldwatch.org/node/549&sa=X&ei=z...
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?newsID=20772&CR1=warning
http://www.earthlings.com/
http://suprememastertelevision.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=sos_video&wr_i...

I'm asking everyone I know to make a commitment to reduce their consumption of plastic and other disposable products. Instead of passively asking government and industry to change lets use the power we all have as consumers. If you support the environment, show your support at the checkout counter.
It's not hard, and it even saves money. check out my website. www.myearthdaychallenge.com

Friends and I hike in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California - whenever we see someone doing something that would adversely affect the park's natural environment, we speak up and request that the person stop to consider the result of their actions. Sometimes we're met with a hostile response, others with an "I'm sorry, I didn't know". We don't force the issue either way but, we feel good for having asked for respect for our best natural resource. If enough people speak up, maybe we can change others attitudes.

Isnt it interesting that those who disagree with any good "green" ideas use dirty language. I am 80 now and have always picked up trash - I belong to our ParkwayPartners who have even posted my nme on a middle ground which I promise to keep free of trash. But the good this is there is very little trash nowadays. I am careful tp sever the plastic circles that bind drink cans or bottles together. They can kill birds who pick them up in the sea. I m not a perfect "greener" but I can do something good for Mother Earth. This is also a religious obligation for me. I am Catholic.

For starters, to reduce my carbon footprint on Earth Day I will be taking the day off from work and leaving the car at home. Second, I could not find an Eath day activity close to my home so I am going to pickup trash outside of my home. Third, I think I am going to plant some more native plants or flowers (organically grown/organic soil) outside of my home to attract bees, butterflies, birds and toads!
Signed,
A

Lift your face up to the sky and SMILE! Turn up the music and dance in the grass with bare feet! Feel the earth and know that you are one!
This is all ours to celebrate and cherish! Leave it for our children to look at in wonder and awe.
Make a great memory you can think back to and smile when things get "out of hand". Love and enjoy and pass your joy onto someone who really needs it! We are all part of THE FAMILY OF MAN and we can do this!

Read all of the great ideas that are being offered here. Then go and practice as many as you can for the next 365 days. But remind yourself while you are having fun that the biggest problem for our environment is human population growth!
For all here near Mount Shasta, celebrate Earth Day by enjoying the fresh Spring Snow with a human powered (not using a Snow Mobile) ski tour on the mountain.
Karl

I invite you to join and myself and others in making Earth day everyday at home.
To do this contact Audubon At Home. They can make suggestions for taking individual conservation action that can sustain birds, other wildlife, and healthy habitats and save water in our yards and neighborhoods. .. and for a Butterfly Waystation: our small flying friends need food plants to survive. You can find out how to attract them to your yard by looking on line.
Joy in Conserving,
Marjorie

4-20-2010 The future of our BLM public lands is that of more unmanaged domestic livestock that destroys the natural habitat. The powerful wealthy pubic lands livestock industry continues to attack America’s wild horses & burros to extinction, while advertising that people write to the U.S. Forestry Service to allow MORE sheep and cattle grazing under the auspices for better control of wild fires. This is preposterous propaganda as usual! Free roaming wild horses/burros are NATURAL fire fuel controllers when UNimpeded by tax paid fences to manage domestic livestock on OUR public lands. Any increased wild fires can be clearly explained by the ongoing massive removal of wild horses & burros from their legal ranges.
Below is a bit of factual evidence that we the people have been duped by BLM, the politically controlling livestock industry, its lobbyists and various “environmental” groups, including the Sierra Club that America’s wild horses/burros are the culprit in degrading OUR public lands when in fact it is the millions of domestic livestock gobbling up the natural habitat and destroying riparian areas when there is only a few thousands wild horses/burros left on their legal ranges.
By applying suitability criteria to BLM's carrying capacity calculations…that included distance from water, steepness of slope, type of terrain, and elevation…BLM calculated how much forage was ACTUALLY available to livestock. BLM determined that the amount of forage allocated on the existing grazing permits needed to be reduced 60-70% and in some cases up to 90%. When the National Academy of Sciences field studies for wild horses presented their Phase I report, one of their findings was that HOW and WHERE wild horses graze in relation to available forage was the key to wild horse management. Wild horses and burros graze further from water, on steeper slopes, at higher elevations, and on more rugged terrain than pregnant or lactating cows. The high mobility of wild horses/burros and the immobility of cow/calf herds makes a crucial difference with regard to the impact of each on range condition. Wild horses live in bands spaced from each other. Cows congregate within a mile of water chewing their cud. Suitability criteria showed that the amount of forage actually available to wild horses and burros is far greater than that available to cows. But all the forage in the given area was allocated for livestock on the exiting 10 year permits…due to expire in 1984.
Betty Kelly, M.D.
25 Lewers Creek Road
Carson City NV 89704
wildhorses@pyramid.net

water will be the next "oil"
I keep a large pot in my sink to catch all of the good "grey" water. I wash my hands or rinse something and reuse the water to wash my hand and rinse vegies, utensils etc until it is ready to dump outside in the garden.
Water is precious and we waste so much.

Americans, with about 300 million of us, consume about 45% of Earth's annually available resources. Do the arithmetic: 300 is to 45 as X is to 100.... Fewer than ONE billion people can live on Earth at our American level. There are more than six times too many people! Talk Birth Control and Family Planning. Never again more tha two children per woman....

stop eating meat.

Reuse paper towels. when you dry clean hands the paper towel may be reused to clean.or blow nose (if it is not too wet)

My wife and I do lots of camping in parks. I was raised in a family that did lots of camping also. Our first trip was when I was 5 and I am now 61. My father taught me this at a very early age. Always leave the campsite cleaner than how you found it. I notice there is always little bits of trash in campsites on the ground. Whenever I need a twisty tie I know I can find one on the ground. I always leave my site cleaner then the way it was when we arrived.

One way to make every day Earth Day is by eating local, sustainable (preferably organic) food. One way to improve upon this wonderful experience is by taking something besides cash and your own bags to the greenmarket. What I'm talking about is an attitude of gratitude. I always take a moment to express my thanks to the amazing, hardworking people who raise my food. If it isn't a lot, I tell them to keep the change. When I purchase something exceptional, I make it into a live food dish, and then bring a small serving back to the greenmarket, and give it to the person from whom I made the purchase. "Thanks so much. I made this pesto from your basil and parsley." "This soup is made from your heirloom tomatoes, I think they're terrific." "If it weren't for you and people like you, I couldn't live in the city. I'd have to learn to drive and move someplace I could grow my own food. Thank you." It takes only a moment, virtually no effort, and will make someone's day. It's especially true here in New York, where farmers are so used to people haggling with them that they're often shocked when I say "keep the change. You more than earned it, along with my thanks."
I also maintain that gratitude when I sit down to eat. I always take a moment to express my thanks to every person who had a hand in bringing the food to my table -- yes, even if it's "only" the truck driver who brought it to the city. Everyone counts. Everyone's important. Reflect on how pleased you are that someone saved seed, planted it, nurtured it, composted, weeded, picked, drove, sold, etc. etc. Thanking God is cool, if that's what you believe in, but how about the people who ensure you have something nutritious and delicious on your plate?
Happy Earth Day, and I wish you and yours health and peace.

The biggest trace currently is the military spraying by jet of aluminum, barium, and strontium on America, particularly the west coast. We have laboratory and observational proof that it is so, but we don't know what the effects are or will be. All we ask is an EIS before more spraying is allowed. If the military says it wont hurt us, then they ought to prove it. The most obvious effect locally is that the pH of our rain is normal when no spraying occurs, and over ten times higher a few days after spraying resumes. We don't know what this is doing to the ecology. The bottom line this is sprayed on everyone, wilderness, crops, kids, and you eat and breathe the military spray metal oxides from Mr. Wellsbach's geo-engineering patent.

To all people:
Please enjoy your lifestyle and let others enjoy theirs. Half of the problems we face on the earth are when one group demonizes another for not doing what the first group thinks the others should do. That is just as much a bringer of harm as eating meat or any other non-socially/politically correct lifestyle.
Please think about 'Living and letting others live' too, even when we do not agree; especially when we do not agree.

I remember the first earth day back a long while ago. There was a fun festival on what is now GGNRA land; there was "earth" ball, animal charades and many other people powered entertainment. It was an exciting and fun time for all.

Think of animal migration corridors, and watch for highway tunnels, hilltop stretches and streams, where this works. This can happen even within a city.

I recycle all metals and plastics, my newspapers and junk mail and any plastic bags I have from the grocery store and my newspaper. I don't live in the wilderness but I sweep the sidewalks on my block clean every week so the street sweeper trucks can can catch the stuff before it winds up in the storm drains. I live in the city and many people, both adults and children, litter our streets. I hate to say this but when I was young growing up in a small town, we had more respect for the planet. There wasn't any recycling programs but we were taught to put our trash in a can, not throw it on the streets, highways, forests, etc. It's sad that so many adults litter and they don't teach their kids to not do it. And all the stories about the plastic in the oceans. It's time for everyone to do their part to save Mother Earth!

Visit Virtually- We live in a wonderful age, when we can be devoted fans of pristine places and delicate ecosystems without having to leave that huge carbon footprint. A Google search will usually take us to beautiful pictures, along with newspaper & research articles; GoogleEarth may even give us on-site views. And if we do feel compelled to get "up close & personal", we can often hook up with an environmental &/or research group already planning a trip to the destination.

Getting involved with the Boyscouts for both parents and their kids is a great way to engender trust to a new generation in revereing and repecting this great wilderness of ours. My father, a city boy, was given a new view of the world, and shared that with me and my brother. My brother was an Eagle Scout, and in the Order of the Arrow, as I was. I always loved the forest, and this just channelled alot of that energy into learning valuable wilderness survival skills, non-destructive trailmarking, learning all of the plant and tree species. How to track wildlife by their tracks, droppings, and behavior. Most importantly thay taught to always leave the forest as you found it, and respecting past and future generations by caring for the gifts we have been given.

I wonder if a program is feasible whereby people could become deputy forest rangers to help clean up & patrol federal & state owned land (with an emphasis on state- & federal-owned parks). If so, I would propose that to save money concerning maintaining the land (particularly the parks), the deputies would agree to a contract in which instead of receiving a salary, they would be allowed to reside on the land as long as they adhere to the rules & regulations of the contract in helping to clean up the land & report people who don't clean up after themselves.

The best tip I can think of is to adopt the Earth Day Mindset for all 365 days of each and every year. That is the way to make a real difference. - Johnsy

Most people can do more by reducing the size of there lawn. This uses less water, chemicals for weeds and gas for maintainence. Use native plants for landscaping. Somehow we have to get our plant breeders to stop promoting plants like barberry, ivy, ajuga, and many more that are invasive and destory our forests by invading them. We then pay again with our tax dollars to have these plants eliminated in our parks and forest. Usually this is a battle that is not won. It also destorys habitat and food sources for wildlife.
Becoming a vegan will not help, getting RID of factory farms would be the solution. Small farms that raise animals outdoors, fed on grasses is what we need.

I am a teacher and have places where students can recycle their plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and even Baggies. We wash out the Baggies thoroughly and they are reused for projects over and over again! The kids have even taken home paperwork to their parents to teach them about landfills and recycling centers. This gives me a lot of hope for the future!

I believe that if we can plant more trees and plants it can help our enviroment immensely and to stop using things that destroy our ecosystem.

I am a teacher of preschoolers and for all my 35 years of teaching I have been passing to my classes that the world needs people one by one, two by two...... working together to make the world beautiful and a peaceful place to live. I read many children's books about how people have worked to save rivers, increase forests, and save our wild animals. I have also written an environmental tale about a frog. So I think we all must take this seriously that we ought to not be afraid to stand up against the bigots and others who see this as nothing.

The best way to celebrat the Earth Day is to become a vegan or at least a vegetarian.
Go Vegie, be green, save the planet!!
God Bless!!

Happy Earth Day fellow air breathers, water drinkers, open space lovers, etc.,
So many great comments have been submitted, what can one say, other than why doesnt someone who can do something listen to us!!
Seriously, while Earth Day may have grown out of an "activist" idea, the idea of working with "them" to solve the problems evolved, with the hope that you can get more flies with honey than vinegar. However, it appears that the environmental movement including actions like recycling, may have to look back at what worked. We have I believe successfully identified the problems, and the solutions. However getting the mainstream to work toward those solutions is another story.
I get satisfaction out of airdrying my laundry, while composting has beome almost second nature!
Keep on Truckin" fellow Earthers!!

Yes, I two believe that there are far too many humans on the planet. In fact, I kind of wish that our species just didn't exist and that all the animals could live freely and happily! We are the cause of all the world's problems and issues. Animals are actually much smarter than us! They live in harmony with nature, where as we do nothing but upset and destroy the balance. One of the biggest things we can do is to have fewer babies! Try raising animals instead of human children. After all, the world needs more of them and less of us!!!

Go sailing instead of powerboating. You will save on fuel, cut down on noise pollution & air pollution, and, have a lot more fun!

Do all you can to help Mother Earth. 'Cuz I think she is getting angry. (e.g.volcanos erupting, earthquakes in more populated areas, Blizzards, etc.)

Fill your sealed up, energy-efficient home with green plants to keep the air healthy. No plants, no oxygen.

Birth control for all humans.

A great idea for the planet is to pick up your rubbish everyone and never drop any. That in itself is one of the greatest things we can easily do. When I go for walks in nature I'm sick and tired of picking up other people's rubbish and placing it in the bin.

Going vegetarian/vegan is the best way to help save the wilderness and entirety of Earth. We need to stop ignoring the facts about the impacts of the food industry on our planet and ALL GO VEG!!!!!!! Simply put, it's the biggest thing that you can do for the environment.

I volunteer with a positive energy center called Sukyo Mahikari, Centers for Spiritual Development:www.sukyomahikari.org. We are a non-profit community service center that promotes positive thoughts, words and action. One of the practices that we follow is called the 4Rs. These are "reduce, reuse, recycle and repair." Many people know about the first three "r's but we have added the concept of "repair." If we would all repair our backpacks (when possible), our torn sweaters we wear on those hikes into the wildlands, sew the holes in our hiking socks and try to repair the camera we take with us on the journey we would reduce the waste that accumulates around us. Too often we throw everything away at the first sign of damage because it is easier to do this than fix things. But everything we use was made with materials that we can offer gratitude for and cherish. If we try to repair our possessions we will reduce the need to buy new items, reduce the impact of unnecessary manufacture on the environment and reduce the garbage in landfills.
I have also learned the importance of maintaining a positive attitude on the environment around us. When we project feelings of gratitude for the beauty of nature or foster respect, reverence, wonder and awe for the incredible gifts we see when we take a journey into the wildlands or when we simply take a walk in the park we help nurture the natural world. You can try using positive words on the plants in your own garden. It is my experience that positive thoughts and words can truly help all living things flourish.

seriously, this is a joke, MEAT is the number cause of water shortage, water pollution, land shortage which all leads to wars and also is the number one cause of global warming. Give me a break with these stupid tips on changing lightbulbs. these people are scammers making money off "green Products" that have MINIMAL or NO impact. IF you really care about the planet then you would go VEG.