Happy Birthday Planet Earth! This year Wednesday, April 22, marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. While it’s a time to celebrate those things that we are already doing to save our planet, it’s important to contemplate the next steps. To keep our planet healthy it takes everyone to do their part. Whether it’s learning new ways to reduce trash, using green cleaning products, or casting new life to an old piece of furniture, we can all learn new ways to do a little more. To make every day Earth Day in our homes and community here are some eco-friendly changes everyone can get on board with.
Involve Kids at an Early Age
I Am Mother Earth, a delightful children’s book written by Port Lavaca native Texan Rebecca Hutchinson, is the perfect starting point for kids ages 3-8. Its on-point story of a child’s discovery of how humans and the earth can coexist in harmony inspires and educates. Once your kids are hooked show them ways they can participate on Earth Day and any day of the year. Eliminating the use of single use plastic items like straws and water bottles can go a long way and help to save our wildlife.
How to Reduce Waste in our Community Parks
- Be a pedal pusher. Walking and biking on trails and to park facilities reduces emissions.
- Pack a zero waste picnic or lunch using reusable containers.
- Carry your own refillable water bottle with you.
- Carry out any garbage you carry in.
- Don’t discard anything that can be reused or recycled.
- Recycle plastic, glass bottles and cans in designated recycling containers.
- Lead by example.
- Don’t dispose trash in creeks, rivers and lakes.
- Respect Mother Nature.
How to Conserve Water at home
- Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. The fact is that the average family of four can save 11,000 gallons of water a year by doing this simple action. And slice their overall annual household water usage from 12 months to 10.5 months. Take it another step further. Don’t let the faucet run needlessly when doing other tasks like washing and rinsing dishes, washing your hands and shaving. Then enjoy watching your water bill shrink each month.
- Water the garden with a hose or watering can. It can save your household 33 percent less water outdoors compared to those households that use automatic irrigation systems. Both handheld ways are best for homes with small areas. For those with larger areas to cover, it may be advisable to invest in a smart irrigation system controller.
- Repair leaky faucets, shower heads and toilets. A drip from a leaky faucet can waste as much as 20 gallons of water a day. Imagine how much water is wasting away if your shower head, toilet or bathtub faucet is also leaking? Monitoring your monthly water bill for high usage is a great way to detect a leak. Want to know where your faucet is leaking and how to fix it? Learn more here.
- Avoid running the dishwasher and washing machine with half-loads. Small loads waste gallons of water. To conserve one of our most treasured natural resource its best to run appliances when they’re at capacity.
- Take a shower instead of a bath. The fact is that bathtubs can use up to 70 gallons of water while an average shower uses 10 to 25 gallons. Taking a five-minute shower saves even more water. If five minutes seems a little quick, try to shave off a couple of minutes each time you shower.
Simple Ways to Use Less Energy
- Turn off the lights when you leave a room. But that’s not all. Make it a family rule that everyone needs to turn off the TV when they leave a room too.
- Only recharge devices when they need it. Whether it’s a mobile phone, laptop computer, music player, or tablet, charge them only when you need to. When they reach their capacity unplug immediately. However, this goes for other appliances in your home as well. Even though you aren’t using the toaster, can opener, or your lamp table if they’re plugged in they’re using power.
- Do It Yourself, Switch to CFLs. Although compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) cost more initially, the savings can add up quickly. While incandescent bulbs waste 90% of their energy as heat, CFLs use 75% less energy to produce the same amount of light and lasts 10 times longer.
- Purchase energy efficiency appliances. The household appliances in our homes account for approximately 13 percent of our energy usage. Before you make a purcchase it’s important to do some research. Though the initial cost for energy efficient appliances are usually higher, their operating costs on average are 9-25% lower than other models.
- Install a smart thermostat. A smart thermostat is another way to conserve energy. It can be programmed to turn off, turn on, and regulate heating and air conditioning during when you are sleeping, away for the day, or on vacation for a week. When you know you are coming back hitting the button on your smart phone to turn it on is the easy part. Remembering to do it is another story unless, of course, you program your phone to remind you. Is it right for your home? Read more here.
Looking for a new home? Schedule a virtual appointment today
Explore Travisso online today. To keep our community safe during the COVID-19 pandemic we are taking precautions. For information about the Travisso community, our homes, builders and amenities, please visit us online. Currently all three of our builders are available to chat with you, answer questions, or set up a virtual appointment for your convenience and comfort. Please be safe and stay at home. For additional information or to ask a question contact 512-243-8583.
