dailyramblings101

There are two Earth Days observed. United Nations (UN) celebrates Earth Day on the March Equinox (around Mar 21), a practice founded by peace activist; Mr John McConnell in 1969. Earth day is held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere.

The second Earth Day, which was founded by US Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970, is celebrated by many countries on Apr 22.

Earlier, we had Earth Hour; an event organised by World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which was held on the last Saturday of March, where people around the world switched off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for an hour starting from 8.30pm to 9.30pm.

Irregardless of the dates, both Earth Day are held to inspire, raise awareness and appreciate the Earth’s environment.

Counting down to Apr 22nd’s Earth Day, what can we do to help our planet? By looking at how we do things in our life and changing them, for a start.

• Monitor our electrical and lights usage; and switching them off when not is use. Change your lightbulb and use compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Instead of using the drier, hang your clothes on the clothesline on sunny days. Don’t leave the bathroom lights left on.

• Don’t leave the water running while you brush your teeth. Try to save water while you are doing other household chores too. Do you really need to shower for half an hour? Conserve water - you can save water and save on your monthly bills too.

• Recycle and reuse. Donate extras to relatives and friends instead of throwing stuff (good, usable stuff) away.

• Use less plastic bags. If you can, eliminate your usage of plastic bags entirely.

• Ditch the car and walk to your neighborhood shops or your nearby Pasar Malam instead. Don’t leave your car run idle for too long, switch the engine off. An idle car burns fuel, is costly and generates greenhouse gases.

• Use less paper - don’t print that e-mail, just save them. Use recyled paper, and save trees.

• Plant trees or make a contribution for any organization to plant trees.

• Get your children involved too.

There are so many ideas and ways we can do to protect our planet. What’s yours?

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