Earth Hour: What is it?

Earth Hour was this weekend. Don't worry; if you have no idea what that is, you're not alone. Earth Hour is an hour where everyone participating uses no electricity. Yep, that means no lights, no TV, no computers...nothing. It can be very hard to do this, especially since it occurs at nighttime . But it's also a great way to help the Earth, even if it's just for an hour. Imagine; if all the world, all 7 billion people, turned off their electricity for one hour, we would definitely make a difference in the environment, as well as conserve energy.

The first ever Earth Hour was in 2007, in Sydney, Australia. After it happened (and went well; around 2.2 million people took part), they wanted to make it a national event: but internationally, cities were beginning to sign up to take part in the 2008 Earth Hour. Earth Hour has only continued to get bigger, with more and more cities worldwide participating.

The website, www.earthhour.org, gives a history of this; and also has other Earth-friendly challenges in which you can participate. There is also a website: www.beyondthehour.org, which talks more about participating countries and the history, and also why Earth Hour is so important. If you want to do Earth Hour, the next one is scheduled for March 29th, at 8:30. However, not using electicity for an hour or two is easy enough to do every week. If you want to make a difference, both participate in and out of Earth Hour by turning off your electricity, and spreading the word about Earth Hour. Maybe, someday, Earth Hour will be a time when the whole world turns off all their electricity and takes a moment to think about how they can help improve our planet.

Information Sources:
 http://www.earthhour.org/
http://www.beyondthehour.org/

Picture Source:
http://www.torontosun.com/2013/03/24/chris-hadfield-captures-earth-hour-from-space
(This source has pictues that Chris Hadfield took from space during this year's Earth Hour, including the one on this post. I recommend checking the pictures out!)

Plastic Bags are Positively a Problem

Everyone has been to a grocery store before. And everyone has carried home their purchases in plastic bags. Countless others have thrown away those same bags without a second thought in the trash. And we've all seen evidence of the other way those bags are disposed of by people: lying on roadsides, being carried into the distance by the wind or floating away on a stream or an ocean wave. The question is, what happens to these bags after they are thrown away or forgotten?

Approximately 380 billion plastic bags are used per year in the US. They are usually used once, then forgotten, even though they're having a huge negative effect on the environment. Plastic bags can, and do, kill many marine animals and birds when the bags are mistaken as food. Plastic bags can also take hundreds of years to disintegrate, and they release small toxic particles into the environment as they do. The repercussions of this could affect us negatively as well.

So what can we do? One simple answer is to not use plastic bags. Reusable bags are beginning to be sold in grocery stores and are, in my opinion, the best current solution to the problem of plastic bags. Some stores also have a recycling system set up for the plastic bags as well. Finally, one option would be to reuse plastic bags if you have to use them at all. Doggie-duty, trash-can liners and bags for carrying lunches in are all good ways to reuse plastic bags.

Plastic bags are a big problem in the environment, but if everyone does their part, we can make a difference. The best thing you can do is to stop using plastic bags now and to use cloth or reusable bags instead. If everyone does this, then we can make our environment healthier and keep it that way for years to come.

-E

Sources:
http://www.envirosax.com/plastic_bag_facts
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html
http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/14901/1/The-Effects-of-Plastic-Bags-on-Environment.html
http://www.thomasnet.com/articles/plastics-rubber/designing-plastic-bags

A Motto To Live By

While looking for a quote to put under the title of this blog, I came across this motto:

Take nothing but pictures.
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
~Motto of the Baltimore Grotto, a caving society

I think that this is an awesome motto and that we should all keep this motto in mind, all of the time. If more people followed it, we would definitely be on our way to a better Earth

-E

Hellos and What This Blog Is

Hi!
To those who don't know what this blog is and what it's for, here's a quick overview of this blog's purposes:

1. To educate people about what's going on in the environment, primarily global warming.
2. To educate people about how we're affecting this.
3. To show people ways in which we can lower our negative impact on the environment.
4. To get people working to improve the environment.

I plan to make this blog fun, with easy-to-understand information, but still making it an informative blog. So, if you're interested in these things or want to make a better world for you, your children and your grandchildren to live in, stick around!