| There was a time when a lot of people would | | | | about being more conscientious about things that |
| make jokes when they thought about Earth Day. | | | | we buy and use. |
| After all, it's a 'holiday' where you don't get the | | | | It dies directly in with the second concept, which |
| day off and most people don't really bother to | | | | is reusing. Reusing means taking things we might |
| celebrate or acknowledge. However, Earth Day is | | | | normally just throw out and finding a new use for |
| no laughing matter, because there's nothing more | | | | them. There are lots of ways to reuse all kinds of |
| important to humanity than our home: earth. In | | | | items that you might not think twice about |
| recent years, more people have taken on a | | | | throwing in the garbage. You can reuse old milk |
| 'green' way of thinking and Earth Day is starting | | | | jugs or soda bottles and use them to store |
| to get the attention it deserves. | | | | water or other liquids. Or you can turn your food |
| Earth Day was founded by a United States | | | | waste into compost for your garden. You can |
| senator in the year 1970, but it has since grown | | | | even take would-be trash and do something |
| to be an international holiday celebrated by the | | | | totally unique and creative with it. |
| United Nations. Earth day is all about promoting | | | | Recycling refers to a way in which you can |
| awareness of the Earth's environment and how | | | | essentially reuse things, even if not directly. |
| to best preserve it for future generations. It has | | | | Recycling facilities accept items such as aluminum |
| become clearer to us in recent years that if we | | | | cans, glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, and other |
| don't take action to help protect the environment, | | | | items, and reprocess it to be used again. Many |
| then there will be severe consequences. | | | | junk removal collectors have separate bins where |
| Earth Day is all about 3 major tenets, known as | | | | people can put their recyclable materials to have |
| the 3 R's: reduce, reuse and recycle. Each of | | | | them collected. Or, you can bring your own |
| these elements is important to ongoing | | | | recyclables to a local center. |
| conservation efforts. While Earth Day is a day to | | | | While those 3 basic R's are a great place to start |
| promote these ideas, they really should become a | | | | in a conservation effort, there are many other |
| part of every person's everyday life if we want | | | | ways that we can help support the health of our |
| to make a real positive change in the | | | | Earth. Reduce doesn't have to just mean reducing |
| environment. | | | | trash, for example. For instance, you can also try |
| Reduce means that you should try to reduce the | | | | and reduce the amount of energy that use by |
| amount of waste that you throw out. Trash is | | | | buying energy efficient appliances or a hybrid car. |
| becoming a major problem all over the world - | | | | The conservation options are nearly limitless; you |
| we throw out so much stuff that we're running | | | | just need to be willing to go the extra mile. |
| out of room to store it all. Reducing waste is all | | | | |