Earth Day is right around the corner on April 22, reminding us to do
whatever we can to protect our environment. This year, the Earth Day theme
is: “Protect our Species,” especially protection of animals whose natural
habitats are being destroyed or threatened by consumer behaviors. Parents
and children can celebrate Earth Day with practicing their 3 R’s by
reducing, reusing and recycling at home, at school, at work and in public
places!
Reducing the Carbon Footprint
As stewards of our beautiful earth, we are called to reduce any activities
that may harm it. Typical consumer activities that cause problems include
the purchase of new goods, use of gas-powered vehicles and creation of
garbage.
Over time, the concept of reducing has evolved
from asking people to produce less garbage to a more complex call to action
to ask people to reduce their carbon footprint. It is now believed that
every person throughout the world produces carbon dioxide doing daily
activities; the goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions globally by
encouraging people to do things differently. For example, if people ride
bicycles to school or work instead of driving a car, that change in
activity will significantly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions
and help the environment.
The Carbon Offsets to Alleviate Poverty (COTAP) nonprofit offers practical
ways for people to reduce their carbon footprint: eating organic and
locally produced foods, installing a programmable thermostat and purchasing
energy-efficient appliances.
Children can reduce their carbon footprint by modifying their behaviors,
too. Whenever possible, children should carpool to school, after-school
activities, events and parties. If children can bike to their destinations,
that’s even better. They should also understand that buying second-hand
goods is a cool thing to do and is not limited to low-income people. Doing
little things like turning off lights, unplugging electronics, using Mason
jars and wearing clothes more than once in-between washings can make a big
difference in using less energy, which also reduces their carbon
footprints.
Reducing Use of Plastics
A modern expansion of the term reducing is the
trend to motivate people to use less plastic. In 2012, Montgomery County
became the first county in Maryland to charge a 5-cent tax per bag to
customers who needed plastic bags for their store purchases. The goal was
to get people to bring reusable bags on their shopping trips. The District
of Columbia implemented the Sustainable DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2014,
which implemented a ban on Styrofoam food containers starting in January
2016 and in October 2018, included a ban on single-use plastic straws and
stirrers in restaurants.
The problem using single-use plastics mostly affects restaurants that sell
fast foods and convenience foods. Restaurants are struggling to conform
with the changes in laws banning certain plastics. As consumers, we can do
our part to support restaurants in their quest to diminish single-use
plastics by bringing our own reusable bags and asking restaurants to keep
any plastic utensils. Better yet, consumers can print “Take Out Without”
cards to allow restaurants to let them use their own reusable containers
instead of the restaurant’s disposable ones.
Eco-conscious parent Gabriella Ferrufino and frequent poster on Instagram
(handle: la_pacha.mama) made a pledge to use fewer plastics in 2019. “I
have been following #lifewithoutplastic [a popular hashtag on Instagram]
for easy ideas and motivation to make small changes in your household,” she
notes. Though Ferrufino admitted the difficulties in making a cold-turkey
change from using plastics to using no plastics, she began incorporating
small changes into her household and now feels comfortable setting lofty
plastic-free goals in 2019.
For example, Ferrufino now swears by making coffee using a single-cup
French press, using and reusing glass mason jars, and her favorite
plastic-free change is using metal straws, which motivates her to “save the
sea turtles one less plastic straw at a time,” as per her Instagram post.
Reusing
If we reduce the quantity of new goods we purchase, we can think about reusing things and giving them new life! Parents
and children are encouraged to change their buying habits and shop at
second-hand, salvage and thrift stores as much as possible. By buying used
things, we are extending the life of goods, which will cause manufacturers
to burn fewer fossil fuels to make new things. In turn, fewer fossil fuels
in the air means cleaner air!
The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area offers many great opportunities to
buy used goods. Thrift stores are plentiful, and there are also unique
creative reuse services that accept donations of assorted unwanted
leftovers, scraps and odds and ends, and resells and reuses them in
creative ways!
Silver Spring Creative Reuse, founded by art teacher Michelle Tebor,
primarily serves elementary schools in Montgomery County. In northern
Virginia, new executive director Lexi Keogh has her hands full accepting
donations of beverage caps, gift bags and containers of all shapes and
sizes at nonprofit UpCycle Creative Reuse Center in Alexandria. In
Baltimore, Scrap B-More’s thriving retail store keeps customers giddy with
their purchases of inexpensive creative reuse materials.
Recycling
Though the concept of recycling and reusing materials has existed in some
form for 1,000 years, the modern definition of recycling involves the collection of solid waste
(including glass, paper, cardboard and plastics) and its processing into
smaller parts (referred to as melting or combustion). The result of the
melted or combusted parts is then combined with virgin (new) materials to
make new items. In Virginia, the Energy Resource Recovery Facility (E/RRF)
takes things a step further by producing electricity after combustion,
effectively replacing “the equivalent of approximately two million barrels
of crude oil per year” as per the Public Works and Environmental Services
website.
In 1997, Maryland-based nonprofit Capital Personal Computer User Group
(CPCUG), a group of volunteers dedicated to helping people on all facets of
computer usage, created Project Reboot to do their part in recycling
computers. Project Reboot volunteers refurbish nonworking computers and
donate them to low-income families throughout the metropolitan area.
No matter how you choose to celebrate Earth Day with your children, be sure
to practice at least one of the three Rs!
For more information on the 3 R’s visit:
- cotap.org
- takeoutwithout.org
-
facebook.com/SilverSpringCreativeReuse
- upcyclecrc.org
- scrapb-more.org
-
fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/recycling-trash/energy-resource-recovery-facility - projectreboot.org
