Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day

The Google told me about earth day this morning. My first reaction was “why isn’t everyday earth day?”. I wanted to see what my environmental impact is so I used the Earth Day Footprint Calculator and became very depressed. I thought I was environmentally friendly but apparently not. I drive a hybrid car, I recycle (mostly), I buy local when I can, I eat little meat and live in a small home but that is still not enough. We even have our own garden.

Where did Earth Day come from?

Earth day was established in 1970 when the health of the environment was just starting to become a concern for our well-being. This coincided with the passage of environmental laws and really started the push toward a clean environment in the US.

The Earth Day network has been responsible for promoting environmental economic policies, education and some great parties!

Solar Power

I have been learning a lot about solar power lately and I am encouraged by what I have found. We live in New York State and the government here is positioning themselves as a leader in sustainable energy usage for the masses by implementing the REV initiative.

REV stands for Reforming the Energy Vision and the goal is to reform New York State’s energy industry and regulatory practices. A big part of this initiative is to make residential solar power highly accessible to the average home owner without putting the utility companies out of business.

The US government provides subsidies to companies like Sun Edison and Solar City which allow them to offer free residential solar installations in New York and some other states. Unfortunately some states like Arizona are making the transition to solar very unappealing for homeowners by charging solar users more for distribution.

What More Can I Do?

It’s great to see what the Earth Network, solar companies and the government is doing for the environment what can can I do?

My new resolution is to buy more local food, use less energy and promote more sustainable energy practices like solar and wind power.

What are you doing? Let us know.