In Honor of Earth Day

This isn't entirely about saving the planet in the way usually thought of for Earth Day.  It's about sharing wealth, peace, helping your fellow man, saving the environment, and more.  This little girl is brave, intelligent, and inspiring.  Please watch and see what she has to say on behalf of the children of the world; and although this is from 1992, it still holds true today.

Happy Earth Day!!

I am an avid beach bum, so I care a great deal about our oceans, beaches, and it's wildlife. For the past couple of years, I've participated in the International Coastal Cleanup. Rubber gloves and garbage bag in hand, I've picked up countless cigarette butts, soda cans, tires, cigarette butts, condoms, snack bags, balls, cigarette butts, frisbees, plastic soda bottles, fruit pits, more cigarette butts, and plenty of other things I can't even think of right now. The Ocean Conservancy organizes this event every year; you can find more info about volunteering here.

I just signed the Ocean Conservancy's Earth Day Pledge to take simple actions to help keep trash out of our oceans.

The Ocean Conservancy's strategic priorities include:
1. Restore Sustainable American Fisheries
2. Protect Marine Wildlife from Human Impacts
3. Conserve Special Ocean Places
4. Reform Government for Better Ocean Stewardship

Will you take the pledge with me and help save the planet's oceans, one of our most amazing and beautiful resources?

Make a Difference

In honor of Earth Day coming up in a few days (April 22), I'd like to talk about a grassroots campaign called Take Back the Filter. My friend Cat over at The Green Cat, posted about it recently. The purpose of the campaign is to get the US Brita company to start a take-back program for their filters. While the original European Brita GmbH company has created a take-back recycling program for its filter cartridges, Clorox (the US Brita company) has no such program in place for re-using or recycling Brita cartridges. This means million of plastic cartridges get dumped in landfills or incinerated each year.

The campaign is requesting that Clorox:
1. Redesign its Brita filter cartridges so that the plastic housing can be refilled rather than discarded each time the filter is changed.
2. Provide a take-back program, such as the one that exists in Europe, so that used cartridges can be returned to the company for recycling.
3. Create a system for the cartridges to be dismantled and the components recycled/reused domestically rather than landfilled, incinerated, or shipped overseas.

Please take a moment to go check out the official Take Back the Filter web page to learn more about it and find out how you can help (sign the petition, I did). This is truly a grassroots effort that can inspire some major environmental change, but it needs your help.

Make a difference in our world. Thank you.