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Earth Day: How to protect our planet
How can we protect our planet? The questions looms on this Earth Day. Dr. Heather Skaza Acosta, the director of the Whitaker Center for STEM Education in Florida joined LiveNOW from FOX's Josh Breslow to discuss the significance of the day.
April 22 is Earth Day. Started in 1970, the day celebrates our home and promotes efforts aimed at protecting the environment.
Countless people are working every day to preserve our planet.
While most people enjoy spending time sunning on the beach, some volunteer to restore sand dunes by planting seagrass. The plants help secure sand along the coast and help protect the delicate environment from hurricanes.
REBUILDING SAND DUNES FOR EARTH DAY
Volunteers are also helping remove hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash from the water, including a non-profit group in Hawaii. The group uses two missions a year to troll for trash floating in the Pacific Ocean.
On the mainland, scuba divers plunged into the iconic blue waters of Lake Tahoe to remove underwater trash by hand. In all, more than 25,000 pounds of junk was removed from the lake. Among the garbage that was found was a Walkman, a bathtub and lamp posts.
Easy ways you can help preserve Earth
FILE - The sun rises beyond the sprawling temporary lake at Badwater Basin salt flats, which was caused by flooding in August from Tropical Storm Hilary, at the recently reopened Death Valley National Park on October 23, 2023 in Death Valley National …
Here are some tips to help safeguard our home with choices you make every day. Some of these suggestions are so easy that maybe we can all follow them year-round.
- Put off mowing your lawn for a week or two.
- Check the tag on clothes and bedding before you buy. Choose organic cotton and avoid plastic-based threads like acrylic, nylon and polyester. Washing clothes in cold water also preserves the planet.
- Need a new coat? Buy one made from recycled plastic bottles.
- Old clothes and blankets are still useful. Give them another life, by turning them into home insulation.
- Change an outdoor light bulb to a lower wattage that gives off an amber or red color to cut down on light pollution and save sea turtles.
WATCH YOUR STEP? SAVING SEA TURTLES DURING SPRING BREAK
- Get an appreciation of nature by visiting a national park.
- Use a reusable water bottle instead of a single-use plastic one.
MOST PLASTIC RECYCLING ENDS UP IN THE TRASH, GREENPEACE REPORT FINDS
- Reuse your grocery bags or purchase a fabric one and keep it in the car.
- Work from home instead of commuting or even opt for a meat-free lunch to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.
- Choose biodegradable poop bags for the next dog walk. Or even better, get biodegradable poop paper. Buying in bulk for man's best friend also cuts down on packaging.
EASY WAYS TO BE AN ECO-FRIENDLY PET PARENT
- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth or shaving.
- It's a bit more involved, but one company can help you choose a green final resting place, by letting it double as part of coral reef restoration.