National Make a Difference Day

The fourth Saturday in October is a day to make a difference.

Today on Make a Difference Day spread kindness and compassion. Take time to smile and be friendly to everyone you have contact with. Kindness creates a ripple that keeps on multiplying! Smile, listen and radiate kindness!

Also, be kind to the Earth. This letter to the editor might give you some ideas:

Thrown away but still there

As a kindred spirit in garbage collection, I both share Ron Currie Jr.’s small sense of accomplishment and often much greater sense of frustration with the vast amounts of garbage we continue to produce and casually discard (“The soothing futility of picking up trash,” StarTribune.com, Oct. 25).

“Out of sight, out of mind” keeps us oblivious to the waste we produce. As someone once encouraged me to question, when I throw something away, where is away? If we all had to dispose of our trash in our yards, might we become more conscientious of our purchasing decisions?

A Man Wears His Trash

Avoid plastic, fill your glass or metal bottles with water or other liquid.

Enjoy this video, as an individual makes a statement on our consumerism. Each American(USA) consumes 4 1/2 pounds of trash a day. As I shop at grocery stores and Menards, I am overwhelmed by the amount of packaging and waste that goes into our purchases.

What can you do to reduce that 4 1/2 pounds a day? I have just returned from a bus zero waste food coop shopping trip, filling my own bottles, and using only packaging that can be composted(paper not plastic). I work everyday to be a climatarian. You don’t need to be as extreme as I am, just become aware! How can we consume less?

Please recycle plastic bags at grocery stores!

Pick up One Piece of Trash a Day

This trash could end up in our lakes and oceans breaking into little pieces that last many years.

#TalkingTrashTuesday

The snow has melted, the sun is shining, it is time to pick up litter from the winter. Carry a bag with you to pick up trash. It makes our world look SO much better, and it keeps trash from washing into our lakes, streams and oceans.

Pick up One Piece of Trash a Day https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pick-up-One-Piece-of-Trash-a-Day/267910856667805?fref=nf

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-bassett/breaking-the-plastic-addi_b_781569.html

http://plasticpollutioncoalition.org/

A landmark new study shows there is 30 times more plastic entering our ocean than previously estimated. http://www.oceanconservancy.org/

Take 3 https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=867945456577550&fref=nf Take 3 minutes to pick up trash and what do you find?

30 Days of Earth Day

The following letter was printed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on April 3,

Our planet, Literally Trashed

One of the revelations to come out of the Flight 370 tragedy is the sorry condition of our oceans. One headline noted that the search for the plane was hindered by a “sea of garbage.” On a recent trip to Ohio from our Burnsville home, I was shocked to see the garbage littering the highways after the winter thaw. I saw a car bumper, a vacuum cleaner, tires, mattresses and thousands of plastic bags. Yes, global warming is a threat to this planet and the solutions are complex, but the solution to the trashing of our planet is relatively simple. We need to take responsibility for the waste that we generate. A good start would be the end of plastic-bag use on the part of our retailers. Target, Wal-Mart and others: Spend the extra 3 cents a bag and help in the cleaning up of our planet.

Don Lohrey, Burnsville

My letter in response: Printed on April 4,

To the editor:

I too have been on a road trip through the middle of our country and the plastic bags littering the landscape is disheartening(In response to Our planet, literally trashed 4/2) Personal responsibility is needed to get those plastic bags and all trash recycled. Also, businesses need offer recycling opportunities for individuals away from home. Hennepin County offers grants to businesses to improve their recycling. Look on their website.

For the next 30 days I challenge each of you to “Thirty Days of Earth Day.” Please pick up one piece of trash or more for the next 30 days. Yes, each one of us can make a difference.

Health4earth.com

For 30 Days of Earth Day, pick up one piece of trash or more everyday for 30 days https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pick-up-One-Piece-of-Trash-a-Day/267910856667805