Eco Friendly

Go green!
Celebrate World Environment Day 2007

It’s not one of our better-known “days”. Certainly not as big as Memorial Day, Labor Day, New Year’s Day and other favorite American days.

You don’t (alas) get the day off from work, your town probably won’t be holding a concert, parade or fireworks celebration, and we’re guessing you haven’t yet scheduled a big neighborhood party to commemorate the occasion. The whole idea for a World Environment Day was started way back in 1972 by the United Nations General Assembly. They were looking for a way to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment, encourage action by world leaders, and promote the idea that all the world’s citizens should commit themselves to taking better care of the Earth. To commemorate the day, the General Assembly selects a different theme each year and a chosen host city holds a variety of events and celebrations.

This year’s theme on June 5 is “Melting Ice--A Hot Topic?” and the host city, appropriately enough, is a Norwegian city called Tromsoe located north of the Arctic Circle. (It’s known in that part of the world as “The Gateway to the Arctic” and also has the northernmost university in the world). They’ll be focusing on the effects that climate change is having on polar ecosystems and communities, and the ensuing consequences around the world.

Now Tromsoe, Norway may be just a bit too far away for you to celebrate this year’s World Environment Day in the host city itself, but there are many things you can do around your community, in your home and in the office to “go green” all year round:

Recycle, recycle, recycle!  Think of all the paper around the office that just gets tossed out...and the soda cans and plastic bottles from the vending machines, too. Why not place recycling bins in convenient locations around the office and put all this trash to better use. Here’s another idea: switch to recycled paper and then recycle the stuff that’s already been recycled!

Try car pooling.  Sure, you need your car to run errands at lunch and you pick up the kids on Wednesday from practice and you really like some “alone” time after a hard day at work. The excuses for not car pooling are many, but here’s an idea--try doing it just once a week with someone that lives close to you. It’ll save you gas money...and save the environment from emissions, too. Who knows...you might just want to increase your car pool to twice a week!

Get energy smart!  Turn off the lights in a conference room after a meeting. Lower the air conditioning (or heating) a degree or two and then choose an outfit that will still let you be comfortable.

Join a community effort!  Does your town have a “cleanup” day...a newspaper drive...or some kind of tree-planting event? Call your local government to see what’s up, and then get involved!

To learn more about World Environment Day, visit the United Nations Web site at www.unep.org/wed. And to discover more about the causes of climate change and its effect on the environment, go rent “An Inconvenient Truth”--it won an Academy Award for Best Documentary!