Earth day in Tofino:
April 22, 2007

by Warren Rudd, Tofino

Earth Day is April 22nd every year, all around the world since 1970. Earth Day has grown so much that celebrations take place throughout the whole month of April, also known as Earth Month.

More than 6 million Canadians join 500 million people in over 180 countries in staging events and projects to address local environmental issues. Nearly every school child in Canada takes part in an Earth Day activity. Here are just 10 of the things you can do right now to help save the environment.

1. Park it!

Leave your car at home for a day and try walking or biking. Drive to work? Can you take Tofino bus? Carpool to council meetings and community events. Exercise all the way to the gym.

2. Shut Down!

Turn off lights, computers and tv when not in use. Using highly efficient appliances can reduce the electricity consumption of an average household to one tenth of the national average.

3. Where's the beef?

Try eating meat-free at least one day a week. A meat-based diet requires seven times more land than a plant-based diet. Livestock production is responsible for more climate change gasses than all the motor vehicles in the world.

4. Eat it!

Choose foods produced organically, locally and in season as much as possible. Support your regional farmers: buying locally and in season is better for the environment than buying foods which have been shipped hundreds of kilometres.

5. Let it rot!

Composting organics has two benefits: it reduces the amount of waste going to landfills and when added to your garden, helps nourish soil and plants. Make sure it's bear-friendly. If in doubt, do indoor composting with or without worms.

6. Don't be idle!

If every driver of a light duty vehicle avoided idling by five minutes a day, collectively, we would save 1.8 million litres of fuel per day, almost 4500 tonnes of emissions, and $1.7 million in fuel costs each day.

7. Keep cool!

Set your thermostat above room temperature in the summer and below room temperature in the winter. For each degree you can save five per cent on your utility bill and one per cent on your energy use.

8. Bright ideas...

Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs or leds. A compact fluorescent uses only 25 % as much energy as an incandescent bulb and lasts 10 times longer. leds are even better!

9. Blue box it!

The simple act of recycling has more impact on the environment that the average Canadian thinks. The amount of wood and paper North Americans throw away each year is enough to heat five million homes for 200 years.

10. Tell someone!

Tell someone what you're doing to make the world a better place, and how fun and easy it is. Encourage them to get involved too!

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Check the Tofino community calendar for Earth Day events in Tofino. If you want to host an event this year, email Warren Rudd at 4thstmarket@uniserve.com