Earth Day is celebrated April 22 every single year, both held annually during spring in the northern hemisphere, and autumn in the southern hemisphere. These are intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969.
A second Earth Day, which was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970, is celebrated in many countries each year on April 22.
And this year, the Hachette Book Group is offering a great group of books for me to give away to five winners. For this giveaway, I would like you to answer these questions: Do you do anything special for Earth Day, and what? Do you do things through out the year to reduce your carbon footprint, and what? Here’s a great resource to see how well you are doing reducing your footprint.
The rules are: you must be in the US or Canada, you can’t have a post office box. Please remember to include an email address so I can contact the winners. This giveaway will run through April 30, 2009 – cutoff will be 11:59pm. and the winners will be announced no later than the morning of May 5th.
To be entered into the drawing, you must answer all the questions. Five winners will win the following set of books:
* Harvest for Hope By Jane Goodall, Gary McAvoy, Gail Hudson ISBN: 0446698210
* The Rural Life By Verlyn Klinkenborg ISBN: 0316735515
* Is It Just Me or Is Everything Shit? By Steve Lowe , Alan McArthur , Brendan Hay ISBN: 0446197882
* Starbucked By Taylor Clark ISBN: 0316014036
* Garbage Land By Elizabeth Royte ISBN: 031615461X
* The Gift of Nothing By Patrick McDonnell ISBN: 031611488X
Sources: “Earth Day.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 7 Apr 2009, 23:36 UTC. 8 Apr 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Earth_Day&oldid=282447970>.
and one last entry I received via email from hrbeck:
“We don’t do anything special for Earth Day because we try *every* day to reduce our carbon footprint.
I do as much as possible for a disabled senior citizen! We recycle everything possible and my husband takes it to a recycling center. We have our own compost pile, grow our own veggies & fruit, I make my own bread & feed the animals with the leftovers. I do the wash in cold water and hang the clothes to dry them. I only do full loads of wash and run the dishwasher when it’s completely full. I stopped driving a few years back, so one less car on the road. We feed all sorts of birds & critters and our property is a certified NWF habitat. We turn off lights that we’re not using and keep the thermostat as low as possible without freezing the pipes. We have no handheld electronic devices, cell phones or game systems. Just a computer and a TV are enough for us. We both would rather be reading anyway!
I’m sure I could think of more but that’s all for now. Thank you for the chance to win!”
Nothing special on Earth Day. Throughout the year, I reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Unfortunatly we don’t do anything special for Earth Day.
We turn off lights whenever not in a room. We try and use cold water as much as possible instead of hot when washing clothes. We have also purchased some of the go green reusable bags for shopping. deduster at yahoo dot com
For Earth Day, I try to do something different every year. This year I’ve been lucky enough to start working for an LEED-certified company, so we will be doing volunteer work for Earth Day. We’ve also worked tirelessly to promote Earth Day events for our clients nationwide.
To reduce my carbon footprint, I’ve been more conscious about what transportation I use, and been more consistent with using my tote for groceries. It’s not a lot, but it’s a start. I turn off lights when I leave a room, and unplug my computer when I am not using it.
danunepthys(at)hotmail(dot)com
This is an awesome giveaway. Thanks for hosting it. I’d love to win. Please enter me. Thanks. lazydaisy0413(at)yahoo(dot)com
We don’t do anything special for Earth Day. However, we do lots during the year to help the environment: compost, recycle, buy in bulk to reduce packaging, buy local when we can, use our set-back thermostat, use cloth shopping bags for all shopping, turn off unnecessary lights and many other things. We know that we can still do more and continue to look for more ways to improve.
We talk up Earth Day a lot in my family to help the kids understand why we do things the way we do all year long. On Earth Day, we take part in cleaning up the local shorelines. During the year, we are conservative in our use of energy and products and we recycle. We explain why we do these things to the kids all the time (they really don’t get it yet). Our town has two (count ‘em – 2!!) wind turbines and we are vocally supportive of this form of alternative energy. We don’t do everything we should all the time, but I think we do a pretty good job.
Thanks for the chance to win this collection of books – maybe they’ll help with making an impression on the kids!
geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com
I don’t do anything special for Earth Day.
I’m really good about turning off lights and I unplug anything not in use. We’ve gone green with our lawn and flower garden. I can’t stand chemical sprays and such. To reduce my carbon footprint I’ve done those things as well as turned my thermostat down a bit at night.
Mel K.
Meljprincess AT aol DOT com
We planted a tree this year for Earth Day.
Every year we clean up the wooded areas near our home of trash.
I became a vegetarian twelve years ago.
We walk whenever possible and car pool when we can.
We recyle and reuse as much as we can.
Question #1: Earth Day is always special for me. This Earth Day – in fact for the entire week – I will be teaching my first graders about reducing, reusing and recycling. We will think of ways we can simplify our lives and redefine our “needs”. I sincerely hope that what we learn next week – and continue to emphasize the rest of the school year – will carry through with my young students for the rest of their lives!
Question # 2: Yes, I do things throughout the year to reduce my carbon footprint namely: making multiple stops on each trip in the car to do errands, recycling, planting plants, simplifying my life, reducing electrical usage, using re-usable fabric shopping bags, re-purposing items, etc.
Go, Earth!
Nancy
allibrary (at) aol (dot) com
1. Do you do anything special for Earth Day? No
2. Do you do things through out the year to reduce your carbon footprint, and what? I do a multitude of things – I recycle, re-use & re-purpose; I shut off all lights when not in use; I pull the plug on appliances & electronics when not in use; I use canvas bags for shopping; I use stainless steel water bottles with filtered water from my tap.
Thanks!
Cheryl
megalon22[at]yahoo[dot]com
For Earth Day I Watch Environmentally themed films
I try to turn off lights when I can
1. Do you do anything special for Earth Day, and what?
I pick up trash
2. Do you do things through out the year to reduce your carbon footprint, and what
I turn lights off when not in use
No I don’t do anything special for Earth Day. But I stopped drinking bottled water, recycle paper and plastic, bought a older but more fuel efficient car, turn off lights, paperbags instead of plastic..
1. Do you do anything special for Earth Day, and what? I take my kids for a walk in the local park and we pick up the junk revealed by the melted snow.
2. Do you do things through out the year to reduce your carbon footprint, and what? We try to walk to do our errands rather than driving as much as possible. We turn off/unplug electrical appliances when not in use.
Thanks for hosting this great giveaway!
gypsyrover21(at)yahoo(dot)ca
I live in a small house which is extremely practical and uses no excessive power. No A/C since I live in the mountains and I have no television either. I walk a great deal and only drive when necessary. My job is closeby which is nice so I walk everyday.
I am fortunate to be able to walk everywhere in my community which I do. Shopping, library, the gym and I bike as well. This has been so convenient and lovely. I only use the car for appointments that are too far to walk. I don’t use A/C since we don’t need it where I live. We have swamp coolers. Thanks for this lovely giveaway.
For the last 2 years on earth day we plant a tree. We also dont drive anywhere. Through the year we make sure we turn off lights, we pick up trash around the neighborhood a couple of times a month. On nice days we hang out our clothes instead of using the dryer. 3mnkids(at)gmail(dot)com
For Earth Day I plan on using NO technology for the day. No computers. No TVs. I will unplug everything except the refrigerator. And the biggest thing I’ve done to reduce my carbon footprint is find a job closer to home. I used to commute almost 1 1/2 each way, every day to work. But a few months ago, I got a job closer to home. Now I can bike to work, get in shape, and help the environment. Thanks for the giveaway. bluemoves at hotmail dot com
I live in the mountains and on Earth Day, I take a long walk with a wagon, trash bag and gloves and pick up any trash that is on the side of the road. We do our best to conserve energy in all the usual ways including walking to town to run errands.