Pick 5 for the Environment

Earth Day is quickly approaching, scheduled this year to take place on April 22nd, and you need to decide how you are going to celebrate. Earth Day 2010 is the 40th Anniversary of the holiday, and everyone needs to take action. We at AtlantaRealEstateForum are going to help by doing an Earth Day countdown with weekly environment-themed blog posts aimed at giving you simple and easy ideas for celebrating.

In our first Earth Day blog post, we suggest that you simply “pick 5.” Commit do doing 5 things that will make this a better place for generations to come. We’ve found 10 easy ways you can help protect the environment, courtesy of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and all you need to do is choose the five that you want to do and take action:

10 Things You Can Do To Help Save the Earth:

• Use less Water – take showers instead of baths, fix leaks and turn off the tap when brushing your teeth
• Commute without Pollution – use public transportation, carpool and walk more often
• Save Electricity – do a home energy audit, get programmable thermostats, buy Energy Star products and turn off the lights when you leave a room
• Reduce, reuse, recycle – Find products with less packaging, take reusable bags on shopping trips and creatively reuse other products
• Test your home for Radon
• Check your local air quality
• Trade in your hazardous cleaning products for natural and organic ones, like vinegar
• eCycle – take old computers, DVD players or other electronics to a recycling center to keep hazardous substances out of the landfill
• Enjoy the outdoors safely – prevent forest fires, keep water resources clean, don’t litter
• Spread the word

The “Pick 5 For the Environment” campaign further explains each of these activities as well as makes suggestions on ways to implement them in daily life. Once you complete the first step of Committing to Action and have pledged 5 things, next Share What You’re Doing through stories, tips and photos. Don’t you think your Twitter followers and Facebook fans will want to know what you’re up to? Be proud of the five tasks you picked and encourage others to do the same.