aLittleEarthlyLove

What's the point of aLittleEarthlyLove?

With over 6 billion humans inhabiting the earth, we use a substantial amount of the planet's natural resources. We live on and expand to more and more land, we produce so much pollution that has a detrimental effect on our own atmosphere. Overall, we are damaging our dear environment.

We have made it a point to inform not only the public of our community but anyone else who takes interest in the preservation of our planet and what we can do to help this movement.

So, let's put our impact that we've had so far into perspective...

Water

Of all the water on Earth, only 2.5% of it is freshwater

of that 2.5%, less than 1% is available to us

Humans each require up to 13 gallons, or 50 liters, a day of fresh water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. This does NOT take into account the countless gallons of water needed to grow food or care for animals 70% of all water goes to irrigation

Beyond us, the humans...

If it isn't obvious, we aren't alone here on this massive planet. But unfortunately some humans have this mentality. There is an abundance of plant and animal wildlife all over the world being affected by the globally destructive mess us humans have made, and if we don't change out ways soon then that already lessening abundance of precious wildlife will no longer be anywhere close to being abundant.

Among the ones most affected is; Orange-spotted filefish, the Quiver tree, the Polar bear, Adélie penguin, North Atlantic cod, and Coral species worldwide.

Visiting https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/directory will give a clear idea of what is being affected currently, and the severity of the organisms' status.

Pollution

Ozone decreased 14%
Lead decreased 78%
Nitrogen dioxide increased 35%
Carbon monoxide decreased 68%
Sulfur dioxide decreased 59%

What switches can you make in your life?

Light bulbs - they are known to be one of the source for one of methods in which we are the most wasteful in. So make the switch: Incandescent bulbs work by conducting an electric current along a filament made of a long, thin piece of tungsten metal. What happens is the filament then gets heated using electricity to 2,300 degrees Celsius to then glow and emit a white light. The bad thing about this process is that all though light is produced, only 5 to 10 percent of the electricity is actually converted to light, the rest is all transformed into heat. Not only is that inefficient, that can also raise the temperature of a room which might lead to the expending of more energy.

CFL bulbs are made out of glass tubes filled with gas and a very small amount of mercury. Im talking like really small, a thermostat contains about 100 times as much mercury as a CFL light bulb. Light is emitted when mercury molecules in a CFL bulb are excited by electricity running between the two electrodes at its base. An invisible ultraviolet light is emitted but becomes visible when it hits the white coating inside the bulb.

Although more expensive, have a slight delay time when lighting up, and must be disposed of in a more cautious manner due to the mercury, these light bulbs save a lot of money long term due to the amount of energy is saves. On average a CFL bulb uses 75 percent less energy than a traditional light bulb. According to Energy Star, a program of the U.S Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, if 1 incandescent bulb was switched to a CFL bulb in every household in the U.S, greenhouse gas emissions equal to that of 800.000 cars could be eliminated. In addition, CFL bulbs last about 1- times longer than incandescent bulbs. It’s not unusual for a CFL bulb to as long as nine years.

Paper waste - What's important to understand about paper waste is that simply recycling over and over and over won't fix the problem. After about seven to ten times maximum reuse, the fibers begin to breakdown and become unusable unless more wood pulp is added. So how do we fix this problem? It's something called going digital, making this change can take us one step closer to becoming a paperless world, therefore the waste is eliminated. Recycling doesn't eliminate paper from being tossed into landfills, however converting to a digital and paperless lifestyle does.

Lowering paper usage at the office can result in higher efficiency measures and increased productivity levels throughout an organization. Just one office member uses about 10,000 sheets of copy paper every year. Even worse, it isn't like all that paper gets used, nope. 45% of the paper printed in offices ends up trashed by the end of the day – this daily lifespan occurs for over a trillion sheets of paper per year, worldwide. This is a detrimental cycle that has negative effects on our environment. Not only will making the paperless change benefit you in being more environmentally friendly, but ti also saves you a big buck. On average, companies spend $120 billion a year on printed forms of business documents. So maybe it's time to make the change, join the paperless side!

Water waste - Water is essential for everyday activities at home. What people don’t realize is how much of it we actually use. To think just one flush of the toilet could be 6.5 gallons of water, or that a single bath takes on average 37 gallons of water! Water is being used every single day everywhere you go from irrigation to washing clothes… us humans just use a ton of water. Leaving the faucet on while brushing your teeth can waste up to 5 gallons of water, a shower in just 5-10 minutes can waste from 15-40 gallons of water. So what should we do for all these different activities? Take shorter showers, turn the faucet off when you’re not using it, only water the grass when it is necessary. Quick tip, if you step on your lawn and it springs back up, it does NOT need water, but if you step on it and it remains pressed, that is when it should be watered. In addition, watering the lawn and plants less frequently but with heavier loads of water not only saves water but strengthens their roots. Moving on, other things you could do is only use the dishwasher or the laundry machine when it’s a full load. Most importantly just be mindful of what you are doing. A big part about preserving and the conservation of our water resources is only using what you need and not overdoing things.

Global impact

All over the world people are faced with their own problems that vary from minor to major. What needs to be put into perspective is that many of our problems are caused from our own human doing. Food shortage? Our doing for damaging the growing environments for that food. Water pollution and/or shortage? Our doing for pumping waste into our water resources and wasting the accessible water itself. Species becoming endangered or close to extinct? Our doing for hunting for sport, poaching, habitat eradication, deforestation, ocean pollution, air pollution, etc.

In other words...

our point is to inform the public about what's going on in our planet and how they can make a difference by living a greener lifestyle and how Earth can benefit from their impact, no matter how small!

THIS is OUR planet, so its OUR job to keep it clean

How to: Can planters

What you'll need: Some preferably tin or aluminum cans, hammer & nail, anything for decorating (paint, glitter, paper, glue, etc.), and the soil & plant according to can size.

Collect your cans - anything from vegetables, coffee, to soup (depends on what size you are looking for) wash and dry them.
Using a nail and a hammer, puncture the bottom of the can a dozen times so that water will be able to drain out the bottom.
Now it's time to "make it your own" - you can paint it, cover it in glitter, cover it in some decorative paper, anything you'd like!

How to: Eco-friendly bird feeder

What you'll need: One liter bottle, a hard plastic plate, scissors, drill & drill nails, hot glue gun, wiring or small hook, any decorations (paint, glitter, paper etc.), funnel, and bird feed (anything from real store bought birdseed to assorted dry bird-friendly seeds!

Start off by drilling 3 holes into the bottom of the plate and into the lower sides of the bottle (for the seed to flow out).

Hot glue the bottom of the bottle to the plate.

Drill a hole through the cap of the bottle and insert either a hook, wiring, or whatever you will use to hang the feeder.

Use the funnel to insert the feed into the bottle.

Lastly, decorate the feeder any way you would like and hang it for all the birds to enjoy!