itsyournature

Submitted by ktfinklea on Wednesday, April 22, 2009.

Happy Earth Day! Check out these great earth-friendly tips below, courtesy of Simple Steps and pass them on to your friends!

There's plenty of reason for hope this Earth Day -- the United States seems ready to cap the pollution that causes global warming. But there's also a lot of work ahead to curb the damage already done. Here are four simple steps you can take that will have an immediate impact on the environment. By focusing on the areas that will have the most impact, you'll find that doing your part for a sustainable future isn't as difficult as you may have thought. It's that easy!

40 percent of residential energy use is for heating and cooling. To stop global warming pollution and clear our air, we have to be more efficient. Start at home by making a few improvements where it will have the most impact. Take the house tour now to see what you can do.

The typical American prepared meal contains, on average, ingredients from at least five countries outside the United States. Almost 250,000 tons of global warming gases released were attributable to imports of food products-the equivalent amount of pollution produced by more than 40,000 vehicles on the road or nearly two power plants. By choosing local produce and food, you can make a real impact by sitting down to dinner. Find better food, closer to home with NRDC's Eat Local widget and get recipes for in-season produce.

Only 13 percent of plastic water bottles are recycled. When it's tossed out, plastic never disintegrates, it fills up landfills and ends up in our oceans. Plastic pollutes at every step -- from production to disposal. Cut down on your plastic waste by using less plastic and recycling plastic whenever you can.

In 1970, the United States recycled about 5 percent of its waste. Now we recycle approximately 32.5 percent, not even a third. Consider the waste before buying new products, avoid excessive packaging and unrecyclable materials.