Celebrate Earth Day 2012 in Frisco, Texas, with a city wide clean-up. Continue the celebration by adding a little more green to your lifestyle throughout the year with these earth friendly ideas.
Take pride in your community . The City of Frisco hosts its annual Clean It Green It on April 21, 2012. A great family volunteer opportunity, Clean It! Green It! crews fan out across Frisco to pick up litter from roadways, parks and school yards. Groups can pre-register by contacting Frisco’s Green Team at (972) 292-5914. Homeowners’ associations and schools wanting to clean up a specific neighborhood are also encouraged to register in advance. Event day registration begins at 8 a.m. in the IKEA parking lot (7171 IKEA Drive, Frisco). Clean It! Green It! volunteers receive an earth day t-shirt and lunch donated by IKEA. Rufus, Frisco Green Team mascot, will be there to delight kids of all ages and IKEA will sponsor other family entertainment throughout the morning.
Plant a green garden . The City of Frisco Environmental Services department maintains a Texas demonstration garden at 11300 Research Road, Frisco. Gardening with native plants helps reduce water use and provides backyard habitat for local species. Rain water capture, composting, and reducing pesticide use are other ways to green your garden. Visit the Frisco’s demonstration garden for more ideas. The garden has over 30 species of native and drought resistant plants, and is open to the public weekdays from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.
Turn on your faucet; drink a glass of water and save energy ! Yes, switching from bottled water to tap water saves energy. Researchers at Pacific Institute in Oakland, California suggest bottled water requires 2000 times more energy than good old tap water. The study factored in energy costs not only to make the plastic bottle, but also costs to refine the water, transport it, and refrigerate it.
Give the gift of trees . Trees in Celebration, an Arbor Day Foundation program, will plant 10 trees in a national forest for every $10 donation. The honoree receives a certificate with his/her name and information on where the trees were planted. According to the foundation, “O ver the course of 50 years, a single tree can generate $31,250 of oxygen, provide $62,000 worth of air pollution control, recycle $37,500 worth of water, and control $31,500 worth of soil erosion.”
Donate to a worthy cause and recycle at the same time. Lenscrafters® optical shops will accept your used eyeglasses, refurbish them and deliver them to OneSight® The non-profit provides vision care and eye glasses to underprivileged in North America and developing countries around the world.
Sign your family up for Be Out There ™. Sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation, the Be Out There™ is a unique program encouraging families to spend more time outside, in nature. To this end, Be Out There™ provides an email newsletter and a web site packed full of creative approaches and practical advice for parents and educators to encourage a curiosity about and appreciation of the natural world in young children.
Websites:
Arbor Day Foundation – www.arborday.org
Lenscrafters® locations – www.lenscrafters.com
Clean It Green It – www.ci.frisco.tx.us
Be Out There™ – www.nwf.org
