Virtual Earth Day 2020

Happy Earth Day 2020! Thanks for joining the Maryland Energy Administration for a special virtual Earth Day. We have some interesting shares for parents and kids, including free lesson plans on textile recycling for grades K – 5 which were designed to meet common core math requirements. We also have as some energy conservation ideas you can start using today.

The U.S. Department of Energy has also created coloring sheets in honor of the 50th anniversary. Download your coloring pages here.

All our in-person events have been postponed but you can still take time today to make sustainable changes at home and even save some energy that will help decrease your monthly bills too. Let us know how many of these tips you currently follow.

Lighting makes up 11% of your monthly energy bill. Save by turning off lights when you leave the room or save even more money by making sure all your lights have been upgraded. Swapping out just five of your home’s most used lights with Energy Star bulbs can save you $75 per year according to the U.S. Department Energy.

Stop energy vampires. Unplug items like your coffee pot or toaster if you are not using it all day. Use more power strips to control the use of power. A power strip used properly can save $100 a year off your bill.

Is your refrigerator running correctly and efficiently? Watch our video for tips.

Wash your clothing in cold water to save energy and money. Consider skipping the dryer if you can and line dry your clothing for an even bigger energy savings.

When was the last time you chaged your air filter? A dirty filter slows down the air flow and makes your heating and cooling system work harder and use more energy.

This is a good time to check your home’s insulation to make sure it is not wet or damaged, see more tips here.

Recycling is a major componet of Earth Day. Did you know you can recycle all textiles? Worn, torn or stained, textiles can be recycled via the secondhand clothing market or passed on to the wiping cloth manufacturers or finally sent to fiber processors.

Did you know that textile recycling uses ZERO water & a fraction of the energy needed to create textiles? Learn more about textile recycling at home here. Here are lesson plans that teach kids about textile recycling & are designed to meet the common core standards: K- 2 lesson plan and 3 – 5 lesson plan plus more resources for schools and parents here. Textile recycling is a great way to spend your time home. Bag up the items you no longer need and place in a local recylcing bin or get your donations ready now but wait till your favorite recycling center is open again. Donate, recycle, don’t throw away – textiles make up nearly 5% of the solid waste stream at your local landfill but you can change that number when you recycle your textiles.

Electronics are another challenging item to recycle. The U.S. Department of Energy has established some guidelines to help you keep information private when recycling. Properly recycling electronics saves energy and the enviroment.

Thanks for joining us online this Earth Day. We hope to see you at a live event soon.