[Lapg] Car Free Earth Day on Wilshire Blvd. 10 am - 5 pm, Tue April 22

[Lois Arkin]

Happy Earth Day everyone!

Here are tips from the folks planning the Car Free Earth Day on Wilshire 
Blvd. (at Western and extending four blocks east).  They are very 
impressive tips.  Thanks for moving forward on this and everyday to help 
heal ourselves and our planet.

Peace to all,
Lois from CRSP Institute for Urban Ecovillages
Do visit us at Booth #81 with our sister organizations L.A. Eco-Village, 
Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust, Eco Maya Festival, and Cafe*Sol*R

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Thank you for joining us on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 for the Wilshire 
Center Earth Day/Car Free Day Event! It will be the first of its kind, 
historical and powerful!

The average carbon footprint for a person living in the USA is currently 
about 20 tonnes of CO2 per person per year, which is one of the highest 
in the world!

Here are some GREEN tips for the day of the event, so we can all do our 
part to reduce our carbon footprint and help limit the impact of global 
warming!

1: Don’t forget to un-plug your appliances from the wall before you rush 
out the door the morning of the event. Then you can enjoy the feeling 
all day long that even your home is reducing its footprint on the planet!

*Green fact: Even when turned off, things like hairdryers, cell phone 
chargers
                                  and televisions use energy. In fact, 
the energy used to keep display
          clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of 
total
          domestic electricity consumption and spews 18 million tons of 
carbon
          into the atmosphere every year!

2: We want this to be a Car Free Day so leave the car at home and walk 
to the festival, jump on the bus, the train or a bike. If you must 
drive, get your buddies together or make a new friend and carpool!
Bus/Train Info: www.metro.net   Carpool info: CommuteSmart.info

*Green fact: Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would 
eliminate about
                      500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year!

3: Recycle your electronic waste (old cell phones, electronics etc) at 
the event by tossing it in the bins provided. Your donation will not 
only be helping the planet, it will also be helping a local school to go 
on field trips that they normally wouldn’t be able to afford!

*Green fact:  E-waste disposed of in landfills can leach heavy metals
                        and other toxins into the soil, and can 
contaminate
                        the water. E-waste can also be valuable since it 
also contains
                        precious and strategic metals and can often be 
repaired, refurbished
                        and reused.

4: Bring your own container and utensils so you can enjoy the yummy food 
at the event and be GREEN at the same time! Don’t forget to look for the 
compost bins to toss your food scraps into when you’re done!
	
	*Green fact:  Every year Californians generate 66 million tons of solid 
waste, of
                                    which approximately one third is 
packaging!

5: It might get hot out there so bring your own water bottle and enjoy 
the filtered water that will be available all day!

*Green fact: 47 million gallons of oil is used ever year to make water 
bottles in
                     America. If these bottles were never made, it would 
be the equivalent
                     to taking 100,000 cars off the road or removing 1 
billion pounds of
                     CO2 from the air.

6: We are asking everyone to eat vegetarian on Earth Day, because of the 
huge global warming impact of meat production.  The UN estimates that 
the meat industry generates 18% of global warming emissions, more 
emissions than the entire transportation sector.  If you do eat meat, 
remember that the global warming impact of a pound of beef is three 
times that of a pound of poultry.

*Green fact: The creation of a single hamburger patty uses enough fossil 
fuel to power a car 20 miles and enough water for 17 warm showers.!

7: When you return home from what was sure to be an awesome event, keep 
the GREEN vibe going by remembering to turn off the lights in the rooms 
you are not using. Why not make every day earth day by replacing 
traditional light bulbs with compact florescent ones!

*Green fact: Compact florescent bulbs use 60% less energy than a regular 
bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a 
year. If every family in the U.S. made the switch, we’d reduce carbon 
dioxide by more than 90 billion pounds!