Earth+Day+2007+Assembly-Middle+School

=Earth Day 2007-Middle School Assembly= Gaylord Nelson-[|Remembered as the founder of Earth Day] The first earth day took place on April 22nd, 1970
 * A History of Earth Day**


 * A Call to Action...**

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Global Warming-Al Gore's Explanation in [|An Inconvenient Truth] Bill Nye's Global Warming Clip from United Streaming: Economies of China and India are growing and expanding by leaps and bounds. So too is their demand for power and energy.
 * [|China Energy Overview]
 * Energy demand in China predicted to double by 2020, with the demand for coal predicted to be between 2.1 and 2.9 billion tons by 2020. This is up from 1.4 billion tons in 2002

__**What can we do??**__

[|Google's Global Warming Collaborative School Project] 50 Ideas to combat global warming...

-Change out your incandescent bulbs with Energy Star rated CFLs
 * At home?**
 * **Benefits of CFLs:** Use at least 2/3 less energy than standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, and last up to 10 times longer*-[|example of the payoff]

//"If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars//." -from the [|Energy Star web site on Compact Fluorescent Bulbs]

-Practice energy and water conservation in your home-turn off lights, electronics and other devices when they're not in use. Use a programmable thermostat-turn it down a few degrees in the winter and up a few degrees in the summer

-Tell your parents to join the [|we energies Energy For Tomorrow Program.] Participating in the program at the 100% level only adds $7-$15 per month to your total electric bill.

-Shop you local farmers markets and try to buy locally grown food as much as possible.
 * [|Fox Point Farmers Market at Stormonth School]
 * [|Milwaukee Area Farmers Markets]

-Plant a tree--[|New York is planting 1 million trees] in the city over the next decade!!

-Shift over to using re-useable bags when you go to the grocery store-[|San Francisco banned the use of plastic bags] made from petroleum products from being used in large grocery stores

-Consider a renewable energy project like solar panels for your home...but don't do this until you've made your home as efficient as possible with lighting and appliances.
 * [|Curtis Blank's solar powered home] on the southwest side of Milwaukee
 * [|PBS NOVA Special-Saved by the Sun]

-[|Visit the Urban Ecology Center] in Milwaukee. They have a brand new building that serves as an excellent example of what can be done with green technology (they have one of the largest Solar PV systems in the state of Wisconsin!)

-Properly and safely dispose of your home computers and electronics so they don't end up in a landfill
 * Recycle your computer with the manufacturer.
 * Recycle your cell phones with your service provider when you upgrade to a new one. Bring in any extra cell phones that you no longer use to school and we'll recycle them for you.


 * At school?**
 * Recycle, reduce and reuse as much as possible!! In our area, we can only recycle plastics that are labeled with a 1 or a 2.
 * Turn computers off at night.
 * Be careful about your printing.
 * Use re-usable water cups, coffee cups, etc.
 * Walk or ride your bike when and if you can.
 * Share a ride to work with other students or teachers.
 * Participate in service learning projects.
 * Contribute your fruit and vegetable scraps to the compost buckets at lunch.
 * Join the Environmental Action Team!!!

media type="youtube" key="Wrj9TjBStSw" [|Inconvenient Truth-Credits]


 * Statistic from the [|Energy Star web site on Compact Fluorescent Bulbs]