Day of Action

It has been suggested that the United States could cut greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of France’s total annual emissions by getting Americans to make simple lifestyle changes. These lifestyle changes range from driving behavior to laundry habits to home insulation. At the 2010 Piedmont Earth Day Fair, PEA and the Department of Sustainability at Wake Forest University are teaming up to inspire visitors to commit to make one or more of ten easily adopted lifestyle changes with the greatest potential for impact.

PEA will document thousands of commitments to ACT made at the Fair.  A physical representation of these commitments will be used to create an evolving, experiential work of art designed by Wake Forest University students. The exhibit and the work of art will be offered for display throughout our community after the Fair and throughout the year as a reminder of how citizens can take action in their own lives to protect the planet.

Visit the Day of Action tent at the Fair and commit to incorporating one or more of these actions into your daily life.

10 Actions to Radically Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

1.    Walk, bike, or carpool

In the US, 40% of all trips are two miles or less; 90% of those trips are taken by car. If one out of 10 people switched to an alternative form of transportation, CO2 emissions would drop by 25.4 million tons per year.

2.    Get an energy audit

In the US, 21% of the all energy used is consumed in homes. Over 40% of home energy use goes to heating and cooling; water heating and lighting uses around 20%; and appliances including refrigeration use more than 15%. A home energy audit is the first step to assess how much energy your home consumes and to evaluate what measures you can take to make your home more energy efficient.

3.    Weatherize your home or office

For every $1 spent on weatherization, $1.80 is saved over time. Weatherization can reduce energy bills by 32%; weatherized households save an average of $218 per year on their energy bills.

4.    Buy Energy Star™ appliances

The State of North Carolina will implement a two-phase rebate program to help residents replace older, inefficient appliances with ENERGY STAR® qualified appliances. The first phase of the program, scheduled April 22-25, 2010, will be a limited-time, instant rebate for refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers, and dishwashers.

5.    Power down and unplug electronics

Many appliances continue to draw a small amount of power when they are switched off. In the average home, 75% of the electricity used to power home electronics and appliances is consumed while the products are turned off.

6.    Buy local

In addition to the reduced transportation footprint of local economic activity, buying local has a strong multiplier effect in the economy. A dollar spent on local products and services can circulate in the community up to 15 times; a 10% change in purchasing from national chain stores to locally owned businesses each year would create 1,300 new jobs and yield nearly $200 million in incremental economic activity.

7.    Invest in Durable, Re-usable Products

The manufacturing of bottles to meet the American demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil each year, enough to fuel 100,000 cars for that year. Each year over 500 billion disposable bags are consumed worldwide (1 million every minute). Decreasing the number of disposable products in your life decreases the carbon footprint of manufacturing, transportation, and disposal.

8.    Eat local and in season

The average meal travels anywhere between 1,200 to 2,500 miles from pasture to plate. A basic diet of imported ingredients can require up to four times the energy of an equivalent locally-sourced diet.

9.    Plant an organic garden

Research suggests that the conversion of 10,000 small- to medium-sized farms to organic production practices would store carbon in the soil equivalent to taking 1,174,400 cars off the road. Planting and maintaining a garden reconnects us with the true value of food.

10.    Conserve water

Up to 30% of a household energy footprint can come from moving water from its source to the home. A faucet that is dripping just one drip per second will waste about four gallons of water in just one day or 1,400 gallons in a year. The average household could conserve water by 34% per year by installing water-efficient fixtures and appliances.

Click here for more details and information on the research behind these steps.