Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd 2023…

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22nd to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

Climate change is something that affects us all, no matter where we live in the world. Despite the fact that Ireland is a small country with a small population, our greenhouse gas emissions per person are among the highest of any country in the world, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We have also already begun to see the effects of global warming in Ireland, and this will only continue to grow worse if we don’t do something about it.

Climate actions you can take every day…

• Reduce your transport carbon footprint for example…

Carpool (do what we used to do in the past, take turns with neighbors and friends for drives to work, football training, the shop, mass, matches, etc.) , walk or cycle if possible, remote working has reduced all our carbon footprints, use public transport more if it is available to you. 

•  Improve the energy efficiency of your home for example…

Switch Off

• Heating – Turn the heating off when you leave the house or if you go away. Remember, your radiators will continue to heat your home for some time after the heating has been turned off.

• Appliances – Switch off all your appliances at night and when you are not home. You should turn off your computer whenever you are not going to use it for more than an hour.

• Devices – Use a power strip which means that at night or when you leave the house, you can easily unplug your devices at once.

• Lighting – Turn off lights when you are leaving a room or when you do not need them.

• Cooking – When your food is nearly cooked, turn off the rings/oven and use the built up heat to finish cooking your food.

Avoid food waste…

There are lots of reasons for wasting food, from buying too much to food going out of date. Here are some small steps you can take to reduce food waste:

• Make a weekly meal plan, choosing recipes that use similar ingredients.
• Use your meal plan to make a shopping list. Check your cupboards to see what ingredients you already have.
• Stick to your list at the supermarket and only buy what you need.
• Check use-by-dates to avoid buying food that will need to be used quickly.
• Put new items to the back, and older items to the front of the fridge/cupboard.
• Label all foods with the name and the date before freezing so they can be easily identified.
• Have leftovers for lunch the next day or freeze to use at a later date.
• At the end of each week combine any leftover vegetables to make a pot of soup, an omelette or a stir fry.
• Blend leftover fruit into a smoothie or cook it in a saucepan to make a fruit sauce.