Written by: Kelly Van Deusen
This month, Five Star Subaru will be celebrating both Earth Day (April 22nd) and Arbor Day (April 25th) with fun giveaways and events. This year will mark the 44th anniversary of Earth Day since it was first celebrated on April 22, 1970. Gaylord Nelson, who at the time was a U.S Senator from Wisconsin, created Earth Day in 1970 to help inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. He believed this action was necessary after there was a massive oil spill in the waters near Santa Barbara, California in 1969. Arbor Day has been celebrated over 135 years since J. Sterling Morton founded the day in 1872.
Eye-opening facts concerning Earth Day:
· We use more than 80 billion aluminum soda cans every year. It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones.
· Recycling every newspaper would save about 250 million trees. However, only 27% of all American newspapers are recycled.
· The average individual throws away approximately four pounds of garbage everyday and uses about 12,000 gallons of water every year.
· Most families throw away about 88 pounds of plastic every year.
· The amount of wood and paper thrown away annually is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.
· Every year Americans discard 16 million diapers, 1.6 billion pens, 2 billion razor blades, 220 million car tires, and enough aluminum to rebuild the U.S. commercial air fleet four times over.
References:
http://www.arborday.org/arborday/arbordaydates.cfm
http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb14-ff06.html
http://lagrange.patch.com/groups/going-green/p/earth-day-2013-fun-facts-4c4c2a20
www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/stories/0506_0100.html
