Well, 37 years have passed since President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency with the mission to protect the environment and public health, and the year that Congress passed the Clean Air Act.  1970 was also the year that 20 million people celebrated the first ever Earth Day.

Since that time the U.S. government has teeter-tottered back and forth on environmental policies and unfortunately all indicators point to the fact that we, as a nation, have done a less than stellar job on protecting our precious planet.  But it's not to late!  Earth Day has remained and is just around the corner -- April 22nd to be exact -- and now is the time for your family to jump on the environmental bandwagon.

Don't wait another 30 years to see what happens.  Use Earth Day as a starting point to educate your family and pitch in to help the environment.  Below we have come up with some fun and effective ways for your family to live the 3 basic tenets of Earth preservation:  Reduce, Reuse & Recycle.

Buy Energy Star Qualified Light Bulbs.
FACT:  If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with an Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road.  That is amazing statistic, so how can you not take this easy step to save energy and prevent pollution?!

Box It Up
Having a place to separate your trash is half the battle of instituting a recycling program in your home.  Why not have the kids get involved by having them decorate recycling bins.  Buy a set of three plastic trash cans, bins or even cardboard boxes (lined with a plastic trash bag) and have the kids label and decorate them using paint pens.  

Shine Up The Neighborhood
Sign up for local beautification projects that you participate in as a family.  Beach cleanups, school sparkle programs, community tree planting.  Get your hands dirty to clean up your neck of the world.

Be a Light Monitor
Each week assign one of your kids to be the light monitor, the person in charge of making sure all unused lights in the house are turned off.  Kids will love having this easy responsibility  which will get them in the habit of saving electricity.

The Great Shower Race
There is nothing like a little competition to entice family members to save water.  Use a stopwatch to time the length of each person's shower and then chart them prominently.  Winner helps save the environment and maybe even gets a little prize for doing so.

Read A Book, See The Movie
Try three of our favorites to drive the environmental message home:

- 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth.  A wonderful book about saving our resources and helping the environment, presented in a kid friendly way.  It shows kids exactly what they can do to make a difference and how their behaviors affect their plant earth.

- The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.  Accessible to all ages, this wonderful tale talks about the environment (The Lorax) and the Once-ler (all humanity) who is destroying the environment by cutting down the trees and polluting the pond without thinking about the consequences for the future.  Keeping with Dr. Seuss's magical style this is an important message for all.

- An Inconvenient Truth - DVD is a must see for the entire family.  Al Gore's well done, informative documentary which tells the truth about global warming and how it affects us all, and our roles as active participants in the future course of our earth.

Body Heat
Turning down your thermostat in the evening is a great way to save electricity, but that doesn't mean you have to freeze.  Instead follow our instructions and have each member of your family create their own, simple and fun to make, cozy blanket to snuggle up in during the early evening hours and use as extra warmth while they sleep .

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