Celebrate Air Quality Awareness Week & see how solar helps.

This week is Air Quality Awareness Week-- sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with the United States Department of Commerce. 

Breathing good, decent air should be a part of daily living, but pollutants dispersing into our environment jeopardize that. Solar stands apart by keeping air cleaner and less contaminated. How does solar do that? It involves simply harnessing energy from the sun as a means of keeping electricity on in homes and across businesses that choose to use this eco-friendly source of power.

"The use of solar energy systems on buildings displaces electricity generation from coal, natural gas, and oil power plants, which can reduce air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and mercury; and greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide," says the U.S. Department of Energy.

Thankfully, solar energy steers clear of pushing pollutants in the air and even acts as a way to keep our days powered but without harm leashing into the air. Clean, green energy like solar is a sustainable choice that has unparalleled benefits for everyone in your community.

The whisking to life of Earth Day.

Today marks the 43rd year of Earth Day celebrations, with environmental awareness issues sparking the first event on April 22, 1970 at the hands of former U.S. Senator and Wisconsin Governor Gaylord Nelson.

Marine biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson of Western Pennsylvania published the book Silent Spring in 1962; its pages stirred what eventually helped to lead to the first environmental movements in the U.S. The book sold more than 500,000 copies in around two dozen countries.

Nelson founded Earth Day after learning about the devastation of a massive oil spill near Santa Barbara, California in the winter of 1969.

People across the country who had been in an uproar against oil spills, pollution brought about by factories and power plants, sewage, toxic dumps, damage done by automobiles and freeways, loss of trees and open space and looming problems with the extinction of wildlife began to see that they had strong common bonds and needed to stand up for a right to a better quality of living.

On that first Earth Day in 1970, around 20,000 Americans rallied across the U.S. in parks and on streets to voice the need for sustainability and better respect for the environment for the benefit of the health of all on earth.

April 22 became the annual marker for Earth Day because it is the first official day of spring in the northern hemisphere and of autumn in the southern hemisphere.

In some elementary schools today, Earth Day is the third most celebrated holiday after Halloween and Christmas. Earth Day is celebrated is almost 200 countries across the globe in recent years and is also the largest secular modern holiday in history.

Recycle paper & help nonprofits in your community at the same time.

In today's world, thanks to a paper recycling company called Paper Retriever, all sorts of paper can be recycled instead of getting tossed into the trash--and it can benefit nonprofits in your community at the same time, as this program is a fundraising effort geared toward helping causes you care about in your hometown.

Paper Retriver bins are currently set up in 12 different states across the U.S. You might recognize the yellow and green bins because they are perched outside of many schools, churches, township buildings, firehouses, and locations of other nonprofits. The paper gathered goes toward helping these nonprofits to supplement their budgets, which is especially needed lately, given the less cheerful persuasion of economic conditions in the past few years. 

Knowing there is something you can do to be a part of the greater solution is its own perk, and it means you can be a part of setting a good example in your own town. It also offers an easy opportunity to reach out to our children so we can get through to them early in life about the importance of recycling and supporting our communities. And then there's the bonus where it keeps paper out of landfills, too.

If your state doesn't have Paper Retriever bins, you can call Paper Retriever to encourage them to join your community, and talk to those you know who are running nonprofits in your area as well. Express that there is a need and that you and your neighbors want to help support this cause while recycling for free at the same time. It is a win-win for you, trees, your community, and the nonprofits that matter most to you.

Search for the closest Paper Retriever bin near you, and spread the good word of helping nonprofits through recycling all sorts of snippets of paper.