A wet day for Earth Day!

Give me an “E!” Give me an “A!” Give me a…well, we'll stop spelling it out there. I think you get the idea. (I was going to spell Earth). Today is Earth Day. A day that many of us try to be a little more friendly to our environment. Unfortunately, this is not a year round initiative for most, including myself, but at least it gets the local kids out of the class room for a few hours to clean up city parks and public areas just in time for the nice weather and plant a few trees.

One thing that many folks do to be ‘green friendly’ on Earth Day is to leave their car at home and ride a bike to work. Mother Nature didn’t make that the easiest thing to do today with scattered showers across the region. Don’t feel guilty. There are a lot of other things you can do at work to help the environment. You can shut down your computer when not using it. Open the blinds and turn off that annoying fluorescent light. Or try putting the photocopier on stand by or sleep mode.

Here’s a great way to really help the planet. Stop drinking bottled water at your desk and put a Brita filter in the lunchroom fridge. Lowering carbon emissions may seem like the top environmental priority but, in my opinion, plastic water bottles and bags are doing more harm to this planet than you’d think. With all of the media coverage focused on climate change, our nation’s landfills are being ignored and are growing beyond their capacity. People forget that the carbon emitted from your tail pipe, although bad, is still a naturally occurring substance in our atmosphere...just Google “Carbon Cycle.” Plastic is not natural and a plastic bag that is less than 1mm thick can take generations to break down. So don’t feel like an “eco-criminal” for driving your kids to school this morning...but packing there lunch in a reusable bag and replacing those juice boxes with refillable containers will go a long way.

Now on to the forecast…some much needed rain again today but the weekend is looking even more promising as we edge closer to Friday. That possible rain event on Sunday looks to be held over until Monday. A band of rain (highlighted in the pic to the left) looks to affect parts of Northern Ontario with rain and even mixed precipitation along the Jet Stream, but high pressure should keep things nice and clean here in the Kawarthas. That warm weather the west has been blessed with also looks to move in to the region with highs in the low to mid 20’s possible Friday and Saturday. Enjoy it. We put a wrap on Earth Week this Sunday and we couldn’t ask for better weather to get out and really enjoy our beautiful planet. Happy Earth Day!