Take the Pledge

Help save the Earth! These four steps are easy, and they may not seem like much of a difference, but every little bit goes a long way when teamwork is involved. Be a leader in our community and pledge to follow these four steps in order to preserve our planet for future generations:

2012 Challenge

To turn the lights off in rooms that aren’t in use.
• This will conserve energy and help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere.
To keep my car tires inflated.
• Doing so will reduce the amount of gas you use and therefore conserve on the amount of carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere.
To unplug all devices when not in use.
• This will conserve energy and help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere.
To bring special waste (medicines, chemicals, etc.) to special collections day.
• These items require special waste disposal and cannot be sent to landfills.

2011 Challenge

To set my thermostat 2 degrees higher in the summer and lower in the winter.
• Doing so will save 2,000 lbs. of CO2, not to mention money on heating and air conditioning bills. Every 1 degree reduction in an 8 hour period equals a 1% reduction in CO2 emissions.
To change the five most used lightbulbs in my home to energy efficient CFL bulbs.
• Replacing 5 incandescent bulbs with CFL's prevents the release of 1,500 lbs. of CO2 in just one year; switching 5 bulbs in every household would reduce CO2 emissions by 450 billion lbs. a year and, if each home did so, close to $8 billion a year in energy costs could be saved nationwide.
To kick the disposable water bottle habit for one month.
• Bottled water has nearly 100 times the environmental impact of tap water and takes over 168,000 barrels of oil to produce a months worth of the bottles we use here in the US. Imagine a water bottle being filled 1/4 of the way with oil—that's how much oil was used to produce that bottle! Giving up the bottle reduces use of fossil fuel, lessesn the burden on landfills (where 8 of 10 bottles end up), and reduces your exposure to toxins that leach from the plastics, such as BPA. And you won't be paying 1000 times more per ounce.
To pack my groceries in a reusable bag and just say NO to plastic bags.
• The average US consumer uses an average of 80 plastic shopping bags per month, for a total of about 100 million plastic bags used and tossed in the US annually. Each month of plastic bag use consumes 1 million barrels of oil, results in hundreds of tons of litter, and causes significant degradation of marine life. Each reusable bag you use has the potential to eliminated an average of 1,000 bags over its lifetime.

Our current number of total pledge participants is 624. Thank you to all of our current participants!