3 Everyday Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Every year on Earth Day, social networks blow up with posts about conservation and what could be done differently to benefit the earth. This year we decided to share a few simple things that can be done throughout the year to reduce our impact on the environment. Stop Junk Mail One of the most impactful ways that you can help protect the environment is by limiting the amount of junk mail sent to you, as this generally goes straight in the trash. Here are some startling facts from earthday.org that just might be enough to motivate you to take action and limit the amount of spammy mail that comes your way.

• Green House Gas Emissions:Creating and shipping junk mail produces more greenhouse gas emissions than 9 million cars each year.
• Wasted Water:About 28 billion gallons of water are wasted to produce and recycle junk mail each year.
• Industry Issues:The pulp and paper industry is the single largest consumer of water used in industrial activities in developed countries, and it’s the third-largest industrial greenhouse gas emitter (after the chemical and steel industries).
• Landfill Contributions:The average adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail each year and 44% of that mail goes directly to the landfill unopened.

Earthday.org also links to the resources needed to get your name taken off of junk mail and sales lists so that you can stop receiving it altogether.   Start Composting  Did you know that creating your own composting system could decrease the amount of trash you create by up to 25%? The best part is that it doesn’t require anything other than the yard and kitchen scraps that would normally probably just end up in a landfill. Check out these 4 easy tips to creating your own composting system and learn how you can boost your garden and lawn with homemade compost in just a few weeks. Eat Less Meat We aren’t just saying this because we’re a vegan company. Recent increases in meat consumption worldwide really have had huge effects on our environment. Raising livestock for human consumption requires feed, huge amounts of water, and adds massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the air that we breathe. According to Earthday.org, the meat industry creates more greenhouse gases that the transportation industry as a whole! Here are a few examples of the impactful changes that not eating meat for just one day each week can have on the environment. If you:

• Ate one less burger a week, it would be the equivalent of taking your car off the road for 320 miles.
• Skip meat and cheese one day a week with your family, it would be the equivalent of taking your car off the road for five weeks – or reducing everyone’s daily showers by 3 minutes.
• Skip steak once a week with your family, it would be the equivalent of taking your car off the road for nearly three months.
• And if the entire U.S. did not eat meat or cheese for just one day a week, it would be the equivalent of not driving 91 billion miles – or taking 7.6 million cars off the road.

And if that isn’t enough, not eating meat is just another excuse to enjoy one of many delicious PROBAR products. Let’s all vow to do our part to make a cleaner, greener and healthier earth for everyone.