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Be an Earth Day Energy-Saver "Bright Light"
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Earth Day 2000 aims to spark public demand for a clean energy future. Activities and events in the United States are promoting an ambitious Clean Energy Agenda, a blueprint that outlines a fundamental policy shift to clean, renewable energy and increased energy efficiency at all levels of our economy. Earth Day 2000 will focus national attention on the connections between our outdated, dirty energy system, its impacts and solutions. That's where we come in. What is the most important form of clean energy there is? Well-directed people energy! That is the key requirement to making a clean energy future actually happen. At the core of Earth Day activities is volunteerism. Earth Day doesn't happen because of commercial investment, but because of the commitment and dedication of millions of individuals working through their families and community groups of all kinds - to look around them and discover what they can do - and then inspiring themselves and others - to do it. Whether your thing is education or activism or something in between, one of the best new volunteer activities for Earth Day this year is the "Bright Lights" Energy Saver program. The Energy Saver "Bright Lights" program hopes to deploy thousands of CFLs - compact fluorescent light bulbs -- the energy efficient and environmentally responsible alternative to standard (incandescent) lighting. You can participate in this program to raise money for your school or non-profit group, lower electricity bills, educate students, and help the environment. Lighting is a necessary part of modern life, and CFLs provide it efficiently, effectively and with less damage to the environment. People and money are necessary parts of making a difference. By putting them together, this program can make a long-term contribution to solving a real-life environmental problem. CFLs use about a quarter of the electricity to provide the same light, so they significantly lower the pollution and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that result when fossil fuels are burned to make electricity. Over time, the energy savings pay for the cost of the bulb. Much like traditional fundraisers, volunteers take orders from their families and friends, collect checks and turn orders into their Bright Lights coordinator. The products are ordered by and delivered to the school or group for the order-takers to distribute. Your school or group gets $3 for every bulb sold. Selling just 100 bulbs each means $300 for your school or group! There is no advance purchase necessary which means that you only pay for what you need. The theme for Earth Day 2000 is energy. What better way to ring in the millennium than to be a part of the Clean Energy campaign and have an immediate impact on this very pressing environmental problem? This program can boost US energy savings -- practically overnight -- very similar to the manner in which kids helped to dramatically increase recycling following the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. To register your group to participate in the Bright Lights fundraiser visit www.earthdayweb.org/brightlights Any classroom or group that sells 100 or more bulbs can qualify individually to be nationally recognized as a member Earth Day 2000 "Bright Lights." All Bright Lights will be listed in an Earth Day 2000 Letter of Commendation that will be sent to the US Secretary of Energy and the President of the United States! Whether you use this particular program as a way to make a difference, find your way. There are millions of ways to be a "bright light." Around the world, Earth Day awakens the spirit of the human soul to make and difference and improve the world - every other day of the year. For more ideas and to search for contacts and events wordwide, visit www.earthday.net |
id you know that recycling awareness increased dramatically
as result of children's involvement in the 20th anniversary of
Earth Day in 1990? Thousands of children and their families rallied
to the ideas of doing their part.
Thirty
years later, the Earth Day Network is coordinating Clean Energy-related
education and activism as a coalition effort that encompasses
strategic partners, affiliated organizations and individual Earth
Day organizers representing every cross section of America. Around
the world, thousands of groups are also participating.