WHITEHALL — On Monday, the United States recognized Earth Day. In recent years, White Lake has celebrated by hosting the annual “Trash Bash” that Sunday, when local residents join together to pick up trash surrounding White Lake and the community. This year, the Chamber of Commerce had so many participants, they ran out of trash bags to hand out. Whitehall City Council member Tom Ziemer shared at Tuesday’s city council meeting that there was significantly less trash found during this year’s Trash Bash than in previous years.
Earth Day only comes once a year, but the White Lake Area Climate Action Council has suggestions on how residents can help keep the Earth clean and “healthy” all year.
One of WLACAC’s goals is “to try individual actions, then working together to scale them into community actions.” They suggest creating your own personal climate action plan to “become as efficient as possible in the energy you use, convert all the energy you use to electric, produce your electricity or offset the electricity you use, and check your energy use again to determine if further efficiencies can be achieved.” The personal action plan includes five different sections; energy use and efficiency, transportation and equipment, waste reduction, food systems, and others.
WLACAC said a good way to start being energy efficient is by using smart power strips, using a clothesline, converting lights to LED and replacing current appliances with electric. Different ways residents can be more transportation efficient is by biking and walking more frequently than driving, sharing equipment and using battery operated equipment, such as lawn mowers and snow blowers. Minimizing water use in the house, recycling, reducing plastic and battery recycling are good ways to start reducing waste. Buying from local farmers and reducing meat consumption serves as a good eco-friendly food system. This can be done by joining a local farm subscription (WLACAC recommend Community Supported Agriculture,) starting a small personal vegetable garden and eating plant-based meals once per week.
Additionally, Montague City Council member Susan Newhof suggests donating unused and no longer needed items to organizations, planting a native species tree and adding native plants to one’s landscape to support wildlife.
For more information on how to be more eco-friendly to White Lake and the community year round, follow White Lake Area Climate Action Council on Facebook.
