Appreciating Home: Happy Earth Day!

Since 1970, April 22nd has marked the anniversary of what is considered our first, modern-day event addressing our environment.  Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, was inspired by national events to create an opportunity to instill a public consciousness towards awareness about air and water pollution.  He recruited other key leaders and the 'movement' went live as 20 million Americans demonstrated for a healthy and sustainable environment during massive coast-to-coast rallies.  This event was so far reaching over the political environment, that the United States Environmental Protection Agency was born with the subsequent passages of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.  For more information on the history of Earth Day, be sure to click on this link.  (Earthday.org, retrieved 04/18/2011).

This past weekend I was reading an interesting article that I found in one of my newsletters.  It contained some interesting information about our 'home'...Earth, that I thought I would share with you.  Here are just a few of the 50 items found in the article, Earth Facts, Tips and Advice:  Do your part in protecting it (AARP Bulletin, April 1, 2011):

• In the last 50 years:
• Since 1960, world automobile production has increased by 370%.
• The average price of a gallon of gas grew from 25 cents to $3.51.
• The average cost of a new car rose from $2,600 to $27,958.
• World oil consumption grew 401%, from 21.3 million to 85.8 million barrels a day. U.S. consumption rose (up 198%), so did China’s (up 458%), Japan’s (724%), India’s (1,850%) and Germany’s (409%).
• Modern Footprints:
• The last decade had the highest average temperatures on record.
• Global temperatures may rise as much as 10.4 degrees by 2100.
• More than 70 million barrels of crude oil are produced a day.
• The 806 million cars and light trucks in the world burn 260 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel a year.
•  Extreme weather may force relocation of 150 million to 200 million people by 2050.
•  Every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of plastic trash.
• Renewable energy provides 8% of total U.S. energy. Other sources: petroleum (37%), natural gas (25%), coal (21%), nuclear (9%).
• Sources of greenhouse gases: electric power (35%), transportation (27%), industry (20%), agriculture (7%), commercial (6%), residential (5%).
• Easy Ways to Tread Lightly:
• Set your water heater at 120 degrees. Many are set to 140 degrees, which is both wasteful and hazardous.
• Reduce your time in the shower by 5 minutes and save 25 gallons of water a day.
• Loading dirty dishes without rinsing saves up to 20 gallons of water per dishwasher load.
• Add native plants to your garden; they need less water and fertilizer.

 For more Earth Facts, visit the site by clicking on the title, above or check out  Energysavers.gov for a list of some simple things each of us can do.


JOB BLASTS! For more information on Michigan Talent Bank postings, click on the job posting number.  Or, for other Job Blasts, follow the employer's instructions.

Clearview Apartments (Lansing and St. Johns):  Maintenance Person,  MTB # 3047113

TIC International (Lansing):  Medical Claims Examiner,  MTB # 3056133

McDonald Broadcasting (Lansing):  Market Manager,  MTB # 3055922

Lansing School District (Lansing):  Speech & Language Pathologists,  MTB # 3055907

Smart Homes, Inc. (Okemos): 

• Home Automation and Theater Installation (f/t),   MTB # 3049064
• Information Technology System Support and Deployment,   MTB # 3049062

Estate Planning & Preservation (Jackson, Flint, Novi, Grand Rapids, or Harrison): 

• Insurance Advisors who already HAVE A LIFE INSURANCE LICENSE, 
• MTB # 3043132  

Lansing Community College UPDATES:

Summer 2011 Semester registration begins this week!  The "Assigned Web Registration" is as follows:

Number of credits earned     Register any time after:        Date:
as of Fall 2010:

  60 or more                           9:00 a.m.                           Tuesday, 4/19
  30 or more                           9:00 p.m.                           Tuesday, 4/19
  12 or more                           9:00 a.m.                         Wednesday, 4/20
   1 or more                            9:00 a.m.                         Thursday, 4/21
   All                                       9:00 a.m.                            Friday, 4/22

Remember:  All NEW students, Transfer students, and Returning Adult Students (who have been away from the College for five or more years) are required to attend a Mandatory Orientation.  For more information on this or other LCC questions, please contact LCC's "Center for Workforce Transition" at lccadvisor@lcc.edu, or (517) 492-5580.

Have a good Earth Day and consider trying one new thing that is sustainable and will benefit everyone, including our 'home'.