As a Heron, I spend a lot of time in the air. Because of this, I am a huge advocate for clean air!

The passionate environmentalist that she is, Haley has done a lot of research on ways that we all can help reduce air pollution. With the recent gas crisis we all experienced here in Atlanta, I am rather positive that topping off has become a common habit. We feel the need to fill our tank as much as we possibly can to drive longer on one tank of gas. Well Haley found out that topping off your gas tank is bad for the environment. And as reluctant as I am to comply, Haley is right, and we should probably all try to do better. Here is why:

First, gasoline vapors are harmful to breathe. They are bad for the ozone layer and are a source of toxic air pollutants. By topping off your tank, you are more likely to cause gas to spill out, resulting in an increase of these toxic vapors into the air (and you also pay for the gas that has spilled out onto your car and on the ground!). Your gas tank needs the extra room to allow the tank to expand. Extra gas in your tank from topping off may evaporate into your vehicle’s vapor collection system, and cars with less than perfect vapor collection systems run poorly and have high gas emissions. Topping off also affects the gas station’s vapor recovery system. By adding more gas after the nozzle has shut off, you may cause a malfunction in their system, which could also increase air pollution.

Remember that this is the air that we all breathe. Please help keep it clean by not topping off at the gas station.

Have you noticed Haley’s been quiet about saving our environment recently? Well, it’s not that she’s been quiet; it’s just that I haven’t shared it with you. Every now and then, though, she comes up with something I truly can’t afford to ignore – she hits me in the wallet. And with this long, hot summer, our energy bills are making my wallet significantly thinner.

That’s where Haley stepped in with all sorts of facts she discovered on the Energy Star website. Did you know that energy use in the average home is responsible for twice as much pollution as the average car? And the average home has 30 light fixtures, so lighting accounts for nearly 20 percent of energy costs.

Haley learned we can use Energy Star qualified compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) to help out. They use two-thirds less energy than standard bulbs, and they last six times longer. Each bulb can save us about $25 in energy costs over its lifetime.

Of course, Haley came up with some facts that don’t directly impact our family budget, too. I have to admit they’re pretty impressive. If each U.S. household replaced just one incandescent light bulb with one that earned the Energy Star label, our country could save $600 million in energy bills. That’s enough energy to light 7 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1 million cars.

Turning a CFL on and off frequently can shorten its life, so we chose to replace lights in the fixtures that we use the most. That means I need to sign off and get to work. I seem to be the only one in our home who can change a light bulb. At least herons don’t need to get a ladder, even for the two-story foyer!

April is the month when everyone turns green for the environment. It’s also the month of Heron Bay’s community garage sale. What a fantastic way to combine environmental protection and extra cash! By inviting others to reuse old clothing and household items, our neighborhood is also diverting tons of materials from the landfill.

You know, we birds have always been good about reusing things instead of throwing them away. Take dryer lint for example. Something you quickly discard would be used by my woodland cousins to soften their nests. Then there are the milk cartons children turn into feeders for hungry birds. Some birds even reuse nests that have been abandoned from the previous spring.

Reuse is second in the preferred methods of controlling the amount of waste we discard. Simply using less stuff, or reducing waste, is first. Then comes reusing what we can so we can avoid buying (and creating) more stuff. If we can’t reuse it, we should recycle it so it can be manufactured into something new. If there’s no other choice, then we can discard it.

If you’re not of the feather to have garage sales, be sure to take your reusable things to a place that will resell or recycle them, such as Goodwill Industries.  It’s the least you can do to help protect our environment.