Staff Reports
The Collierville Environmental Commission (CEC) is sponsoring year three of Collierville Forward, which is an initiative with the goal of getting residents to take actions that benefit the environment.
This year, the theme is “Do One Thing,” and the Commission wants people to chose an action, implement that action in November, and go to the CEC website and report the impact that the action has.
“When the actions of individuals are combined, the cumulative effect can be impressive,” said Sheila Bentley, a member of the CEC. “For example, Collierville has approximately 15,000 residences. If even half of the residences used one less plastic water bottle per week for the month of November, that would be at least 30,000 fewer water bottles in one month alone.”
If residents used one less water bottle a week for an entire year, that would be 360,000 fewer water bottles, according to Bentley.
If every household used one less plastic water bottle per week a year, that would be 720,000 fewer bottles.
“That’s a mountain of water bottles,” she added.
If every residence used two fewer plastic bags per week, that would be a total of 120,000 fewer plastic bags going to the landfill in one month, and if they did that for a year, that would be a total of 1,440,000 fewer plastic bags used!
Bentley noted that to reduce your carbon footprint, residents should try carpooling one day a week, combine errands, walk instead of drive, and keep car tires properly inflated.
“Every mile you eliminate reduces CO2 by 411 grams, and every gallon less you use reduces CO2 by 8,887 grams. Think what a combined difference we could make with a few simple changes.”
Collierville residents are encouraged to “Do One Thing” for the month of November and report their results to [email protected].
