Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22nd this year, but this week is officially Earth Week with various locations holding events to celebrate. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore is having an Earth Week and the National Mall in DC, a short metro ride away from Prince George’s County or Montgomery County, had their Green Apple Festival over the weekend, where musicians, comedians, and other celebrities appeared in recognition of Earth Day.

Though it’s great to help the environment, sometimes you hear certain things like skimping on heating and air or starting a compost pile and think “…that’s just too much for me. Whatever the environmental benefits, it’s just not worth sacrificing my comfort level.” So in honor of that, here’s a few great tips for those of us that want to keep our comfort levels while still being environmentally friendly:

• Take off bottle caps before recycling plastic bottles like water bottles and soda bottles because their caps are made from plastic that can’t be recycled.
• Unplug appliances even when they are turned off because yes, they continue to use energy, running up the electric bill.
• Wash clothes in warm or cold cycles, instead of hot as hot uses the most energy.

For environmental volunteer opportunities with parks, streams and other projects, visit http://www.dnr.state.md.us/volunteer/ for the Department of Natural Resources