By Joanne Richard Earth Day is great. Earth Everyday is even better! April 22 is an opportunity to celebrate our planet and commit to making eco-friendly choices in our daily lives. Going green doesn’t have to be daunting or involve a complete lifestyle overhaul. Small changes can lead to a big impact and a cleaner, healthier planet for everyone. Curbing plastic pollution is this year’s theme – billions upon billions of plastic items are choking oceans, clogging landfills, littering landscapes and beaches, reports earthday.org, and gravely harming human health and vital ecosystems. Toxic microplastics are showing up everywhere. We’re inhaling and eating plastics and their chemicals. They’re in our air, soil, food and drinking water. A new study by Columbia University reports that one litre of bottled water (that’s two standard water bottles) contains nearly a quarter-million tiny plastic particles. Consume with a conscious We’re churning out more than a trillion pounds of plastics a year with 14 million tons ending up in our oceans – at that rate, it’s estimated that by 2050, oceans will contain more plastics than fish. Recycling isn’t working! Only 9% of total plastic is recycled, and the process pollutes the air. We need to end mass plastic production, reuse what we have and find eco-friendly alternatives. Do your part by cutting out single-use plastics. Reuse planet-friendly, refillable water bottles and fill with filtered tap water. Bring a travel mug for your daily coffee run. Use cloth bags for groceries. Refuse single-use plastics like cutlery, straws and cups when you can. The planet needs our help so lend a hand. Along with diminishing plastics consumption, there are so many ways to be kind to our planet. Some home changes may require getting someone else to lend you a hand and a home maintenance company can help with that. Together, we can make a difference. Tips For a More Energy-efficient Home on Earth Day Keep things running properly. When you replace outdated appliances, buy energy-efficient models. If a new appliance isn’t in your budget, then be sure to keep things well maintained. Check fridge door seals, empty ice accumulation and keep coils clean. Maintain your HVAC system and keep air ducts clean to keep bills down and everyone breathing easier. Seasonal maintenance also includes replacing furnace filters. Switch out to LED light bulbs. Save energy by turning your thermostat down in the winter when you’re sleeping or out, and same goes for using less AC when no one’s around. A programable thermostat helps with optimal efficiency. Getting professional help to tackle small projects like sealing leaks and adding insulation can save on energy and money. Window coverings are a boon to energy conservation. In total, about 30% of a home’s heating energy is lost through windows, and curtains can reduce heat loss by more than 40%. Reduce Your Foodprint Walk or cycle for short distances. Trade your gas-guzzling car for an EV or hybrid model. Having online meetings lessens the carbon footprint. About 24% of Canada’s harmful emissions come from transportation. Reduce your foodprint. Eat less meat and dairy – they contribute bigtime to global warming. Go vegetarian a few times a week. Switch out meat for plant-based proteins like lentils, tofu, chickpeas, and chia and hemp seeds. Also east more seasonal, locally-sourced food. Recycle food scraps. They’re flavourful and good for you, and the environment too. Foods that end up in landfills produce methane, a toxic greenhouse gas. You can easily upcycle food scraps like celery, carrot and radish tops, carrot peels, and asparagus, broccoli and herb trimmings into soups, fruit and veggie peels into chutneys, and pineapple cores, apple, lemon and orange peels into citrusy tea creations. Use stale bread for croutons. Don’t leave the faucet running when brushing your teeth – 42% of us do and it wastes 64 glasses of water each time you brush for two minutes. Fix leaky faucets and install water-reducing shower heads. Use cold water for washing and rinsing your laundry, and dry your clothes on an outdoor clothesline in the warmer months. Maintain Your Yard And Lawn Plant trees, make your gardens pollinator friendly, and maintain your yard and grass to promote ecological balance and healthier lives. Lawn grass helps clean the air, improves soil, removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while giving back oxygen, reduces erosion, decreases noise pollution and regulates temperatures. Recycle clippings by mulching and leaving on the lawn to decompose. Declutter responsibly when you spring clean. If you’re getting rid of clothing, old decorations or furniture, don’t add to the landfills. Instead host a garage sale, sell them online or donate them to a non-profit thrift store. Choose refillable, eco-friendly cleaning products for your home on earth day. Some top cleaning sprays get the job done but their harmful chemicals can negatively impact your health and the environment.

Common Home Modifications that Reduce the Risk of Falls  Did you know that the most common reason for hospitalizations of seniors in Canada is a fall around the house? To help you with practical advice, this article will provide essential tips to prevent falls around your home. It covers fall prevention education, including knowledge surrounding home modifications needed to keep seniors safe in their homes.  This article will cover some of the most common risk factors around the home and the modifications that can be made to make them safer. We’ll also go through your home and ask specific questions about the home’s safety.  Entryway residential ramps  As we age, simply getting into the home becomes much harder than it used to be. There may be too many steps, steep steps, or steps without a handrail. Sometimes as our mobility changes, we might require the assistance of a scooter or wheelchair, making taking the stairs up to your home very difficult.  There are two main different types of ramps: residential modular ramps and custom ramps. No matter what kind, ramps always have a non-skid surface and heavy-duty handrails to protect you. A modular ramp comes in pieces and is assembled on-site. These come in many different sizes, and you’re sure to find one to fit your home. (photo)  A custom ramp is built with wood or other materials to match the customer’s home and their exact and unique needs. (photo)  Simple bathroom modifications to reduce fall risk  The next part of the home we will look at is the bathroom. Falls in the bathroom are common for people of any age. The slick tile, hot water, and steam inside a bathroom can make for a dangerous combination. Unfortunately, as we age, a simple slip can be much harder on our bodies than it used to be. We must do everything we can in the bathroom to avoid this happening. Fall risk reduction In the shower and bath with a zero-step walk-in shower First, let’s look at bathing. Modifications can be as simple as purchasing a shower stool so we can relax and not have to use as much lower body strength, grab bars to help us move around the shower, as well as stand and sit from the shower stool, and a handheld shower head to bring the water to us. Something else to consider for the shower is a zero-step walk-in shower. This option can get pricier as it usually requires significant modification. However, removing the need to step over a tall ledge or bath to get into the shower can greatly help many people. (photos)  Consider installing a bath bench if your shower is attached to a bathtub and you cannot change that. This particular bench is installed over the top of the tub’s edge. Using grab bars to get on and off of it, you can now sit down without making any modifications to your shower other than a handheld shower head. (photo) Toilet-side grab bars  Another place in the bathroom that may need modification is around the toilet. Sometimes our toilets are very low, and it can be challenging to rise and sit down from them. So, a beneficial fix can be installing grab bars around the toilet. It’s essential that there are bars on the sides of the toilet, however, so if there is no wall or counter space to the side of your toilet, you will need to install a vertical grab bar that mounts to the wall and juts out beside your toilet. (photo) Of course, you can also look into installing a taller toilet or a seat riser, but grab bars are the most effective.  Grab bars make a huge difference in a slippery environment like the bathroom.  Use non-slip/non-skid strips on slippery floors.  Another helpful modification in slippery areas is non-slip/non-skid strips. Older homes and older bathtubs usually don’t come with non-slip areas built in. It’s a straightforward fix. You can purchase non-slip strips at any home improvement store. Simply apply them in the bathtub or slippery areas, but check them regularly for any wear and tear. Lifted strips can create a tripping hazard. (photo) While you’re at it, consider buying some larger non-skid strips for the outdoor steps or uncarpeted stairs. These surfaces can quickly become very slick, which will solve that problem.  Use lever door handles to make it easier to open doors. Many homes have rounded doorknobs. While this may have been no problem for you in the past, it can be tough to grasp and turn a rounded knob if issues like arthritis have arisen. It’s significantly harder to grasp a door knob if you’re coming from the bathroom or kitchen and your hands are slippery. Not only is it frustrating, but it could be dangerous if there is an emergency. Luckily, a straightforward solution to this is to install lever door handles. You can either purchase a lever cover that goes over an existing knob or purchase a lever door handle and have it installed. Now you simply just have to press down with your hand, fist, or fingers to open the door. (photo)  Reduce fall risk in the kitchen  As we become less flexible, reaching things in our cupboards can get difficult, whether up high or down low. Two beneficial tools that can help with this are a reacher/grabber and a step stool.  Reacher/grabbers are sold at most pharmacies or medical equipment stores and come in handy for taking small objects off of high shelves or picking up small objects off the floor. They are not recommended for picking up heavy objects. (photo)  Step stools are often not recommended for older adults, but sometimes they are essential to utilize the spaces around your home. If a step stool is needed, it is essential that the stool has four solid legs, a handrail to hold onto for stability, a non-skid surface on the feet of the stool, and a non-skid surface where you place your…
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