While Earth Day is unlike other holidays where you get a gift or a card, the day is just as important. Earth Day, April 22, is a time to examine new ways to accelerate environmental progress. Earth Day is a time to act to protect the planet.

In collaboration with the Suffolk Litter Control Office and Food Lion Store #1512, the fifth graders at Northern Shores Elementary united to participate in the Earth Day Groceries Project. Food Lion donated 80 brown grocery bags. Northern Shores Art Teacher Jan Belote, affectionately called “Miss Art,” helped the students decorate the bags with Earth Day Messages for grocery shoppers. On Earth Day, Food Lion will use the bags for its customers’ groceries.

This Earth Day, you can make a commitment to the environment. A few ways you can do your part in making a difference include:

4Encourage your family to recycle.

4Switch to energy-efficient light bulbs in your house to reduce the effects of global warming.

4Recycle your glass bottles and aluminum cans. Every glass bottle you recycle saves enough energy to run a television for an hour and a half, while recycling an aluminum can saves enough energy to run your TV for three hours.

4Turn out the lights when you leave a room.

4Use re-useable containers for school lunches.