It’s that time of the year again. Time to celebrate the dwindling number of options available to us to save the earth in a form in which we’d like to dwell. One of the best ways to celebrate is to spur, goad, urge, nag and/or incite others to actually do something about energy and the environment.

Here’s an option: Join Repower America‘s and Al Gore’s campaign to support Henry Waxman and his fellow Congresspeople in their new energy legislation efforts. Here’s their message:

Hi,

Right now, Congress is debating clean energy legislation that will jumpstart our economy and help solve the climate crisis. I’ve joined with Vice President Al Gore and millions of others to show my support — will you?

Please click here to sign our petition in support of this crucial clean energy legislation: Here!

That should get you off to a good start without a huge amount of effort. But wait, there’s more!

If you haven’t already, please read Lester Brown’s article in the May 2009 issue of Scientific American. Entitled Could food shortages bring down civilization, the article gives a gripping overview of why we collectively need to get our earth conservative acts together now. One of the more telling factoids Brown gives is this:

The grain required to fill a 25-gallon SUV tank with ethanol could feed one person for a year.

So you telecommuters can start thinking in terms of the numbers of lives your may be saving annually by working without going to work.

This brings us to your Earth Day checklist, which I hope you will feel free to expand and augment as the year continues/unravels:

• Sign the Repower America petition
• Begin telecommuting or increase the frequency of your telecommuting
• Wherever possible, replace your incandescent light bulbs with CFLs (compact fluorescent bulbs); turn off the lights in rooms you aren’t using
• Buy a hybrid or, better yet, an all-electric vehicle for your commuting purposes if bicycling or mass transit isn’t available to you
• In addition to your Congressional representatives, pester your state and local electric utilities and regulators to accelerate the move to renewable energy sources.
• Think about converting to gardening with drought-resistant plants if you live in dry regions such as the US Southwest, Spain, portions of Mexico, Argentina, Chile, non-equatorial Africa, India or elsewhere
• Otherwise save water and non-renewable energy

It’s your turn.