Greening It Up Again

It's another day of dueling environmental posts with Christopher Paul Carey. You can check out his thoughts on global warming. He has graphics and everything!

I have this awesome pic...
Pennsylvania Trail (Photo by Jason Jack Miller)

and 15 little ways you can help save the planet - taken from the September 2006 issue of Glamour. How many do you do already? and I do 12 out of 15! They're marked with an X.

X#1 Unplug all appliances not in use. They're energy vampires that still pull electricity even though they're not in use.

#2 Click to plant a tree. At americanforeststore.org you can donate a dollar and have someone else plkant a tree for you.

X#3 Minimize frozen food consumption. It takes 10 times more energy to package and ship frozen food as opposed to fresh food.

X#4 Do your errands at one time. Less trips in the car means less CO2 in the air.

X#5 Put more air in your tires. It can boost gas mileage by 3%.

X#6 Donate instead of dumping. Give away unwanted clothing, furniture, etc. to Goodwill or the Salvation Army or just to friends.

X#7 Turn down the thermostat 2 degrees. And raise it 3 degrees in the summer to prevent nearly 700 pounds of CO2 going into the air every year.

X#8 Switch to fluorescent bulbs. A 20-watt compact fluorescent bulb gives off the same amount of light as a 75-watt regular bulb, but uses 1/3 of the energy. Plus they last for years.

X#9 Shut off the lights. When you leave a room, just flick the switch.

X#10 Use a canvas shopping bag. No more worries about paper or plastic.

X#11 Do a cold-water laundry. It cleans clothes as well as warm water, plus saves energy. (And stops shrinkage!)

X#12 Hang clothes to dry. Especially in the summer and for smaller loads.

#13 Get a thermal coffee mug. Use it at the local coffee house instead of their paper cups and burn shields.

#14 Go for "green power." Ask if your local utility offers solar or wind-produced energy.

X#15 Recycle!

X-posted to ambasadora, penncamping, MySpace, Heidi Ruby Miller, WPF Writers


environment, Heidi Ruby Miller, Christopher Paul Carey