So today is Blog Action Day 2007. This means that over 15,000 blogs will be uniting to write about the subject of the environment. (I heard about this here.) The environment is a pretty touchy subject for me these days. It seems to me that we have reached sort of a tipping point when it comes to global warming. I am absolutely terrified about global warming. So much that I wonder if bringing a child into the world is such a good idea. #1: Aren't we overpopulated as it is? #2: Why would I want to bring my child into a world that is nearing it's ultimate demise every day. Maybe this is a little bit overdramatic. I don't know. But it does scare me. And what can I do about it?! Well, I do all that I can. I've decided to write a list of things that I already do and can do to ensure that I am not harming my environment any more than I should be. Nothing here is huge or dramatic. But if everybody did these things, it could make a huge difference.
1. Every morning for two years I ate my oatmeal in a plastic bowl with a plastic spoon and drank my coffee out of a styrofoam cup. What?! Why?! Now I happily use a real coffee mug, a glass bowl, and an actual spoon every morning. I figure this saves a little bit of landfill space. I was using way too much simply because it was convenient to throw away my dishes instead of washing them.
2. I recycle all that I can. But I can do better. I am always too lazy to recycle my tin cans. Washing them out seems to be too much trouble. I will do better.
3. From this point forward, I am buying the new and slightly more expensive energy efficient light bulbs. I found this here:
If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.
4. Al Gore says I need to get an electric hot water heater blanket. I do what Al Gore tells me to. A blanket costs less than $18 and can cut your home's CO2 emissions by almost 4 1/2 percent. This is on my to do list.
5. Change your air filters regularly. This is something that I am doing better at. I have marked on my calendar at work when I need to change the filters. Doing this regularly can knock 2 percent off of your CO2 output each year.
6. I wish I could afford a hybrid car. I can't. But I am driving a Corolla. It gets pretty good gas mileage. At least it isn't a gas guzzling SUV (boo! hiss!!)
7. The windows in my house are drafty. I'm buying new ones next spring. No telling how much energy I waste trying to keep my house cool or warm.
8. The next big appliance I buy will be an Energy Star appliance.
If just one in 10 homes used ENERGY STAR qualified appliances, the change would be like planting 1.7 million new acres of trees.
9. I don't have a programmable thermostat, but every day before I leave my home, I hit the $ button on my digital thermostat. This increases the temperature setting in my house by 5 degrees if the A/C is on and it decreases the setting by 5 degrees if the heat is on. This saves energy and it saves me $ too.
10. Whenever I can, I buy green products. For instance, check out these hangers. Pretty cool.
11. I am voting Democrat!!!!!!!!!
I do what I can, but I am sure there is so much more that I can do. I am open to any suggestions.
1. Every morning for two years I ate my oatmeal in a plastic bowl with a plastic spoon and drank my coffee out of a styrofoam cup. What?! Why?! Now I happily use a real coffee mug, a glass bowl, and an actual spoon every morning. I figure this saves a little bit of landfill space. I was using way too much simply because it was convenient to throw away my dishes instead of washing them.
2. I recycle all that I can. But I can do better. I am always too lazy to recycle my tin cans. Washing them out seems to be too much trouble. I will do better.
3. From this point forward, I am buying the new and slightly more expensive energy efficient light bulbs. I found this here:
If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.
4. Al Gore says I need to get an electric hot water heater blanket. I do what Al Gore tells me to. A blanket costs less than $18 and can cut your home's CO2 emissions by almost 4 1/2 percent. This is on my to do list.
5. Change your air filters regularly. This is something that I am doing better at. I have marked on my calendar at work when I need to change the filters. Doing this regularly can knock 2 percent off of your CO2 output each year.
6. I wish I could afford a hybrid car. I can't. But I am driving a Corolla. It gets pretty good gas mileage. At least it isn't a gas guzzling SUV (boo! hiss!!)
7. The windows in my house are drafty. I'm buying new ones next spring. No telling how much energy I waste trying to keep my house cool or warm.
8. The next big appliance I buy will be an Energy Star appliance.
If just one in 10 homes used ENERGY STAR qualified appliances, the change would be like planting 1.7 million new acres of trees.
9. I don't have a programmable thermostat, but every day before I leave my home, I hit the $ button on my digital thermostat. This increases the temperature setting in my house by 5 degrees if the A/C is on and it decreases the setting by 5 degrees if the heat is on. This saves energy and it saves me $ too.
10. Whenever I can, I buy green products. For instance, check out these hangers. Pretty cool.
11. I am voting Democrat!!!!!!!!!
I do what I can, but I am sure there is so much more that I can do. I am open to any suggestions.
1 comment:
You kick butt! When purchasing the CFL lightbulbs, I suggest spending some money on them...I got the cheap ones at Walgreens and it made my bedroom feel like an over lit aquarium. Just a hint :)
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