10 Personal Actions That Can Make A
Difference for the Environment
(Adapted from “Earth Day
and You,” Earth Day Network
From Emagazine Archive-www.emagazine.com)
1) Get a Home Energy Audit and Follow the Recommendations
Energy audits are a great way to see where the energy and energy expenditures in your
house are going. Your local power company may have an energy-audit program, or you can do
one yourself with the Home Energy Checkup Guide from the Alliance to Save Energy.
2) Insulate and Caulk Your Home
Insulation keeps warm air warm and cool air
cool. Caulking and weather stripping are a good start. Insulating your attic, walls and
crawlspaces will also make a huge difference. Window-mounted air conditioning units may
also be leaking out of poorly insulated windows. Check for drafts by wetting your finger
and running it around the window edges.
3) Set Your Water Heater to a Lower Temperature and Insulate it – and
Replace Wasteful Showerheads
Insulating your water heater decreases the energy needed to heat it up. Jackets are
available at hardware stores and sometimes given away free with a new water heater. Also,
you should keep the heater on “low,” or at no more 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which
is adequate to meet all home needs. And replace your showerheads with energy-efficient
models. A recent study showed that making the switch could save 27 cents a day on water
and 51 cents on electricity. They’ll pay for themselves in just two months.
4) Turn off Lights, Replace Your Incandescent bulbs with Compact
Fluorescents, and Use Timers
It’s elementary to say “turn off
lights and appliances when you leave a room.” Indeed, lighting accounts for 25
percent of home energy use. Another no-brainer way to cut lighting use and costs is to use
compact fluorescent light bulbs in place of traditional incandescent bulbs. Not to be
mistaken for the harsh white lights still found in many offices, compact fluorescents emit
pleasing warm light. And although they are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, they
will last ages longer and slash your energy bill. Also, invest in timers or
motion-sensitive switches for both inside and outside lights. You'll never walk into a
dark house and your power bills will drop.
5) Wash Bigger Loads in the Clothes Washer and Turn the Refrigerator Down
To save energy in the laundry, wash only
full loads in short cycles—and use the air-dry setting or turn the dishwasher off
after the final rinse and open the door.
Your refrigerator also uses a great deal of
energy, as much as 25 percent of a home energy bill in some cities. The temperature should
38 to 42 degrees Fahrenheit and the freezer should be between zero and five degrees. Check
the seals for cracks, and keep the condenser coils clean. If you’re in the market for
a new one, consider whether a smaller fridge might suit your need
In shopping for any major appliance, look
for the “Energy Star” label, awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
and the Department of Energy to products that are ahead of the curve on energy efficiency.
6) Close Blinds and Drapes in Warm Weather, and Turn off the AC
A little air conditioning can go a long way
during the day if you close the blinds or drapes so that the sun can’t get in and
warm up the house. If you’re going to be gone for a while, turn the AC off. Do the
same as soon as the temperature cools down outside, and then open the windows so you get a
cross breeze. Also air conditioners work better when they are cool themselves, so if your
air conditioner is outside under any direct sun, build a screen. While you're at it, check
the filter. An air conditioner with a clogged filter will use five percent more energy
than one with a clean filter.
7) Curb Your Car, Carpool, and Take Public Transit
Take public or mass transit as much as you
can. When you do, your energy use is 25 times less than if you had used your car.
If you absolutely need your car, see if you can give someone else a lift, too. Think of ways you can cut down on the use of your
car: Make fewer trips, carpool or bus it once a week. Try riding your bike to the grocery
store or to work if its not too far. Every little bit counts.
8) Tune Up your Car… and Do You really Need a Hummer?
A tune-up on your car will improve its fuel
economy by six to nine percent and save you repair costs in the long run. And don't be a
speed demon: For every mile per hour slower you drive than 65, you improve your car’s
fuel efficiency by about two percent. And keep your tires filled to capacity: Soft tires
make the engine work harder, making your car more wasteful.
When shopping for a new car, don’t
forget to factor in fuel efficiency. You’ll reduce your gasoline costs, reduce our
dependence on foreign oil, and reduce the damage being done to the atmosphere. If everyone in the U.S. bought the most efficient
vehicle in the class they’d ordinarily buy, the total savings would be 1.47 billion
gallons of gasoline every year.
9) Work at Home
Employers are becoming more flexible about
what defines a workday. By working four 10-hour days or working from home one day a week,
you commute less and become part of the pollution solution. Over a year, that’s 50
fewer days you waste in traffic.
10) At the Office…
Computer
monitors use the same amount of electricity as a 60-watt light bulb. So rest your
screen when you rest your eyes. Don’t wait for your screen saver to kick in -- if you
are going to be away from your computer for more than 10 minutes, turn the monitor off.
You can also reduce the energy consumption of your copier: Look for a stand-by button or
mode, and make sure that it gets used --
copiers consume a lot of energy sitting there running during times of non-use.
CONTACTS:
Alliance to Save Energy, http://www.ase.org/checkup/home/;
Energy Star, http://www.energystar.gov/
***************************************************************
10 Issues to Write Your Congressperson
(and Educate Your Friends and Neighbors) About
(Adapted from “Take
Action,” Earth Day Network,
www.earthday.net
E-magazine Archive
www.emagazine.com
1) Clean Air & Water
A little compromise was made back when the Clean Air Act was first passed
that lets power plants built before 1978 spew dangerous and illegal levels of pollutants
until the plants are renovated. Now the Bush administration is considering relaxing the
rules and allowing power companies to upgrade their plants without installing
state-of-the-art pollution-control technology. The Bush administration has also
recommended that Congress reduce the involvement of citizens and states in implementing
the Clean Water Act and protecting streams from hydropower operations. Tell Congress to
reject these changes and put people and health above other considerations.
2) Food
& Agriculture
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
is deciding whether to approve the first application by a company to sell genetically
engineered salmon, but not enough research has been done to know whether these fish could
wreak havoc on the environment in ways we’ve yet to imagine—and there’s no
guarantee these “farmed fish” won’t escape and breed with their wild
cousins.
Similarly, large companies like Kraft and
Kellogg are moving forward with genetically modified ingredients in some packaged foods
without a clear understanding of the potential health or environmental risks. Crops that
have been genetically adulterated with viral, bacterial and animal genes should not be in
our food supply until they are better tested. Write
the FDA, Kraft and Kellogg and urge them not to move forward with genetically modified
foods until we know more about the potential consequences of bioengineering.
3) Climate Change & Clean Energy
The
oil industry wants Congress to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling in
exchange for very weak measures addressing climate change and energy efficiency. But oil
will soon be an historical footnote as wind power, hydrogen and other clean, renewable
energy options move closer to center stage. Send a letter to President Bush and to your
members of Congress urging them to support legislation that reduces carbon emissions,
protects the Arctic and promotes real energy efficiency.
4) Pollution and Toxic Waste
One
in four Americans lives within four miles of a “Superfund” site, a previously
occupied manufacturing or chemical facility that has left behind a poison legacy that
needs to be cleaned up. These sites, which include some of the most toxic waste dumps in
our nation, pose a threat to land, water, air and people. By law, polluters must pay for
cleanup, but corporate lobbyists are hard at work trying to absolve them of
responsibility, which means either the sites won’t be cleaned or they will be cleaned
instead with taxpayer dollars. Ask your members of Congress to strengthen, not weaken,
Superfund legislation. Want to know who’s
polluting in your community? Go to Environmental Defense’s Scorecard (www.scorecard.org) and simply type in your zipcode.
5) Oceans and Fisheries
Fisheries
around the globe are being depleted rapidly by overfishing. Catches are getting smaller
and so are the fish, as the fishing industry reels in younger and younger fish as their
species dwindle. If you eat fish, check the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch
Guide to learn which fish are best to eat and which are best to avoid (also because of
mercury contamination). You can download a convenient pocket card to carry as you shop for
fish.
Pollution
is another problem. Major cruise lines, like Royal Caribbean, are dumping thousands of
gallons of sewage into our oceans. Cruise ships are not required by Congress to have
discharge permits, so they legally can dump sewage as close as just three miles offshore.
The cost to outfit these ships with advanced wastewater treatment systems would have
little to no impact on the cost of a cruise, yet Royal Caribbean chooses not to do this.
Take action to let Royal Caribbean know what you think.
6) Transportation
The
average American driver spends 443 hours driving every year—and American cars, trucks
and buses spew 12 billion pounds of toxic chemicals into the air, ground and water in the
process. More cars and trucks are bad for the environment and terrible for human health;
roads encroach on valuable farmlands and open spaces; and nobody likes traffic jams.
Unfortunately, congressional support for the U.S. passenger rail system, which could
mitigate many of our woes, continues to fall. Ask your members of Congress to stand up for
Amtrak, and to support investment in high-speed rail corridors and public transportation
of all kinds.
7) Population
Human birth rates, especially in poor,
developing countries, continue to soar well above the replacement level of two children
per couple, and population is growing well beyond the “carrying capacity” of
these impoverished countries. This has a profound effect on the environment, not to
mention human misery.
A very strong majority of Americans
supports U.S. family planning aid to developing countries. However, the Bush
administration recently rescinded $34 million appropriated by Congress for United Nations
Population Fund (UNPF) family planning efforts, and halted condom shipments to nearly 30
developing countries, including some with high rates of AIDS. Write President Bush and
your representatives and urge them to go along with the American public and support UNPF,
a crucial agency which plays a major role in
expanding access to family planning and maternal health care around the world.
8) Recycling & Solid Waste
Although 30 percent of the municipal solid
waste generated in the United States is recycled or composted, that means that some 70
percent of paper, cardboard, glass, metals, plastics, rubber, leather, textiles, wood,
food, yard trimmings and inorganic waste is still incinerated or buried in landfills.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
has witnessed the amount of waste produced in the U.S. rapidly increase over the past four
decades. A 2001 EPA study estimated that 229 million tons of wastes were produced that
year, a nearly threefold increase from the 88 million tons of waste produced in 1960.
There are some positive trends: In 1960,
just 6.3 percent of total U.S. waste was recycled, only a fifth of what is being recycled
today. And in a more recent years’ comparison, some 68 million tons of waste were
recycled or composted in 2001, compared to 34 million tons just 10 years earlier.
Write your local and state representatives
and urge them to support efforts that will further these positive trends and increase
recycling. And write to the companies you patronize to encourage them to undertake less
wasteful practices such as over-packaging and the use of disposable containers.
9) National Parks, Forests and
Wilderness
Air
pollution, road development and inadequate funds for upkeep are just a few of the problems
facing America’s national parks. From Glacier Bay to the Mojave Desert, some of our
nation’s most spectacular regions are endangered. Write to the National Parks Service
and ask them to protect the parks from these ongoing threats. Roadless areas need
protection, too, to preserve our forests and other wild areas. The Bush administration has
decided to roll back a plan put in place by the Clinton administration to ban
road-building and logging on nearly 60 million acres of some of the wildest land remaining
in the United States. Two million Americans have said they favor the “roadless rule.”
Ask your representative to sponsor legislation protecting roadless areas.
10) Protect Animals
Dolphin
deaths dropped a whopping 97 percent after “dolphin-safe” labels started
appearing on tuna cans in 1990. But now the fishing industry with the support of the Bush
Administration is trying to redefine what it means to be dolphin-safe, a move that will
only compromise the well being of these graceful and intelligent animals. Write Secretary
of Commerce Donald Evans and Secretary of State Colin Powell to tell them to stick with
the current definition of “dolphin-safe.”
Norway
still hasn’t signed the international whaling moratorium, and Japan continues to
conduct “scientific” whaling, though the spoils of this activity are ending up
in pricey Tokyo restaurants. Let the Japan and Norway embassies know that killing whales
is not acceptable.
CONTACTS:
To locate your Senator and his or her address, go to: www.senate.gov;
to locate your Representative in Congress, go to: www.house.gov; Food and Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville MD 20857-0001, 1-888-INFO-FDA (1-888-463-6332), www.fda.gov;
Kellogg’s, P.O. Box CAMB, Battle Creek, MI, 49016, (800) 962-1413, www.kelloggs.com; Kraft Foods, Inc., 1 Kraft Court
Glenview, IL 60025, (800) 323-0768, www.kraftfoods.com; President George W. Bush, The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, president@whitehouse.gov;
Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch, www.mbayaq.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp;
Royal Caribbean Cruises, 1050 Caribbean Way, Miami, FL 33143, (305) 539-6603;
National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240, (202) 208-6843; Secretary
of Commerce Donald Evans, Room 5516, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Constitution
Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20230, (202) 482-2000, devans@doc.gov;
Secretary of State Colin Powell, U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street NW, Washington,
DC 20520, (202) 647-4000; Embassy of Japan, 2520 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
20008, (202) 238-6700; jicc@embjapan.org; Norway Embassy, 2720 34th Street NW,
Washington, DC 20008, (202) 333-6000, emb.washington@mfa.no |
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