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Green tips
Green tips

More tips coming really soon!

More tips coming really soon!


Green Tips

What have you done today to preserve Mother Earth?

What have you done today to preserve Mother Earth?

WHAT CAN I DO AT HOME?

Reduce waste

Purchase the right amounts to minimize food waste and the amount of plastic packaging.

Recycle

It's easier than you think!  Find out what type of recycling your community offers and act accordingly.

  1. Dual Stream Recycling: You are asked to sort containers in one curbside bin and papers (newspaper, magazines, direct mail, etc.) in another. Usually the two bins are color-coded (i.e. blue for paper, green for containers, etc.) Both bins are set out on the curb on pick-up day.
  2. Single Stream Recycling: Allows all materials to be commingled in a wheeled, lidded cart (65 or 94 gallon) so you don't have to separate papers from plastics and glass.

 

Conserve water

Turn off the water when brushing teeth for example. Take shorter showers and wait for full loads when doing laundry as opposed to just washing a few items at a time. Same goes for the dishwasher!

Conserve energy

Turn off fans, TVs, radios and other electronics when not using them and when you leave home.

In winter, set your heater a couple of degrees lower, and in summer a couple of degrees higher. Turn off your water heater -- it takes just an hour to heat up and it does not need to be on the whole day! Air dry your dishes and use cold water cycles for both dishes and clothes.

Replace incandescent bulbs with CFL (Compact fluorescent light) bulbs -- they last up to 10 times longer and consume 30 to 50% less electricity.

Buy Energy Star labeled appliances.

 

Cleaning your dryer's lint filter can slash its energy usage by as much as 30%!

 

GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming is when the earth's surface heats up producing a change in global temperatures.  It is produced by the greenhouse effect. Higher temperatures have very dangerous consequences like massive drought, spread of  disease, floods, lost ecosystems and extinction of species. Global warming's effects have already begun.

The average surface temperature of earth has increased more than 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1900 and in the last 30 years, the rate of warming equals the one from the whole last century! In other words, it just took us 30 years to warm this planet as much as other generations did in 100 years. The 21st century could see temperatures rise 3 to 8 degrees.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT

The greenhouse effect is a natural process in which certain gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide) let the sun rays in but not completely out, trapping energy from the sun that warms up the earth.  This energy reaches the surface of the earth and some is absorbed by it and at least 30% is released back through the atmosphere. 

This is actually a benefitial process for us because without these gases, heat would escape back into space and the planet's average temperature would be at least 54 degrees F colder than it is right now. The problem is that with the industrial revolution, humans are producing too many gases and way too fast, so the thicker the cloud, the less heat can escape and the warmer the planet gets! Cars, factories, cattle, planes, deforestation and overpopulation contribute to this problem.


WWF Global Warming:
IGNORING GLOBAL WARMING WON'T MAKE IT GO AWAY
by Masterfill
Eat Lower on the Food Chain
By TDG Community

The animal industry consumes massive amounts of resources and produces massive amounts of waste. Cows excrete tons of methane, a greenhouse gas. Runoff from factory farms finds its way into waterways.

The animal industry also uses massive amounts of water and land. Roughly 70 percent of the grains grown in the United States go to feed animals, who eventually become food. This takes up much of the arable land that could be used to feed people directly. It takes ten times the fossil fuels to produce a calorie of animal food as it does to produce plant food.

The United Nations determined that animal agriculture contributes more to global warming than all transportation sources combined. And the U.S. EPA determined that animal waste causes more pollution than other industrial resources.

How to mitigate this? Reduce (or preferably eliminate) your consumption of animal foods.