Earth Day 22 April 2008 - What We Can Do

Climate Change Solutions: What We Can Do Right Now

1. Project Switch: Change your light bulbs!

There are now highly efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs that last longer and use less energy than regular bulbs and actually produce more light.

There are other, simple things with household lighting you can do to conserve. Turn off unneeded lights, dim lights when you can and bring natural sunlight into your home when it is feasible.

2. Drive your car differently – or drive a different car altogether!

Buying a fuel-efficient car (like those with DVVT engine) is wonderful. In fact, replacing your gas-guzzling car with a fuel-efficient one is by far the best thing you can do, out of all your choices.

Drive less. Even piling multiple errands into one trip helps and if you can walk instead of drive, even better.

Get your car tuned up. Just a simple tune-up often improves fuel efficiency. Studies have shown that a poorly tuned engine can increase fuel consumption by as much as 10-20 percent.

Slow down, don't race your car's engine, and watch your idling. You can save gas by turning the engine off and restarting it again if you expect to idle for more than 30 seconds.

3. Your house – not too hot, not too cold!

Of course, if you can stand it, by far the best approach is to avoid using air conditioners. Ceiling fans use 80 percent less energy than central air conditioners. By only using ceiling fans you can reduce your annual cooling costs by 10-65 percent.

4. Tame the refrigerator monster!

Did you know that your friendly refrigerator has a voracious energy appetite? It is the biggest consumer of electricity among household appliances and responsible for 10-15 percent of the electricity you use each year.

Older refrigerators, as a rule, are far less efficient than the newest ones - as much as 50 percent less efficient.

Don't set the thermostat too high. Lowering the temperature even 1 degree will make a big difference.

If your refrigerator is always in the sun, then change the location, cover the window.

Get rid of your second refrigerator. If you don't need it, don't waste the energy.

Make sure the doors seal properly, and keep the cool in.

5. Twist the knobs on your other household appliances!

The other big users of energy in your household are your hot water heater and your washing machine. Here are some things to try:

Either turn the hot water heater down. For each 10 degrees reduction in water temperature, you can save 3-5 percent in energy costs.

Try to wash some light clothes by hand.


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6. Green plants with less water, more trees to provide shade.

While it is true that planting more trees will help in the short term because they essentially soak up carbon, they also release carbon dioxide when they die. So it just postpones the problem. But there are other reasons to plant trees - as wind breaks to save energy, and as shade to lower cooling costs.

As for plants, do everything you can in your yard and garden to create ways in which plants use less water. Choose hardier plants, plant things in groups that need more water and put in mulch to help keep moisture in.

When you mow your grass, make sure you do it smartly - with sharp blades, and only when the grass needs cutting. Finally, make sure you water your lawn sparingly.

7. Buy Green Energy, and invest in green energy stocks.

Imagine if we ran out of fossil fuels tomorrow, what would we do? Well, we'd get our electricity from renewable energy, such as solar panels, geothermal and wind power sources. Many utilities now give consumers the option to buy "green power." Ask for it!

Finally, invest in green stocks and renewable energy companies through socially responsible funds. They perform just as well (if not better) than all of the unfiltered funds.

9. Go organic.

Even with our vast reservoir of scientific knowledge about farming, most farmers still spray a billion pounds of pesticides to protect crops each year.

Now here's the kicker: when chemical pesticides are used to kill pests, they can also kill microorganisms that keep carbon contained in the soil. When the microorganisms are gone, the carbon is released into the atmosphere as CO2. And when those organisms are gone, the soil is no longer naturally fertile and chemical fertilizers become a necessity, not a luxury.

Eat locally grown food. If the food doesn't have to travel far, there's less CO2 from the trucks that ship it.

Eat fruits and vegetables in season. Again, that saves the enormous transportation costs.

Plant your own vegetable garden. It's not as hard as you might think.

9. Buy recycled.

This may sound simple, but it takes less energy to manufacture a recycled product than a brand new one.

Because many manufacturers don't go out of their way to tout their recycled products, you should know that aluminum and tin cans, glass containers, and pulp cardboard have a fair amount of recycled content. So buy away!

Recycled products can often be considerably cheaper than non-recycled products. Most recycled paper products are of comparable quality and cost competitive with virgin paper products.

Finally, before you buy, check to see if the product or its packaging can be recycled. The recyclable logo (three arrows forming a triangle) is fairly common now.

10. Be a minimalist.

We know it's difficult, but in today's consumer economy, an easy way to conserve energy is to simply use - and buy -- less. Every time you buy something, energy has gone into getting that product to you. So the less you buy, the more you save energy-wise.

Buy in bulk. In short, bulk items use less packaging, which translates into less energy.

Buy one of something, not 21 of something. You don't need 21 pairs of shoes, if one pair works just as well.

Go through your closet. Donate or recycle what you really don't need, then make a pledge not to replace everything you just got rid of.

Buy quality products that will last longer. Over time, you'll obviously buy fewer products that way.

Be creative in what you use for work, play and leisure. You don't always have to buy new products for activities. Re-use in creative ways.

Well, that's it - Earth Day Network's Top 10.

Source: Earth Day Network