Global Warming –
What are the Issues? What can I do?
Global warming
is front stage these days in international and national discussions
and policy debates. Vice President Al Gore’s movie, An
Inconvenient Truth, is a good starting point for people
interested in exploring this issue.
Two other
sources of information about global warming and other environmental
issues are:
Issues like global warming often seem too big
for us to change – the question is often, “Yes,
but what can I do?”
Here are 10 simple things you can do and how
much carbon dioxide you’ll save doing them.
You can do them at
home or at your work place.
One:
Change a light. Replacing
one regular light bulb with a compact
fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of
carbon dioxide a year.
Two:
Drive less.
Walk, bike, carpool, or take mass transit more
often. You’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide
for every mile you don’t drive!
Three:
Recycle more
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per
year by recycling just half of your household
waste.
Four:
Check your tires
Keeping your
tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage
by more than 3%.
Every
gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of
carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!
Five:
Use less hot water It takes a
lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water
by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds
of CO2 saved per year) and washing your clothes
in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per
year).
Six:
Avoid products with a lot packaging You can
save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut
down your garbage by 10%.
Seven:
Adjust your thermostat Moving
your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter
and up 2 degrees in summer could save about
2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
Eight:
Plant a tree A single
tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over
its lifetime.
Nine:
Be part of the solution Be
informed about the global warming issue – there
are many on-line sites and other sources of
information. Remember, if you are not part of
the solution, you are part of the problem.
Ten:
Spread the word! Spread the
word among friends and co-workers. Besides
helping with global warming, many of these also
will positively affect your expenses, as well.
