This blue-green planet we live on, called Earth, as far as scientist can tell, is the only planet that can sustain human life. The atmosphere has the perfect mix of air that we need to breathe and that plants and trees need for survival.

The earth is the perfect distance from the sun, allowing temperatures optimal for habitation of millions of specials of animals and plants, and it keeps the planet’s vast oceans at a temperature where the many species of fish survive.

In short, the planet Earth supports every species in the food chain, from the bottom to the top.

If the planet were to cool permanently, even a few degrees, there would be vast problems created. For instance, what if snow came earlier and stayed later in the Midwest; production of the grains grown there would decrease sharply, creating not only a grain shortage, but a meat shortage as well.

More importantly, what would happen if the earth were to heat up several degrees permanently? The ocean water temperature would no longer support plankton, which support fish, which support birds, and so on up the food chain.

The weather would greatly change; as the atmosphere heats, rivers and oceans evaporate. The levels of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere would
increase, making the quality of our air, the air that you and I breathe everyday, unsafe.

Every degree that our atmosphere changes is harmful to the life cycle of all humankind in some way. Think Globally!

When I think of deforestation, I think of the vast “slash and burn” operations that were carried out in the 1970’s, and I think about how it affected the
wildlife more than our atmosphere.

The earth has immense forests, which play an important part in the sustainability of habitation. Trees and plants take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen in the spring and summer; in the fall, they drop their leaves which give off carbon dioxide. This cycle seems to keep the CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels in the atmosphere balanced throughout the year. If only human’s could have this impact!

Without leaf cover, the albedo (surface reflectivity) changes; what used to be lush and green (rainforests) becomes dry and reflects the rays of the sun back up into the biosphere, trapping heat. Without the forests creating oxygen, the balance in our atmosphere becomes tenuous. The balance of the gases in the earth’s sub
stratosphere is delicate, and their stability is of great importance to anyone who needs air to breathe.

Human activity, like cutting down forests and overgrazing land, can change the climate, not only where it is happening, but around the world. Rising temperatures in the atmosphere have long-term effects on the ocean and the polar icecaps which have the
potential for wreaking havoc with the climate worldwide.

It is of utmost importance that the forests worldwide are protected; by protecting this vast resource, we protect our planet and our future. Plant trees!

It seems almost inconceivable to think that starting my car and letting it run for five minutes to get the heat or air conditioning going has any effect on the earth’s pulse, but when you multiply that millions of times, there’s no doubt that it has a serious effect.

Simple things that we do, or don’t do, have an effect on our planet’s precious atmosphere. How many times a week do you go to the coffeehouse and get your coffee in a paper or cardboard cup? You might have thought about how many years it takes for that cup to decompose, but have you thought about the energy that
went into the production and transportation of that cup? Multiplied by…?

Do you reduce, re-use and recycle? Make it a goal to reduce the amount of garbage you produce by recycling and composting. Your town office or city hall will provide you with a list of how to separate your items for recycling. Every item that you can re-use or recycle is one less item in the landfill.

One of the simplest ways to help is to purchase and use cloth shopping bags. The hard part is remembering to take them out of the car and into the store, but once you get into the habit, it becomes second nature. Resolve to not accept plastic bags in a store.

Traveling in a gas-powered vehicle as little as possible is a great way to conserve. Walk or bike whenever and wherever you can; it’ll help the planet and your health. If you live in the city, use public transportation. Likewise, if you live in the country, carpool to work and instead of making several trips a week to run errands, save them for one trip.

If you take the time to think about your daily activities, and how you can do them a little differently, you may find yourself not only helping the environment, but helping your wallet. Do only full loads of laundry and dishes; cut your shower by two minutes; switch to energy-saving light bulbs; turn your refrigerator and air conditioner up a single degree and turning off your electronic devices at night are all painless ways to help.

Challenge yourself to think before you act for a few days and you will surprised at how easy it is to begin the process of going green.

Wouldn’t it be great if we can produce our own green energy source? If we can do that, we don’t have to pay electrical bills or gasoline anymore for our cars. While we can buy some of the equipment, the rest will have to be done on our own.

Take solar or wind energy for example. We already know how to harness and make it. If you want to make one, do some research online and then set up the system yourself.

To have solar energy, you will need to buy an inverter, battery, charge controller, solar panels, some wires and support structure. The only difference with wind energy is that you need a fan. Once you have everything you need, you can put it all together.

If you are not skillful, you will be happy to know that some companies sell the entire system. By buying it from them and having it installed by their experts, you are sure that there won’t be any problems the moment you switch it on.

There is one more thing you need before you can use one or the two green energy sources. Before you buy the materials or the system, make sure you have a flat area that is about a hundred square feet or so because it occupies a lot of space.

For those who don’t have the space or the budget to use these two energy sources, another option is to create your own biofuels.

Biofuels are used in many countries and they get it from harvesting corn, sugar and other crops. Luckily, you don’t need a farm to produce it because you can also make your own using some recycled waste.

A good example of this is vegetable oil which we use for cooking. To turn this into a biofuel, we first filter it by warming up the liquid and then filtering this with a coffee filter. The next step is to remove the water also by boiling it again at 100 degrees for a short period of time.

We need to know the amount of lye present in the vegetable oil and we do this by a process known as titration. When we are done with that, we now mix sodium hydroxide to produce sodium methoxide.

The process of converting used vegetable oil before it becomes a biofuel takes quite awhile and it must be heated the entire time. This is done so the fuel we produce is pure and only when this is achieved that we give it time to cool.

Just how much biofuel we make after all the work varies but you will have an idea of how much you have produced since this is the one you see floating at the top. If there is still some glycerin present, filter it again. From there, you already have your own backyard biofuel which you can use and even sell to those who are just as concerned with the environment as you are.

By making our own green energy sources, we make ourselves less dependent on gasoline in its various forms to power our heater, home or car. Why don’t a lot of people do it? Well simply because they don’t have the time to make it and would rather rely on someone else to do it for them.

Created to promote awareness of the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, EarthHour.org used the simple action of turning off the lights in Sydney,
Australia for one hour on March 31, 2007 to call attention to Global warming.

Over 2.2 million residents and in excess of 2100 business turned off their lights for one hour; the results were a 10.2% reduction in energy in the city.

Armed with this knowledge, the organization went around to globe to spread the word and to arrange for Earth Hour to take place in cities all over the world.

On March 29, 2008, major cities, including Dubai, San Francisco, Bangkok, Chicago, Tel Aviv, Manila, Copenhagan and Toronto participated in Earth Hour. Savings varied from city to city, but the end result was an approximate savings of 8.4%.

In Bangkok electricity usage was decreased by 73.34 megawatts which, over one hour, is equivalent to 41.6 tons of carbon dioxide.

Earth hour is about awareness. If every person remembered to shut off lights in empty rooms at home or in the office, took a slightly shorter shower and walked to the coffee shop instead of driving, it would make a difference in our demand for electricity.

If businesses turned off copiers and computers at night instead of leaving them on standby power, the savings would add up, not only for the environment but for their checkbooks as well.

Mark your calendar for March 27, 2010 and join the fight against global warming. Together, we can make a difference.

Check out http://www.earthhour.org/ for more information.

It’s always been a concern that the average gasoline-powered vehicle is a serious detriment to the environment. The big cars make a lot of noise on the roads, and fuel emissions are supposedly horrible for our ozone layer. What can a person to do to make the environment better for all of us? He or she may want to purchase a hybrid car. The hybrid car, the next wave of the future, is known for its more positive impact on the environment. The impact of hybrid cars on the environment is explained below.

Worried about all noise on the roads? The conventional automotive cars generally are responsible for a lot of noise emissions because of the sounds of their motors. However, because a hybrid car uses an electrical motor, its noise emissions are greatly reduced when compared to fuel-powered cars. At low speeds, the noise emissions of hybrid cars are optimal for the public.

However, if the public has a disability, there may be a problem.

Low noise emissions can be a problem because the blind or visually impaired depend on the loud noises vehicles make while running or idle. Without that noise, the visually impaired find it very difficult to cross the street safely. Therefore, this group of people is negatively impacted by the reduced noise emissions of the hybrid car. However, noise emissions are not the only change hybrid cars bring to the environment.

Hybrid cars help reduce the amount of smog that is in the air. Therefore, the general respiratory health of the public benefits from the use of hybrid cars.

So if you are looking for cleaner air, and more peace and quiet when you go outside, you may be hoping that people start purchasing hybrid cars. The only problem is that hybrid cars come at an expensive price. They cost much more than petroleum-fueled cars.

The cost of hybrid cars is higher because of extra batteries, extra electronics, and sometimes, other considerations related to design. However, there can be trade offs.

Some people think hybrid cars may be able to pay for themselves because of the savings in gas. However, that is very debatable. It depends on the number of miles traveled, the cost of fuel, and sometimes subsidies from the government.

In April of 2006, Consumer Magazine said in one of its articles that hybrid cars would not pay for themselves in 5 years. However, there was a mathematical error in that article. When the error was corrected, it was shown that the hybrid car could pay for itself in a little less than five years.

However, how much money a hybrid car will actually save a person is still a controversial issue. Some say, the savings are big. Some say they are small. In any case, the actual savings seem difficult to predict and affected by various factors.

In countries that are trying to lessen pollution and contamination, it may cost more to own any vehicle other than a hybrid car. Therefore, if you are living in a county with a pollution problem, a hybrid car may be the best choice for you.

If you think you can’t make much difference in the global warming crisis, think again. There are many different steps you can take, and combining those with the contributions of other individuals can make a surprisingly big difference to the final outcome. In fact, “taking steps” is almost literally one of the things you can start with, in your effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Transportation is one of the big areas of concern when it comes to global warming. After all, it was society’s love of gas-guzzling, carbon-emitting vehicles that really got the greenhouse gas thing going in the first place. So this is where people can start making a big difference. And the first thing you can do here is to start walking. Don’t hop in a car to go down the block for milk. In fact, don’t even hop in the car to go two blocks.

Start walking as much as you can, if the place you need to go is just a few blocks away. You’ll get to know your neighborhood much better than you do now, and you’ll get more regular healthy exercise. It’s sort of a win-win thing, isn’t it? Even if you need to go a few blocks to shop, and you worry that the load will be too heavy for you to carry back, you can buy one of those long-handled carts that can hold a few shopping bags. If you have several errands to do, plan a circuit to follow, to walk between them all but not overtax yourself by criss-crossing back and forth.

The next useful step, if the distance is just a bit too far to walk, might be to get a bicycle. A good wicker basket on the handlebars can probably contain most of what you’d be buying during a “quick run to the store,” or this emission-free vehicle can get you to appointments or perhaps to a friend’s place. Once again, you’ll get to know the neighborhood and you’ll be getting exercise while you cut down carbon emissions. Most of the time, even if you aren’t sure the main roads are safe for bikers, you can find quieter routes to get where you’re going.

But of course, some distances are just too long for either walking or biking. Don’t assume that you absolutely have to use a car even now, though, especially if you’ve got a good transit system in your area. A great many of these systems have begun to switch to environmentally friendly vehicles, and of course in many larger cities there are subways that use electrical power. Some cities that have train systems have started using windmill power to run them. So you may have some options for lowering your carbon footprint even if you have to travel for longer distances through your city or town.

However, it does seem that sometimes you just can’t avoid using a car. This will be where your commitment is really tested. Do you have a ZipCar, AutoShare, or some other kind of car sharing setup anywhere near you? These companies and others have arrangements where people can use a car just for the time period they need it, and then return it. In a larger city especially, where the air gets clogged with engine exhaust and you’d have to worry about idling and then high parking charges, a rental system like this is frequently an excellent answer.

But of course the ultimate answer, if you have to own a car, is to get as environmentally friendly a vehicle as you possibly can. The Toyota Prius has been on the roads for a few years now, and many other companies have begun bringing out their own hybrid electric-gas cars. Electric, battery-operated cars are also becoming more widely available. As they get more common, the price will go down, but even before that happens, this might be considered a long-term investment in the future of the planet.

Changing your mode of transport is not the only thing you can do to live green and help in the fight against global warming. You can change eating and buying habits, and of course you can recycle. But starting to walk more, or cycle, or even switch to a more responsible vehicle, will not only be healthy for the planet, but will increase your own health as well.

Today, much of the world’s electricity is still produced through coal plants and water turbines. Coal is a non-renewable source of energy; its combustion releases greenhouse gases and soot. Water turbines require the building of large dams, severely disrupting surrounding ecosystems.

A top priority should be reducing the amount of electricity we use. However, a modern home has many electrical appliances and technologies. It would be unrealistic for your family to stop using the fridge, or to prohibit research for homework on the computer. On the other hand, some fridges and some computers use far less energy than others.

The next time you purchase an appliance or an electronic device, must you look up the energy specifications of potential buys? Quick, grab a notebook and write down the energy stats for all 20 cubic feet fridges. But thanks to Energy Star, we can be lazy.

Energy Star is a designation given to appliances and other electronic products that utilize less energy. Emerging first in 1992 as a government program in the United States, the Energy Star Standard has since then been adopted in Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the European Union. It is now considered an international standard.

What appliances are eligible to receive the Energy Star? They must use significantly less energy than their standard counterparts. An Energy Star dishwasher, for instance, must use at least 41% less energy than a regular dishwasher. A refrigerator, on the other hand, needs a 20% reduction to qualify for Energy Star. An Energy Star air conditioner uses 10% less electricity.

Electronics are also subject to Energy Star standards. An Energy Star television, for instance, uses 30% less electricity. Battery chargers, VCRs, and cordless phones must use 90% less energy than average to qualify for Energy Star.

The Energy Star qualifications around computers are more stringent. The new Energy Star standard requires that the computer’s power supply unit follows the 80 PLUS program. What does that mean? The power supply unit must be at least 80% efficient at 20%, 50% and 100% power loads. So if the unit receives 1000 watts of power, it should be using at least 800 watts of it.

When purchasing appliances and electronics, look for the Energy Star logo. Most department, home improvement and furniture stores should have a few Energy Star options in each category. The Energy Star tag attached to the item will clearly lay out how much electricity and money you would save by using this appliance in one year.

Nothing is perfect, and the Energy Star system is no exception. For instance, in December 2008, the Environmental Protection Agency of the Inspector General published a report on the Energy Star program. The report found that Energy Star’s claims of energy reduction were inaccurate, or unverified.

The testing of energy efficiency flouts the basic methods of research. The manufacturers tested their own products, and submitted their own results—a blatant conflict of interest. The data submitted by manufacturers was rarely verified by Energy Star. Outdated tests were used, when new methods were available. Although Energy Star may be unreliable, it remains the best system for determining energy savings. However, to ascertain your choice, do additional research.

Global warming and the combustion of petroleum fuels are two huge concerns for environmentalists. To combat these two problems, we are frequently encouraged to drive less, and to drive more efficiently. Since the early 2000s, the auto industry has seen a trend toward more fuel-efficient cars—and a dramatic increase in hybrid vehicle sales.

What is a hybrid vehicle? A hybrid automobile uses more than one type of energy to move itself. Most commonly, hybrid vehicle refers to a hybrid electric vehicle, such as the Toyota Prius, and the Honda Insight. These vehicles contain both an internal combustion engine, as well as an electric motor.

The reasons for choosing a hybrid vehicle are not immediately obvious. However, let’s compare fuel efficiencies. A minivan, such as the Ford Freestar, gets about 16 miles per gallon in the city, and around 22 miles per gallon on the freeway. A fuel-efficient subcompact, such as the Honda Fit, gets about 27 miles per gallon in the city, and 34 miles per gallon on the freeway.

The Honda Fit sounds pretty good. However, let’s take fuel efficiency to another level with a hybrid. The Toyota Prius, the most popular hybrid vehicle in today’s market, gets 48 miles in the city, and 45 miles on highways. With the same volume of fuel, the hybrid can go almost triple the distance of a minivan.

You may have noticed something unusual about the Toyota Prius’s stats: it runs more efficiently in the city than on the freeway. All hybrid vehicles share this characteristic. While traditional cars burn gasoline uselessly at red lights, modern hybrids share what is called the start-stop system.

The hybrid’s internal combustion engine automatically shuts off when the vehicle is not moving, to conserve gas. When the car needs to start moving again, the engine restarts. The start-stop system can save 5-10% fuel.

Also integral to the hybrid’s success is its use of regenerative braking. When the brakes are applied in a traditional car, the kinetic energy of the car is bled off as heat. In a hybrid, however, such energy is too precious to waste. The braking system uses the kinetic energy to charge the car’s battery.

Often, the gasoline pumped into the hybrid is not directly used to propel the car. Instead, the internal combustion engine, by burning the gasoline, charges the car battery, which then runs the car’s electric motor. This results in much greater efficiency.

Because the internal combustion engine is not frequently used to propel the car, it is smaller than that of a pure gasoline vehicle. Consequently, a hybrid vehicle’s internal combustion engine releases fewer emissions. Another consequence of the electric motor is the silence. Hybrids are known as very quiet vehicles. However, to achieve high speeds, the internal combustion engine must supplement the electric motor, resulting in slightly more noise.

Hybrids are inexpensive, usually selling for $18000 to $28 000. Easy to maintain, they are not only fun to drive, but cheap to drive! In fact, the Toyota Prius has monopolized the Vancouver taxi industry. Please consider purchasing a hybrid. Let’s cut emissions!

So you’ve made a bunch of changes in your attempt to live a greener lifestyle. You walk or bike more than you drive, you’re saving all the energy you can in your home, and you’re dutifully recycling as much as possible. You even make your own compost for your garden, and try not to use chemicals there. What else is left?

Rather a lot, actually. You’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase “money is power,” but when it comes to going green, your buying power can really make a difference. You can initiate a considerable change in your lifestyle, and benefit the planet in the meantime, by reconsidering how you buy things, and what you buy in the first place.

Start with your own clothes. Natural fibers, especially those that have been produced with organic methods, are not just healthier for you, they have been produced in ways that aren’t hard on the ecosystem or the planet. Synthetic fibers are made from oil. Products you buy that are made of these materials contribute a huge carbon footprint to the already overburdened atmosphere, first by the process of being pumped as crude oil from the ground, and then through the process of refining that oil to make your clothes. These are non-green clothes by definition, but oil products almost always have the additional issue of “outgassing” of chemicals into the air, so you’d be breathing in these chemicals as you wear the clothes.

Natural is always best, when you can get it, and if you can get natural clothing from closer to home, that’s even better. Things that are brought across the ocean in container ships automatically contribute to carbon emissions, even if the items themselves are of completely natural fibers. If you can support more local industries when you buy clothes, you will be dressing in a healthier way, and you can keep those industries healthy as well. Even throw rugs with synthetic rubber backing will suffer the same “outgassing” problems as the clothes. Can you buy cotton throw rugs instead?

And what about other products? Do you buy green cleaning products? Many companies are trying to exploit a “green” designation, but when you examine the labels on the bottles, they’ve got just as many harmful chemicals as any other cleaning liquid. You need to research which cleaning products really are green and environmentally friendly. Can you do away with plastic containers, which are all produced from oil, as much as possible? Switch to glass jars for storing food and other items wherever you can.

Even furniture can be more green in some cases than others. The material that covers mattresses, or the upholstery on couches and chairs, is usually synthetic and will be doing the same “outgassing” as all the other products derived from oil. Many companies are now providing mattresses and other furniture coverings made of natural materials instead. You can even buy furniture made of wood that has been certified as sustainable wood, harvested in a responsible way. Or you can buy furniture made from reclaimed wood.

You may think you’ve already done all you can to make a switch to green living. But take a few moments and stand in the center of the rooms in your house or apartment, and just look around for a while. It’s likely you’ll begin to see a great many other ways of changing to a greener lifestyle, just by using your purchasing power.