Drive down pollution! You can also eliminate one pound of greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating just one mile of driving.
Californians bought 21.9 billion drinks in aluminum, glass, plastic and bi-metal containers last year. More than 16.2 billion of those were recycled, saving natural resources and extending the life of our landfills.
The U.S. transportation sector as a whole is responsible for almost 9% of the world's total CO2 emissions. That stinks.
Cut your monthly energy bills by as much as 30% by replacing the old equipment in your home with state-of-the-art Energy Star appliances.
CRV stands for California Refund Value. It equals 5¢ for each beverage container less than 24 ounces and 10¢ for each container 24 ounces or greater.
Report "smoking" vehicles. Call 1-800-28-SMOKE to report vehicles with excessive tailpipe emissions.
Shade provided by trees can reduce your air conditioning bill at home by 10-15%. Cool.
Save paper...save resources. Change your printer settings to 2-sided printing to reduce the amount of paper you consume at the office.
Close the loop! Visit greengiftguide.com and discover a wide range of household, recreational and beauty products made from recycled materials.
Unplug your cell phone charger and other household electronics from the wall when you're not using them. Even when they are turned off, they use phantom power.
Use cold water when you can. Water heating accounts for about 13% of home energy costs.
Carpools and vanpools can use High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes and HOV by-pass on ramp meters, which allows you to get to work faster.
Help eliminate the use of disposable plates, cups and utensils. Bring re-usable dishware to work.
Too much and for too long, we seem to have surrendered personal excellence and community value in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product, now, is over eight hundred billion dollars a year, but that GNP — if we judge the United States of America by that — that GNP counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and it counts nuclear warheads, and armored cars for the police to fight riots in our cities. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
Yet the Gross National Product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.
These are the words of Robert F. Kennedy, spoken in 1968 shortly before his assassination.
If Treehugger’s report on secret talks among high level UK government officials is true, then National Geographic must be a crazy-eyed radical publication. The esteemed American magazine, known for making science interesting and accessible, has been discussing peak oil for years. Don’t miss this post at Treehugger.
affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more. (de Graaf [1])
affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by the pursuit of the American Dream. . . .
“A person who undertakes to grow a garden at home, by practices that will preserve rather than exploit the economy of the soil, has his mind precisely against what is wrong with us. What I am saying is that if we apply our minds directly and competently to the needs of the earth, then we will have begun to make fundamental and necessary changes in our minds. We will begin to understand and to change our wasteful economy, which markets not just the produce of the earth, but also the earth’s ability to produce.” -Wendell Berry
This 17-minute talk by Lisa Margonelli of the New America Foundation Energy Policy Initiative moves beyond the rhetoric. It’s a thoughtful look at our attitudes toward oil, the realities of how we use it, and some solutions for weaning ourselves off of black gold:
The academy award winning documentary, The Cove, was a call to action for Münter. Here’s to the dolphins that still need our help and Leilani Münter for reminding us.
Born over two thousand years ago, Roman orator Marcus Cicero was an early supporter of the STAND FOR LESS movement:
“Special care should be taken, if you build yourself, not to go beyond reasonable limits in costliness and splendor. In such extravagance great mischief is done by mere example; for very many are anxious to follow the example of distinguished men. Here there certainly is need of a limit, and of a return to a moderate standard. The same standard ought to be applied to the entire habit and style of living.”
The California Center for Sustainable Energy’s (CCSE) Sustainable Energy Week is almost here. This is CCSE’s largest annual event and is well worth your time if you’re interested in this important topic. Learn more at the CCSE website.
Born over two thousand years ago, Roman orator Marcus Cicero was an early supporter of the STAND FOR LESS movement: