6. Addicted to the Bottle
Bottled water might well be one of the most needlessly wasteful products of modern times. The plastic is made from petroleum, at manufacturing plants that consume plenty of energy and spew emissions. Once filled, the bottles are shipped across the country on trucks that consume more fossil fuel and emit more pollutants. And in the ultimate irony, the Pacific Institute has found that three gallons of water are consumed by industry to produce every gallon of bottled water. Also ludicrous: about 40 percent of the water sold in containers comes from regular city water supplies. Then there’s the garbage: Americans purchased 28 billion single-serving water bottles in 2007 and recycled only about 20 percent of them; the rest went into landfills.
The solution is not hard to decipher: drink water from the tap. And if you must have a bottle with you to fend off certain dehydration in case you’re stranded miles and hours away from any possible source of freshwater, buy a reusable bottle and refill it.
7. Save the Beach
Beaches everywhere are vulnerable to ocean pollution and algal blooms. The U.S. had a record number of beach closures and health advisories in 2007. If you would like to protect your favorite beach, contact the Surfrider Foundation at www.surfrider.org. The organization supplies advice and resources on how to test beach water and organize cleanups and provides handy online tools for bringing out volunteers, including the many members of Surfrider’s own network. The site also provides links to services that regularly report on the water quality at specific beaches around the country.
8. Driving 65 miles per hour instead of 75 mph can improve fuel economy by up
to 15 percent.
9. Junk the Mail
The mail you want consumes enough paper. The junk mail you don’t want wastes much more. You can have your name removed from many promotional lists by signing up free at DMAChoice.org. Links to stop telemarketing and e-mail solicitations can be found there, too.
10. At the Office ...
- Print only what you need
- Acquire recycled paper
- Walk, bike or carpool once a week
- Report leaky sinks and running toilets
- Unplug seldom-used machines
- Turn off lights and computers
- Lower the heat after hours
11. Running hot water at a sink for five minutes uses the same amount of energy as burning a 60-watt lightbulb for 14 hours
12. Recycling Hard Stuff
Cell phones: www.recyclewirelessphones.com
Batteries: www.call2recycle.org
Electronics: www.mygreenelectronics.org
Tires: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/muncpl/tires/live.htm
Note: This story was originally printed with the title, "Being Green".
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5 Comments
Add CommentDriving 65 will not reduce greenhouse gases. Driving 70 will. If you want the same amount of water to flow at a slower rate you must increase the pipe size. From 70mph avg to 65 requires 7 percent more lanes or 7% longer rush hours spent doing 0 to 60 mph, stop and go (not good for gas mileage). Get more public transportation to unload the roads then drop your speed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMOST of the country doesn't live in congestion so the comment of slowing down still works for 95% of the nation. But good points though. Problem is in those congested highways, we can't even drive 55mph........ Time to buy a house closer to work and walk.... : )
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswhat?. my low on humidity bottled water is just plain ol tap water? (ha ha ha!), the bottled water is an example of consumer oriented stupidity campaigns, you don't just litter the world with an used PET bottle and pollute the air with dozens of contaminant steps, you also pay an arm and a leg for water you can get for a much lower price by turning a faucet.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyou said it karl. we are subject to our own stupidity. we buy things we don't need or barely use, we drive vehicles to work when we should take mass transit or walk or ride the bicycle.. we, as americans, are a lazy species.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWrong analogy. Cars on highways do not behave like water in pipes at all. For safety, the distance between the cars increases (or should increase) as the speed goes up to allow for the reaction time of the driver which stays the same. So contrary to common believe a mile of road is occupied by less cars when the speed increases because of the increased distance between the cars.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWater in a pipe does not have to keep any distance at all . Also increasing the pipe size is not the same as speeding up. The water will go faster through the same pipe after higher pressure has been applied at the cost of some energy. Similarly more cars will go by in unit time when they increase their speed and keep the same distance between cars at the cost of more energy (fuel in and CO2 out) and the greater risk of accidents with incalculable costs!!!.
Of course widening the road would have a similar effect as increasing the size of the pipe.
The better rule is that at approximately 55 mph the average car uses less fuel than at 70 miles per hour. The average reaction time is adequate to keep a relatively short distance between the cars. So yes, do slow down and you will emit less CO2 and have less accidents.
If (a big if) all cars (actually drivers) drive at a steady 55 mph then there won't be any stop and go traffic and fuel consumption will decrease even more.
It is erratic driving (speeding up only to slow down again) that causes the enormous waste of fuel on our busy highways.
City driving is even more wasteful and the really good fix there is hybrid vehicles who use the electric motor while stopping and starting because of traffic lights,stop signs, yes even pedestrians and congestion in general.
Of course while taking public transportation your car would not use any gas at all as long as nobody else drives your car in the mean time.