Some Reasonable Ways to Help Curb Global Warming
1. Buy bulk: As you amble through the frozen vegetable section, you will notice that some
of the big produce giants like Birdseye will package individual servings in convenient one-serving boil plastic pouches. These pouches contain about 10 ounces of product, and require a disproportionate amount of plastic and paper to produce. Better to buy 2 lb. bags of bulk veggies
instead, as the overall energy required to process in bulk is certainly less than single serves,
not to mention wasting less precious petroleum based plastic. This is true of all bulk products, but be sure you will use them and not throw them away.
2. Use fewer bags at the supermarket: A recent law was passed in San Francisco banning plastic bags, which will certainly save precious petroleum, but until such a ban is mandated nationwide, merely condensing as much of your groceries into as few as bags as reasonably possible will help. Make a game of it. Neatly bag your own, being conscious not to use two bags instead of one, or under-packing single items into single bags. I have observed that most grocery packers overuse bags, or use them with a cavalier disregard of their precious origins, both paper and plastic. Also, save the bags for garbage as well. I often stuff a few of the same plastic bags in my pocket when I go back to the supermarket and reuse them. Don’t worry, no one’s watching.
3. Drive 55: I know, I know, it’s hard, especially when you’re late, or want to get home after a long day, and slowing down means getting flipped off by impatient little old ladies in Chevy Cavaliers, plus, with today’s high performance vehicles, driving 55 MPH on the freeway seems like a turkey trot, to be sure, but slowing down means big, big savings, both in petroleum burned and greenhouse gases produced. According to Jason Mark of the Union of Concerned Scientists, for every mile per hour faster than 55 MPH, fuel economy drops by about 1 percent. The drop-off increases at a greater rate after 65 MPH. The faster you go, the faster the fuel goes. So, a car that gets 35 miles per gallon at 55 MPH will get about 25 miles per gallon at 70 MPH. Pretty dramatic for so little, indeed less, effort.
4. Buy gasoline in the morning: Why? Gasoline is denser during the morning hours when temperatures are colder. Plus, gas pumps measure and charge by volume, not density, so you’ll be getting more solid fuel rather than vapors for your money, and less vapor is discharged directly into the atmosphere, helping to reduce smog and greenhouse emissions, so be an early bird at the pump. And don’t forget to twist the gas pump nozzle 180 degrees when done pumping. This can add up to an extra four ounces to your tank!
5. Look for the Energy Star logo: If you replace 5 light bulbs in your house with those rated efficient as designated by the “Energy Star” logo, your household will save about 700 pounds of carbon dioxide a year from being dumped into the atmosphere and save $90 a year in energy costs. Also, wherever practical, replace regular light bulbs with compact florescent light (CFL) bulbs. Replacing just one 60-watt incandescent light bulb with a CFL will “save you $30 over the life of the bulb. CFLs also last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, use two-thirds less energy, and give off 70 percent less heat”, according to www.environment.about.com’s Larry West.
6. Buy new energy efficient appliances: Contrary to instinct, holding onto an old TV or refrigerator is actually worse for the environment than buying newer, more energy efficient ones. Same goes for toasters, space heaters, blow dryers, etc. Make sure to examine product ratings and power consumption to get an energy efficient model. Newer is better, at least in the overall global environmental sense.
7. Develop an Overall Energy Awarness: Keep energy in mind in all of your daily actions. This includes recycling, of course, but also requires
making seemingly trivial judgements as well. Do you really need to make that late night ice cream run to the Giant Eagle? Can you get by without that prepacked, plastic-fantastic, deliwich ham-and-cheese sub and lotto ticket at the Starvin’ Marvin on the drive home? Keep in mind that every finished product that you touch required resources and energy to make. Sing all of your actions electric. After all, a little done by a lot goes a long, long way.
