Archived Features May 07
Earth Day isn't One Day, It's Everyday
If everyone consumed as much as North Americans, we would need five planets to sustain our high-waste, high-pollution habits.
Each of us can make a difference. By learning more about our individual impact, we can significantly reduce the amount of pollution and waste we produce as a whole. It can start with something as simple as buying fewer pieces of clothing or driving one less day per week.
Show your commitment to decreasing your impact on our One Planet by signing this pledge and learning more from the resources provided by Care2.
Pledge to Live a One Planet Life!
Jail Junk Mail
For those of you who are like me and hate junk mail, there are ways to put a stop to it. I have to assume that some people actually like receiving these time wasters or companies wouldn't waste the billions (yes, BILLIONS!) of dollars per year sending it out. I don't know who these people are, maybe folks who don't get alot of other mail? They are probably the same folks who actually read spam.
Credit card companies spent over $4 billion dollars in direct mail marketing in 2006!
Junk mail is not only a time waster and an identity theft hazard, it's an environmental issue. Think of the paper wasted, the energy used to print and pack, the gas sucked up in transport, the tons of trash added to the planet, not to mention the strain to the poor mailpersons.
To produce junk mail for one year, we use 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water!
Junk mail is also insulting. What do I mean? Ever wonder why you started receiving catalogs for kitchen goods after purchasing a shiny blender on a credit card? I did. I found out that my credit card company sold my information to a "partner company", a euphamism used to enable them to adhere to privacy guidelines regarding selling client information. Oddly enough, this "partner company" was a catalog printer, how handy...assuming of course that I desired fancy and utterly useless kitchen gadgets that I would naturally charge on the same credit card.
There is hope to get out from under the daily onslaught. Below are links that you can use to remove your name and address from direct mailing lists.
For those of us who want to be removed from mailing lists and make a difference at the same time, there is Green Dimes. For a dime a day, 36$ per year, Green Dimes will stop your junk mail and plant one tree per month in your name.
For companies still receiving bulk mail intended for employees that no longer work at the company, Ecological Mail Coalition offers their mail handling services. Report your employee's name once and stop wasting time and money dealing with their junk mail forever.
Links to Help You Jail the Mail
Opt Out Prescreen
Do It Yourself
Federal Trade Commission
How I Managed to Stop Our Junk Mail
Kids are Earth's Friends Too!
Kids can make a difference, they know they can, they just need to know how they can help. Planet Pals is a kid friendly, fun website that gives our next generation of earth guardians the information they need to start making a difference today.
Resources for parents and teachers are also provided. Ideas are fun and interesting, proving that caring for the planet doesn't have to be a drag.
Planetpals Earthzine is a colorful monthly e-zine of fun and fact about our planet and everything in it . Just like everything at Planetpals, every issue of EARTHZINE promises to provide you with exciting entertainment and education.
Offset Your Carbon Pollution Contribution
Climate change has become the most pressing environmental issue of this century. But while most Americans agree that we must do something, the challenge seems too great, too complicated for any one of us to make a difference -- until now.
Black carbon pollution is the release of tiny particles into the air from burning fuel for energy. Air pollution caused by such particulates has been a major problem since the beginning of the industrial revolution and the development of the internal combustion engine . Scientific publications dealing with the analysis of soot and smoke date back as early as 1896. Mankind has become so dependent on the burning of fossil fuels (petroleum products, coal, and natural gas) that the sum total of all combustion-related emissions now constitutes a serious and widespread problem, not only to human health, but also to the entire global environment.
Check out Burning Issues for more info about the medical, financial, and environmental effects of air pollution.
Two organizations offer options to help offset their pollution contributions.
Carbon Counter allows individuals to offset their car, home or air emissions or offset the the carbon footprint of the average American. The donation amount needed to offset your choice will be determined by your answers to questions about your habits and usage. The donation amount was surprisingly small for our two person, 1 car household.
Go Zero, a program operated by The Conservation Fund offers both individuals and corporations the opportunity to donate to offset their pollution contribution. The calculator will estimate your carbon footprint for the year, as well as the number of trees it will take to neutralize your personal impact on climate change.