Evanston Review: Celebrate Earth Day by Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
Filed under: Earth 911 - April 17, 2008
There’s never been a more urgent time to reduce your carbon footprint. With the U.S. government still opting out of mandatory emissions cuts, it’s up to every individual, business owner and city or state government to take steps. Here are 10 ways to get you started in time for Earth Day.
- Step-up recycling and composting. Recycling prevents carbon dioxide emissions by saving the energy it takes to make products from new materials and the energy it takes to incinerate or landfill what we discard. And composting food scraps turns organic material back into fertile soil, which itself is an efficient carbon sink. To get started, see www.earth911.org and www.howtocompost.org.
- Stay close or stay put. About half the CO2 we generate comes from our car trips, so walk, bike or take mass transit instead. Air travel also produces huge amounts of CO2, so the less you fly, the smaller your carbon footprint. See www.culturechange.org.
- Eat organic and local. Stick to foods produced organically and you prevent harmful pesticides and fertilizers from polluting air, waterways, soils and family members. And if the food is grown nearby, thousands of pounds of CO2 weren’t emitted getting it to your grocery store. See www.100milediet.org.
- Change out your light bulbs. A compact fluorescent light bulb uses less than a third of the energy of an incandescent bulb to produce the same amount of light—and it lasts 10 times longer. Some CFLs now have three-way capabilities and can be dimmed. Visit Energy Federation, Inc. at www.efi.org.
- Upgrade and unplug. When upgrading any appliances (including computers and TVs), look for the Energy Star logo, which only energy-efficient models can wear. Also, turn off appliances when not in use. See www.energystar.gov.
- Adjust your thermostats. If you don’t need a sweater indoors, your heat is too high. Likewise, in hot weather turn down the AC. Also, keep your hot water at no more than 120 degrees—the minimum temperature to keep the water bacteria-free.
- Plant a tree—or 300! An average tree stores 13 pounds of carbon per year; a mature tree can absorb upwards of four times that amount. Just 300 trees can counterbalance the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that one person produces in a lifetime. See www.americanforests.org/planttrees.
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Check out this US Carbon Footprint Map, an interactive United States Carbon Footprint Map, illustrating Greenest States to Cities. This site has all sorts of stats on individual State & City energy consumptions, demographics and much more down to your local US City level…
http://www.eredux.com/states/