Let's all help our planet!

I've been wanting to do a planet friendly post for a while, but needed more suggestions on how we can help our planet. I went to see a presentation by Al Gore a couple of weeks ago, where he addressed the issues in the movie "An Inconvenient Truth". I liked the presentation, but I had the same issues with it that I had in the movie. Basically, he gives a good case for problems that are occurring and says that we can do things to help stop the problems of global warming, but he doesn't give a lot of suggestions of what we can do. There was an article in Cosmo magazine a couple of months ago that I'm going to steal from to list some suggestions here. Scott and I are trying to change more and more of our habits all the time in order to help our planet. I know this may sound hokey to some people, but there really are issues that we should not ignore as the scientific community has agreed that this is a real problem and will not stop unless we make some big changes. If this long, possibly annoying e-mail puts one idea into a few heads that changes even just one habit, then it's worth it!

1. Change a bulb. We've just recently gotten these new Compact fluorescent flight bulbs (CFLs) to replace our old ones with. They used bout 65% less energy than regular ones, last a lot longer, and only cost a little more. This is a super easy way that you can make a big difference.
2. Drive a fuel-efficient car. Driving a typical car for a year produces 95,000 pounds of global-warming pollution. Most of us need to drive to carry on in our daily lives, but our choices for more fuel-efficient cars are getting better and better. Europe is SO FAR ahead of us on this front and we can catch up if our population will just start to make better choices.
3. Recycle! Scott and I have been bad about this because our complex doesn't offer recycling. I've finally decided to quit making excuses and find a place where I can still recycle. It's soooo ridiculous how much trash we all produce (the average American tosses 21 bags of rash a month). Imagine how much difference you can make recycling a large percentage of this! Even e-waste is causing a lot of problems s we have more and more electronic goods that we throw out. You can recycle these as well!
4. Clean green. I don't do this, but it's a great suggestion and I might try to start using eco-friendly household cleaners. Ordinary ones can have potentially toxic chemicals that if you pour down the drain, can get into our groundwater. Examples of Eco-friendly cleaners are Seventh Generation and Mrs. Meyer's.
5. Eat local or organic. I had never thought of this before, but most of the veggies we get are transported long distances, which in effect takes a lot of fuel. If we buy from local farmer's markets, this can save a lot!
6. Buy energy-saving things. This Cosmo magazine had a few suggestions that were clever, but it also suggested looking for the "Energy Star" label on everything from computers to air conditioners. I haven't seen these, but will keep my eye out!
7. Conserve water! This is something that very few people even think about. We saw some info on this at the science center in Balboa Park the other day and there are so many ways that you can conserve water, which can help curve the increasing pollution and drought caused by the more limited water supply around the world. How many people water their lawns every day or every few days, especially in Southern California? I know it's nice to have beautiful lawns, but isn't it a lot nicer to have a beautiful planet! Think of rock or cactus gardens, maybe. Come on, it will grow on us! No pun intended. :D We can also all try to take shorter showers (I'm aweful with this!), try out the water-saving shower heads, turn off the water while we brush our teeth, etc. etc. etc.
8. Adjust your thermostat. How many times do we turn the heat way up in the winter so that we can throw on less clothes? Why not turn down the thermostat and throw on more clothes? If you move your thermostat down a degree in winter and up a degree in summer, you can spare the air 500 pounds of carbon dioxide! Not to mention saving 15% in energy bills (which by the way you could then put to say solar panels!)
9. Use re-usable things like water bottles. We all love to buy the handy single water bottles that we can just trash after one use, but it's cheaper and a LOT more eco-friendly just to have a re-usable one.
10. Shopping bags! I've recently realized how must waste is generated every day by so many people just by shopping bags. I've started taking my paper bags from shopping back to the store every time I shop so that I don't have to get new bags that I would then throw away. It's easy and just think about how much waste is generated otherwise!

Just a few thoughts - thanks for reading!