SCIENCE, CAMERA, ACTION!
By putting something in a recycling bin, you are cutting back on trash that would end up in a landfill and on the energy used to make something from scratch.
Only 10% of the energy used by an incandescent light bulb produces light; the rest is given off as heat. If every U.S. household replaced four incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, we'd save as much energy as removing seven million cars from the road.
Just by turning off the tap while you brush your teeth, you can save up to 8 gallons of water! That adds up to more than 200 gallons a month, enough to fill a huge fish tank that holds 6 small sharks! The energy used to pump, treat and heat water all contribute to our carbon footprints.
Animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gases. That’s more than the combined exhaust of all transportation! When you eat less meat, you save fossil fuel and keep more greenhouse gases out of Earth’s atmosphere.
Riding a bike is a great way to cut back on pollution. Sure, it might be a little bit more work, but it doesn't release any harmful greenhouse gases into the air. Plus it keeps you fit and is fun too!
The plants in gardens help remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. They also can produce locally-grown food. Locally-grown food is good because it doesn’t require a lot of gas to transport.
Trees are great because they remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
Why not walk? It might take a bit longer, but you are also helping the Earth out by not driving. Driving releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming.
No matter how you look at it, throwing clothes and other goods away can be very wasteful. You can cut back on waste and energy by donating clothes and other goods to a thrift store.
If you look at the life cycle of a plastic bottle, you’ll find that making, transporting, using, and throwing away the bottle all result in CO2 emissions. Bottles with water in them are heavy! Moving bottles requires trucks and a lot of fossil fuel. Opt for a reusable bottle!
Turn off your lights when you don’t need them. Lighting, most of which is from inefficient incandescent lights, uses about 25% of all electricity in the United States. Electricity is produced mostly by burning fossil fuels.
"Sleep" features that power down electronic devices when they are not in use can lower your carbon footprint. It can also save your family up to $70 per year in energy bills!
There are lots of ways to get involved with policy, but it is easiest at the local level. Attend public meetings, be informed about local environmental policy, and speak out on issues. One day, run for public office!
For every person on a bus, it’s one less car on the road. Cars and the gas they burn add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, which contribute to global warming.
Yard sales happen when people sell all the old things they don’t need anymore. This cuts back on trash and also promotes recycling.
Talk to your friends, family, and school teachers. Teach them what you've learned and make your house and school as green as possible. Think of ways to raise awareness & educate others to make a difference in your local community.
Trains transport lots of people and goods. If all those people drove cars, or all those goods were trucked, then they would be releasing a lot more planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Electric driers use a lot of energy—energy that likely comes from burning fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases. It doesn’t use any energy to just throw your clothes on a clothesline and wait for them to dry!
Turn off the TV if no one is watching. The energy powering your TV is, more likely than not, from the burning of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels account for 86% of annual energy use in the U.S.
If you are going to get a ride to school, why not take more than just yourself? The more people in a single car, the less other cars need to be on the road.
Simply turning off your TV, DVD player, stereo, and unplugging your iPod and cell phone charger when not in use, will save you thousands of pounds of CO2 a year.
Food from a farmer's market comes from nearby. Buying close food means less energy is required to transport it, which means less gas is burned to get the food to you.
Ask your parents to visit a farm stand or farmer’s market. Currently, the average meal travels nearly 750 miles from the farm to plate. That’s the distance to Canada—and nearly the distance to Mexico!
Solar power is anything (solar panels, for example) that uses energy from the sun to create electricity. Solar power is great for the environment because it doesn’t burn gas.
Wind power is any type of power that comes from wind—anything from massive wind-turbines to small windmills. Wind power is great for the environment because it doesn’t burn gas.