Anyway, it appears that the single thing that can be done is stop living out the egomaniacal idea that this planet was made for us. We continue to propagate our species like there's no tomorrow, pun intended. Nature depends on balance and diversity of all living things and as we continue to tip that balance and mess with the diversity we will pay dearly. "Man did not weave the web of life, we are merely a strand in it."

We have been living outside the laws of nature for far to long. Of all living this on this planet not one of them has had a bigger impact then humans. When we as humans decided what on the planet gets to live and what gets to die, we sealed our own fate. This was once left to nature but apparently we thought nature had it all wrong.

Unless we truly understand that the laws of nature apply to EVERY living thing we will continue to live out this crazy nightmare, continue having babies, continue tipping the balance and messing with the diversity of nature until eventually, and it will happen sooner than later, the laws of nature will take care of all of it for us and it won't be pretty.

1) Turn off or reduce streetlights late at night, unless a place is open all night. I've seen small towns across the country lit up like daytime in the middle of the night with no one awake. What a waste of electricity. Put them on a timer and turn off at midnight.

2) Turn off decorative lights and floodlights on monuments and businesses late at night.

3) Plan your automobile trips better. For instance, stop at the grocery store on you way home from work instead of going home and going back out.

4) If feasible, take the bus, train or streetcar to work. Better yet, if you live within a mile of work, walk.

5) If you have Amtrak or other passenger train service, take the train between cities instead of flying. Oak Ridge National Laboratory says Amtrak uses 18 percent less energy (BTUs) than driving per passenger.

6) Fly as little as possible. Jets place CO2 high up in the atmosphere in their contrails and may cause high-level Cirrus clouds to form quicker than they would normally. High level clouds act like a blanket and warm the earth, whereas low clouds have a cooliong effect.

7) Use tap water (with a filter if wanted). This saves the emissions that bottling water plants cause and also saves the cost and emissions of transport of the water to stores. Also the plascic bottles use energy to produce and clutter up landfills.

8) Turn down your thermostat in the winter by 2 degrees and turn up in the summer 2 degrees.

9) Whenever possible, shop at a local farmers market or buy from stores that carry locally-grown vegetables and fruit. This saves tons of CO2 emissions by saving on transportation.

10) Buy a car only big enough for your family. Why have a large SUV when there's only one or two in your family. This not only saves gas money, but saves on emissions.

11) Not only turn off your computer and TV when not in use, but also unplug them. Even though they aren't on, they still draw some electricity when left plugged in.

12) Businesses should encourage tele-commuting (working from home or a nearby office instead of driving to work). This would save the energy and CO2 emissions from commuting to work.

13) Broadcasters should consider going off the air late at night like they used to do back in the 1950s. Why have thousands of TV or radio stations on 24/7? Put the planet to bed at night.

14) Change as many incandescent light bulbs in your house or business as possible to flourescent or LED (which use even less electricity and last longer than flourescent and don't have any mercury or other pollutants. I understand they will become available and be omnidirectional by the end of 2008). As a last resort, use smaller wattage incandescents.

15) Don't use leaf blowers. What a waste of energy and cause of unnecessary greenhouse gases. Use a RAKE or BROOM to clean your driveway or sidewalk and quit polluting with the electric or gas-driven leaf blowers.

16) Manufacturers should stop using the large, thick plastic containers that seal contents of packages, such as music CDs, flash drives, ink cartridges, etc. Use recycled paper as packaging instead and put a theft-coded device on them instead. The plastic wrapping is hard to get off, wastes energy getting produced, clutters up landfills.

17) Never purchase the fresh "Catch of the Day" at seafood restaurants. The transportation of these fresh fish creates tons of greenhouse gas emissions, especially if you live in the middle of the country.

http://www.trainweather.com/green.html

Ken

Personally, I'm calling for a greater reliance on
electronic books within the publishing industry.
Not only do they save trees, they also offer
much functionality:

http://chesscoach1978.blogspot.com/

http://thechesscoachexperience.wordpress.com/

Let's all care to make a difference!

David
http://www.getwithgreen.com