Environmental Tip of the Day

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Unplug it! When you leave the house or when you stop using electronics, make sure to unplug them from the wall. Unplugging them will not only be easier on the environment but will also save you money on your electricity bill. Believe it or not, you are still using electricity when your items are plugged even if they are not turned on. Hence the reason your laptop batter is hot even thought the computer is off. This is because electricity is still flowing through.

The ENERGY STAR program, 40% of the electricity that home electronics use is consumed while the products are turned off. One Berkeley study suggests the savings would be 6 to 26% off your total bill.

The Main culprits;

• Cell phone chargers
• Lamps
• Small kitchen appliances
• Sound systems
• VCRs and DVD players
• Computers
• Computer printers
• Cable modems/DSL
• TVs

Environmental Tip of the Day

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Say NO to Plastic Water Bottles.

Instead of wasting money buying numerous water bottles, purchase a reusable water bottle for the same price as a pack of wasteful plastic water bottles. Make sure the water bottle is BPA free. BPA is a cancer causing agent in plastic water bottle. Hence the reason why we should not leave our plastic water bottles in the car on hot summer days. The heat from the sun can cause chemicals from the bottle to seep into the water we digest. So be careful! Reusable water bottles are no more than $5 but of course you can purchase the "fancy" ones. Try this reusable water bottle that tracks how many plastic bottles you save from landfills!


The Facts;

• According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, store-bought bottled water is a rip off. Tap water is often subject to more stringent regulation and testing than bottled water. It costs a fraction of the cost from the tap. It is cleaner, cheaper, and thus healthier.
• Ten percent of the plastic produced every year worldwide winds up in the ocean. 70% of which finds its way to the ocean floor, where it will likely never degrade.
• Every square mile of the ocean has 46,000 pieces of floating plastic in it. (UN, 2006)
• 2,480,000 tons of plastic bottles and jars were thrown away in one year (2008). Tap water is cleaner, cheaper and healthier than store-bought water.
• 60 billion single-use drink containers were purchased in 2006, and 3 out of 4 were thrown out directly after use.
• Plastic bottles are among the most prevalent source of pollution found on our beaches.

Also, go a step further and invest in a water filter for your sink. You can purchase a detachable water filter for your faucet for about $20. Or you can purchase a water filter pitcher. Either way, these two options are a lot more cheaper than buying packs of water bottles every week. This is easier on the environment and also on your pockets!

Four More Years

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Election time is right around the corner. Do you know who you're votin for? What's that? Obama? Of course you are! Check out a couple of the environmental strides President Obama has done for the environmental movement so far;

• Nearly doubling renewable energy usage while our dependance on nasty foreign oil is at a 16 year low!


• Investing in over 15,000 clean energy projects which supported nearly 225,000 clean energy jobs .


• By 2035, Obama proposed that America gets at least 80% of its electricity from CLEAN energy and not dirty coal and/or oil which are horrible for the environment.
• Proposed the first ever carbon pollution standard for diry coal plants which is the leading cause of air pollution from the CO2 it emits daily cause greenhouse gases to pollute the environment and contribute to global warming. Whew! That was a mouth full.
• Signed one of the largest wilderness protections which set aside more than 2 million acres as protected wilderness.
• Investments which contribute approximately $427 million and 3,200 jobs in restoring ecosystems such as Everglades, Great Lakes, and Chesapeake Bay.
• Helped restore more than 5,200 acres of coastal habitat and protect more than 54,000 acres of coastal areas
• National Clean Water Framework which helps ensure the integrity of the water we rely on.
• Established the first-ever national standards for toxic air pollution which will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, and 130,000 cases of asthma symptoms each year.

Remember, Obama is not superman. He is not a dictator either. Therefore, everything he may want to happen, may not happen. Especially with a house full of Republicans who continiuously shoot down every clean energy attempt he proposes. These are a list of his achievement in the environmental movement so far. This says a lot more than what our previous presidents hav done for the environmental movement. Last year, Obama even directed $2 billion to developing solar power plants so that we can take our dependence off of dirty fossil fuels and focus more on using energy from our most natural energy source, the sun. After all, plants do it and they are getting along pretty well if you ask me. And Obama is no hypocrite either. He set a carbon reduction target for the government itself to reduce greenhouse gases emissions by 28% by the year 2020.