A number of politicians, particularly many Republicans, are questioning whether global warming is being caused by human activity. Some are now claiming that scientists are split on the issue. Politifact decided to check up on these ridiculous claims:
To begin with, a 2007 report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s leading international scientific body on climate science, states: “Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations. The observed widespread warming of the atmosphere and ocean, together with ice mass loss, support the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely that global climate change of the past 50 years can be explained without external forcing, and very likely that it is not due to known natural causes alone.” (External forcing refers to anything that changes the climate that is outside of the normal climate system.)
A 2009 report from the U.S. Global Change Research Programreached a similar conclusion: “Observations show that warming of the climate is unequivocal. The global warming observed over the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping gases. These emissions come mainly from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), with important contributions from the clearing of forests, agricultural practices, and other activities.”
Current climate change research was reviewed again this year by the National Research Council and the National Academy of Sciences. The committee it assembled concluded that global warming poses significant risksand is happening primarily because of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. It rejected the idea that those findings are in any way questionable.
“Although the scientific process is always open to new ideas and results, the fundamental causes and consequences of climate change have been established by many years of scientific research, are supported by many different lines of evidence, and have stood firm in the face of careful examination, repeated testing, and the rigorous evaluation of alternative theories and explanations,” the committee’s report said.
The scientific consensus on global warming is clear.
The U.S. Navy’s bomb squads have a weight problem. To keep their field gear powered up, the typical explosive ordnance disposal unit has to haul fifty pounds of specialized chargers and related devices around, creating an unwieldy and potentially dangerous drag on the operation.
Now help is coming from an unexpected source: the sun.
The Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Training and Evaluation Unit 2 in Virginia has been testing five prototype lightweight field power kits that include solar cells as a key component. The kits replace fifty pounds of equipment with a compact system that weighs only about nine pounds.
The heart of the kit is a one-pound device called a Soldier Power Manager. The Power Manager functions like a smart micro-mini-grid. In contrast to a portable generator that runs only on diesel fuel, the Power Manager can receive energy from various sources including solar panels and fuel cells. It recharges other devices by cable attachments, eliminating the need for individual battery chargers.
Online classified ads are the best thing to happen to the Earth since the hybrid. With a classified ad, resources can be reduced, reused, and recycled with minimal fuss or difficulty. Let’s look at how online classifieds are saving the planet in more detail.
The average item’s lifecycle consists of many stages:
1. Gathering raw materials
2. Shipping materials to a factory
3. Producing a new item
4. Shipping item to stores
5. People taking the item home
6. The item’s usage
7. Item disposal
8. The item being shipped to a junkyard
9. If the item is not biodegradable (think plastic or metal), it will sit in the junkyard indefinitely
When items are sold in classifieds online, or ‘reused,’ their lifecycle is different:
1. Gathering raw materials
2. Shipping materials to a factory
3. Producing a new item
4. Shipping item to stores
5. People taking the item home
6. The items usage
7. Item given to new owner
8. The items usage
9. Item given to new owner
10. The items usage
11. Repeat
The joy and excitement people feel when they crack open the packaging of a new electronic device or open the box that contains a new bed frame is often the only reason people are willing to pay much more to be the first to own an item. Pragmatically, is there a reason to pay 100% more for something ‘new,’ when gently used electronics or furniture serve the same purpose?
Here are some great points to consider before you go to a store to buy something that could be obtained from a website like eBay. Remember: you can always package your gently used item in plastic wrap and open it like a ‘new’ item.
Reducing Waste
Classified ads save tons of waste every single day, literally. Every time someone decides to sell or give away a piece of technology, a bicycle, or an article of clothing, more space in a landfill stays open. While it might not seem like a few sweaters and a laptop computer or two will make any difference, the small things in life add up.
Cutting Down Paper Usage
Paper takes up a lot of space in a landfill (about 28 percent!), and paper production kills trees. Because the factories and other equipment used in harvesting and processing wood into paper use petroleum-based fuel, using paper is bad for the environment. When you use online classified ads, you save a lot of paper-production pollution.
Saving Fuel
Raw materials have to be delivered, items are produced in pollutant-expelling factories, and then items are shipped to stores (often across the globe) for consumption. That’s a lot of fuel usage for your new iPod!
In Conclusion
The online classified ad is a beautiful thing. With it, you can make friends in the forest by saving paper, and you can save a lot of fuel that’s wasted in the production of new goods. Overall, online classified ads are good for the environment in every possible way. Rather than adding to a landfill when you’re done with an item, pass it on to the next owner who will love it, and find yourself something affordable and gently used in turn!
Do you sigh when you think about all of the lifestyle changes that you would need to make in order to truly go green? There’s no reason to fret, though. In fact, these three ways to go green without even trying will make the world a better place without even forcing you to make huge changes in your lifestyle. That’s something worth exploring.
Reduce Your Office’s Paper Use
Offices can waste a lot of paper. All of those receipts, faxes, and printouts eventually have to go somewhere. Even when you take care to recycle your office’s paper waste, you still place a burden on the environment. It does, after all, take a lot of energy to recycle that paper.
You can reduce your office’s impact on the environment by using the new MetroFax mobile app. This app lets you receive faxes on your mobile phone. That means you don’t have to print out the fax to read it. The app is even more convenient than printing faxes because it allows you to search the last 200 documents that you received.
Make Walking Easier Than Driving
Motor vehicles often seem too tempting to avoid. The tendency is to hop in your car for every errand, even if you’re just going down the street to pick up lunch for your colleagues.
The PedNav app appeals to the lazy part of every person by providing the most time efficient way to get from point A to point B without using your car. When you make walking easier by finding the best route, you could find that the car becomes an unnecessary burden, especially when you consider all of the time that you spend looking for parking spots and sitting at red lights.
Find the Greenest Route for Your Vehicle
Motor vehicles spew a lot of carbon into the air. Reducing the amount that you drive could simultaneously reduce your carbon footprint. The truth, however, gets a little more complicated than choosing the shortest route. You have to consider traffic congestion, speed limits, and other factors to choose the greenest route for your vehicle.
Ecorio does all of that for you. This smart phone app uses GPS technology to keep track of how much carbon your vehicle emits. It does more than just make you feel guilty, though. You can also use Ecorio to find routes that will result in decreased carbon emissions. You don’t have to do anything but ask the app to tell you the best route to take. You can even keep track of your daily habits to make long-lasting changes in behaviors that might harm the environment.
These three apps represent some of the latest technologies that can help you go green without even trying. Sure, you could stop using the fax machine or give up your car, but you don’t have to become an extremist to make positive changes in the world. What are some of ways that you have gone green without doing much more than lifting a finger and touching your smart phone?
How do we know that sustainable energy, also known as alternative energy, is necessary? It’s right there in the description – it’s endlessly available. Fossil fuels, and any fuels provided by a process that takes a very long time, are finite. That means they will run out.
Long before anyone pumps the last gallon of oil-based power, humans need to find, and implement, energy that will outlast the species. Perhaps in the long distant future, people will utilize a method of power production that has not yet been discovered.
In the meantime, several options for sustainable energy already exist; like those provided by www.texaselectricityproviders.com. As a bonus, most options emit less pollution during their usable lifespan than present power generation methods. Following is a smattering of what is available today.
1. Wind power
Harnessing the strength of the wind is something that’s been done for centuries. The concept has been enlarged in the modern era to the point that entire tracts of land are used to hold vast fields of enormous windmills.
These are visible from roads across the country, and many proposals have been put forth to locate even larger wind farms in ocean waters. Many power companies offer a wind subsidy option, whereby people merely pay a bit extra to offset the higher cost of wind power.
But that’s large scale stuff. Did you know that you can purchase, install, and benefit from a ‘personal sized’ windmill also? These mini-mills easily compliment an environmentally friendly home, harnessing the wind’s energy when appropriate.
2. Solar Power
Solar has been viewed for generations almost as poorly as a proverbial black sheep. That has been due in large part to its low power output compared to its cost. In an age of cheap electricity and power, people frown upon anything that costs extra. But solar is poised for a major comeback in coming years.
With per watt prices dropping at the same time that conventional power prices are wobbling, but generally increasing, the two will intersect at price equilibrium in the near future. In the meantime, it’s easy to start building a private solar array by building the battery storage infrastructure and wiring.
The genius of a panel display is that it can be begun with just one panel and expanded as funds become available. This ensures participation in future panel price drops, too. Solar may come with a high cost, but it’s not difficult to participate in future price decreases. In fact, as power consuming children are added to a household, it’s easy to expand a solar power system. Read the rest of this entry »
It used to be if you wanted your home to be clean and free of germs you had to resort to exposing yourself and others to harmful chemicals and toxins. The products used to kill those germs and clean your house were not only dangerous to yourself but to the environment. Luckily, thanks to the green movement people are saying good-bye to harmful cleaning products and cleaning their homes in a cleaner, greener way.
Everyone has to start somewhere when it comes to learning house cleaning using the green method. To start cleaning the green way, here are some suggestions that will help get you started.
Avoid Harmful Toxins and Chemicals
Cleaning products can be very misleading when it comes to how they are labeled. Just because it says it is natural or environmentally safe does not mean that the ingredients inside are actually natural or safe to use.
If you wish to clean your house using the green method, you will want to keep an eye on the ingredients inside your cleaning products. Look for ingredients like grain alcohol or plant oils as these are natural cleaning solutions. If you are unable to find products of this nature consider making your own cleaning products at home so you are 100% certain your cleaning products are safe and environmentally friendly.
Stop Water Waste From Happening
Reducing your water consumption is one of the easiest ways to go green while cleaning. Try to change your habits while cleaning. Instead of leaving the water running while doing the dishes or cleaning the cupboard, shut it off and save the water. When you are washing floors and other areas, try to use as much water as possible before you change the dirty water to clean water. When you’re done with the dirty water, use it for watering the plants outside.
Go High-Tech Green Cleaning
The use of ultraviolet light as a cleaning solution has become extremely popular over the years. The UV light has the cleaning power of bleach but is considered environmentally safe and non-toxic to yourself and your family. UV lights can be used to clean almost any surface in your house from kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms.
Reuse Your Cleaning Products
Going green isn’t just about what types of chemicals and toxins you are exposed to. It can also be about how much waste you produce while cleaning. To avoid environmental waste, try converting to cleaning products that allow you to reuse the packages and products or even using cleaning products in ways that they aren’t necessarily meant for. These products can include cleaning products that let you refill bottles after use and sponges that can be rinsed and reused multiple times. While you will eventually have to replace these items, the ability to reuse them numerous times before replacement will help you reduce your environmental waste.
Going green is a lifestyle change and by implementing some of these green home cleaning tips you will be taking that all important first step to change! How do you clean the green way?
Many companies are going green because it makes sense financially. GM is a great example, as they are installing fields of solar panels at various location.
General Motors broke ground Wednesday on a six-acre field of solar panels in front of its Detroit-Hamtramck plant as part of an effort to green the production of its Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car.
DTE Energy will own and operate the 516-kilowatt system as part of its Solar Currents program, which is installing photovoltaic systems at sites such as Monroe County Community College and a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan parking structure in downtown Detroit.
DTE will lower GM’s energy bill because of the solar panels, which were first reported by the Free Press. That savings, about $15,000 a year, will combine with more efficient lighting and equipment updates to lower Detroit-Hamtramck’s energy costs by nearly $3 million annually.
This is just one of many examples of corporate American being ahead of the curve compared to those who view alternative energy in a skeptical light. This is our future . . .
If you are a designer, then you already know about saving planets. As you design and advertise in a digital world, you’re also reducing the amount of paper you’re using.
What happens when you’re working with graphic design that needs to be physical and not in the online environment?
Bring your planet-saving techniques into the office to help make print jobs more environmentally friendly.
Printing Alternatives
Want to show a co-worker your latest project or report? Try emailing them a screen shot instead of printing out the page. Cartridges and ink are definitely unfriendly for the environment, and printing also uses up paper. If you really must print something, conserve ink by using smaller fonts for words and by printing in black and white instead of color whenever possible. You can also use programs like Skype that will let you video chat and share your screen with others, which helps reduce printing jobs. Set up an electronic office network so you can reduce printing for office announcements.
Use Environmentally Friendly Printers
Although you might do your best to reduce your print jobs, there are times when you will have to use a printer. Try to use printers that are designed to help save energy and reduce ink. Some printers on the market are designed with the environment in mind. They use soy ink and allow for double-sided printing. Some will merge pages so you can print several pages of a report onto one piece of paper.
Of course, you can always consider scanning as an option for reducing print jobs. Instead of using ink, just scan an image or document, and then send it to a co-worker or client by email or through a social networking site. You can also use scans instead of faxes.
Consider using digital printing when you have to do a print job. Digital printing reduces waste since the ink won’t get absorbed by paper with a digital press. The print stays on the top of the paper.
Reduced Printing Can Save Energy
Help the environment by cutting down on the amount of energy you use. Turn your printer off until you need to print a specific project. You might find that this is just annoying enough that you will find reasons why you don’t need to print certain papers. This is a double-help since reducing print jobs reduces pollution. To make shut-downs and start-ups easier, consider plugging your computer and printer into power strips that you can shut off with the click of a button.
Reduce Paper Usage in Printing
When you use paper, make sure you use both sides of a page, and fill the pages up. Try to use recycled paper whenever possible, and when you purchase new paper, look for a lighter stock. Don’t forget to recycle your own papers when you have finished using them.
When you’re working in graphic design, you’re already a step ahead of most people. You know about strategic planning and proactive maneuvers. Take this information into your office to reduce print jobs. Develop strategies to minimize printer usage. Take your creativity and talent and put them to use in the office as you help save the planet.
With the budget battle raging in Washington, our investments in a green future are in jeopardy. President Obama wants to make responsible cuts to spending while preserving our investments in clean energy that can help us gain energy independence and a greener future. Here’s President Obama from his weekly radio address:
Both Democrats and Republicans believe we need to reduce the deficit. That’s where we agree. The question we’re debating is how we do it. I’ve proposed a balanced approach that cuts spending while still investing in things like education and clean energy that are so critical to creating jobs and opportunities for the middle class. It’s a simple idea: we need to live within our means while at the same time investing in our future.
That’s why I disagree so strongly with a proposal in Congress that cuts our investments in clean energy by 70 percent. Yes, we have to get rid of wasteful spending—and make no mistake, we’re going through every line of the budget scouring for savings. But we can do that without sacrificing our future. We can do that while still investing in the technologies that will create jobs and allow the United States to lead the world in new industries. That’s how we’ll not only reduce the deficit, but also lower our dependence on foreign oil, grow the economy, and leave for our children a safer planet. And that’s what our mission has to be.
This article from Time is fascinating on several fronts. It highlights the potential for a green movement in Africa, where the expansion of deserts can be halted and reversed with green initiatives. It also addresses how carbon credits can be used to great effect.
Two global agreements aim to put that right. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) allows developed-world businesses that need to offset their pollution to buy certified emission reductions, or carbon credits, to fund the reduction or sequestering of carbon dioxide in the developing world. The Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation program (UN-REDD), launched in 2008, allows polluters to pay developing-world farmers to keep their trees, which store carbon dioxide as they grow. UNEP is working with scientists in Kenya, China, Niger and Nigeria to quantify how much carbon each ecosystem swallows — comparing the appetite of a rain forest with, say, that of a mangrove swamp — and when completed in 2012, those formulas will determine how much to pay each landowner. The UNEP’s Steiner says “farming carbon” this way is far cheaper than new technology to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions at their source.
Estimates of how much the new market is worth vary wildly. The World Bank says carbon sequestration could be worth $1.5 billion a year to Africa, while Sukhdev reckons UN-REDD will be worth an eventual $30 billion to $110 billion a year globally. Manfred Kern of agritechnology company Bayer CropScience argues that the potential for monetizing natural assets is almost infinite. There is no reason, he says, that what works for trees should not also work for earth. “For the urbanized world, soil is just dirt, mud,” Kern told a U.N. conference in Bonn in May 2008. “But soil is the source of our food, the very future of humanity. We must recognize that soil has a value higher than gold.” What is clear is the potential. “It is essential that climate change be viewed as a major development opportunity for Africa,” World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said last year.
Carbon credits and trading are very controversial, but the impact on places like Africa cannot be discounted.
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