The Melting Man

Have you seen this clever ecological ad campaign?

"Located in Buenos Aires’ Plaza Francia, the oozing young man passes out fliers urging spectators to use public transportation, conserve water, reduce, reuse, recycle and to use energy-efficient appliances. This imaginative piece of guerrilla publicity highlights the fact that much of the funding of the Argentinian Red Cross goes to assisting those who have been most affected by natural disasters exacerbated by climate change. "

"Some of the best things in life are unplanned! "

My friend Gretchen is participating in a fundraiser for the Women's Pregnancy Center in Ocala, FL. She and her son will be walking 2 miles on November 8th. (Tuna will actually do his 2 miles riding in the stroller) This is a very important cause to her and any donations will be greatly appreciated. Here is her fundraising site. Thanks for any help you can give her!

It's That Time Again! (campaignearth.org)

New challenge: Reduce your water flow!

This challenge is designed to help us lessen the amount of hot water we are wasting, simply by installing low flow shower heads. It's money down the drain:

• If each member of a family of four takes a daily five-minute shower, the family will use more than 700 gallons of water every week, a three-year supply of drinking water for one person. (source: Seattle City Light, http://www.cityofseattle.net/)
  


• The Department of Energy says heating water is the second-largest residential energy user.
  


• To complete this challenge, you simply have to go to your local hardware store and buy the low flow shower heads. This will cost you between $25-30. Then, go home and install them. This should take you no more than 30 minutes per shower.

For that little effort and money, you will be saving around $20 a year and about 30 pounds of carbon dioxide a month! Not bad!!! By simply installing low flow shower heads, you'll be using less water and saving energy!

Campaign Earth Challenge

New challenge: Reduce your use!
This challenge is designed to get us all thinking about the disposable society we live in. Whether it's the drive-thru restaurants, the disposable cameras, or the endless packaging wrapped around everything we buy, it all got created with the use of a lot of energy and will end with it filling more holes in our planetary home. Finding a place to start making an effort to minimize your contribution to this may seem daunting, but it's easier than you think. Try bringing your own coffee (or beverage of choice) mug with you everywhere you go and start using those great cloth bags for your grocery shopping. Many places will even give you a discount for using them. And for further motivation toward taking this challenge:

• 
  "If 25% of American families used just 10 fewer plastic bags each month, an estimated 2.5 billion bags could be saved from landfills each year." (One Makes the Difference, Julia Butterfly Hill)
  


• It has been estimated that landfills in the U.S. are responsible for about a third of this country's total methane emissions.(The Complete Idiot's Guide to Saving the Environment, Greg Pahl)
  Meeting this challenge is as easy as 1, 2, 3:
  


• Buy and use a non-disposable travel mug. Get in the habit of keeping it in your car or backpack at all times. You'll find it coming in far more handy than you imagined. You'll start using it to fill up on water on the way home or as a convenient place to store pistachio shells on a road trip!
  


• Buy and use those great cloth shopping bags. Or, make some yourself out of old cloth. Again, keep a few in your car or backpack so they're there when you need them.
  


• Take this challenge a little further. Start finding other ways to reduce your waste. Do you really need to put 2 oranges in one of those plastic bags? Next time you're leaving the bookstore, carry the book home without the bag. Before recycling your white paper, cut it into scrap pieces to write notes or grocery lists on.
  Every time we use less stuff, we help the planet. It's that simple!

Campaign Earth Challenge's

Sorry... I have been forgetting to post the latest Campaign Earth challenges. Here is a re-cap of all of the challenges I have done so far...

1. Cut Down on Junk Mail/ Catalogs

2. Replace Lightbulbs To Compact Flourescent

3. Wash Clothes In Cold Water

4. Proper Tire inflation

5. Walk Instead Of Drive For Short Trips

6. Increase Recycling Efforts

7. Support Local Farmers

8. Buy A Jacket For/ Replace Water Heater (and set to lower temp)

9. Use Products Made From Recyled Paper

10. Take Public Transportation Or Carpool

Another Campaign Earth Challenge

Support the recycled paper industry!

Are you familiar with that recycled symbol with the three arrows forming a triangle with a circular flow to it? Completing that cycle requires that we support the recycled products industry. An easy way to begin is by purchasing recycled household paper products, like toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins AND looking for packaging made from recycled material.

Unfortunately, until consumer demand begins to catch up with the more polluting means of making our paper, these products will cost a bit more. However, your purchase will use half the energy used to make paper from "virgin" sources and create 74% less air pollution. Surely that is worth a quarter! Here are some more reasons why this challenge deserves the green light:

• 
  In the U.S., the pulp and paper industry is the SECOND largest industry consumer of energy
  


• "Paper production is a leading industrial source of dioxin, a known human carcinogen that bioaccumulates in the fat of fish, seabirds, and mammals." The Paper Project
  


• "If every household in the U.S. replaced just ONE 4-pack of 400 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissue with 100% recycled ones, we would save 1,450,000 trees and avoid 89,000 pounds of pollution." Seventh Generation

Campaign Earth Challenge

It's that time again!
This challenge is designed to help us lessen the large impact our modern agricultural food production has on global warming. From now on, buy 25% of your produce locally and, when available, organic. Your purchase not only directly benefits your local economy; it minimizes our dependency on fossil fuels, such as oil.
Here is some 'food for thought' on why this challenge is so important:


-It's estimated that most food in the U.S. travels an average of 1,300 miles before reaching the supermarkets, requiring large amounts of fossil fuels.

-Organic farming uses 50% less energy than conventional farming methods. (www.ota.com)

-Modern 'high-technology' farming, which uses synthetic pesticides and fertilizers puts the natural biota of the soil out of work and is responsible for 7% of the carbon that is in the atmosphere (Natural Capitalism by Hawken, Lovins & Lovins).

Campaign Earth

I'm on my third challenge from Campaign Earth. The idea is to do easy things to help conserve energy and lower CO2 emissions. My first challenge was to reduce paper trash by cancelling unwanted magazines and catalouges. The second challenge was to replace two light bulbs with the flourescent CFC bulbs and to turn off computer peripherals when not in use. This third challenge is to turn the washer cycle from hot to either warm or cold, and to turn down the hot water heater a few degrees. Like I said, easy stuff to do to help the enviornment. If you haven't signed up yet, please do.

http://www.campaignearth.org

Spring Cleaning

It's springtime again and maybe time to look into ways we can clean up our own small square of the Earth. My sister sent me a link to CampaignEarth. They offer an easy challenge on how to reduce our junk mail, stop receiving unwanted catalouges, and alternative places to dispose of magazines and catalogues other than the landfill.

If we successfully reduced the number of catalogs produced in this country by 30% we would:
-preserve 16.6 billion gallons of water each year
-conserve over 100 barrels of oil
-keep 3.5 million tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere

Take the challenge. Go to http://www.campaignearth.org/TheChallenge_Detail.asp?caller=C1009 to sign up.

Does anyone else know of other sites that will give us ideas on conservation?