100 ways to save environment

1. Clean or replace air filters on your air conditioning unit at least once a month.
2. If you have central air conditioning, do not close vents in unused rooms.
3. Lower the thermostat on your water heater to 120.
4. Wrap your water heater in an insulated blanket.
5. Turn down or shut off your water heater when you will be away for extended periods.
6. Turn off unneeded lights even when leaving a room for a short time.
7. Set your refrigerator temperature at 36 to 38 and your freezer at 0 to 5 .
8. When using an oven, minimize door opening while it is in use; it reduces oven temperature by 25 to 30 every time you open the door.
9. Clean the lint filter in your dryer after every load so that it uses less energy.
10. Unplug seldom used appliances.
11. Use a microwave when- ever you can instead of a conventional oven or stove.
12. Wash clothes with warm or cold water instead of hot.
13. Reverse your indoor ceiling fans for summer and winter operations as recommended.
14. Turn off lights, computers and other appliances when not in use.
15. Purchase appliances and office equipment with the Energy Star Label; old refridgerators, for example, use up to 50 more electricity than newer models.
16. Only use electric appliances when you need them.
17. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs to save money and energy.
18. Keep your thermostat at 68 in winter and 78 in summer.
19. Keep your thermostat higher in summer and lower in winter when you are away
20. Insulate your home as best as you can.
21. Install weather stripping around all doors and windows.
22. Shut off electrical equipment in the evening when you leave work.
23. Plant trees to shade your home.
24. Shade outside air conditioning units by trees or other means.
25. Replace old windows with energy efficient ones.
26. Use cold water instead of warm or hot water when possible.
27. Connect your outdoor lights to a timer.
28. Buy green electricity - electricity produced by low - or even zero-pollution facilities (NC Greenpower for North Carolina - www.ncgreenpower.org). In your home-reduce toxicity.
29. Eliminate mercury from your home by purchasing items without mercury, and dispose of items containing mercury at an appropriate drop-off facility when necessary (e.g. old thermometers).
30. Learn about alternatives to household cleaning items that do not use hazardous chemicals.
31. Buy the right amount of paint for the job.
32. Review labels of household cleaners you use. Consider alternatives like baking soda, scouring pads, water or a little more elbow grease.
33. When no good alternatives exist to a toxic item, find the least amount required for an effective, sanitary result.
34. If you have an older home, have paint in your home tested for lead. If you have lead-based paint, cover it with wall paper or other material instead of sanding it or burning it off.
35. Use traps instead of rat and mouse poisons and insect killers.
36. Have your home tested for radon.
37. Use cedar chips or aromatic herbs instead of mothballs.
    In Your Yard
    
38. Avoid using leaf blowers and other dust-producing equipment.
39. Use an electric lawn- mower instead of a gas-powered one.
40. Leave grass clippings on the yard-they decompose and return nutrients to the soil.
41. Use recycled wood chips as mulch to keep weeds down, retain moisture and prevent erosion.
42. Use only the required amount of fertilizer.
43. Minimize pesticide use.
44. Create a wildlife habitat in your yard.
45. Water grass early in the morning.
46. Rent or borrow items like ladders, chain saws, party decorations and others that are seldom used.
47. Take actions that use non hazardous components (e.g., to ward off pests, plant marigolds in a garden instead of using pesticide).
48. Put leaves in a compost heap instead of burning them or throwing them away. Yard debris too large for your compost bin should be taken to a yard-debris recycler. 
49. Copy and print on both sides of paper.
50. Reuse items like envelopes, folders and paper clips.
51. Use mailer sheets for interoffice mail instead of an envelope.Use mailer sheets for interoffice mail instead of an envelope.
52. Set up a bulletin board for memos instead of sending a copy to each employee.
53. Use e-mail instead of paper correspondence.
54. Use recycled paper.
55. Use discarded paper for scrap paper.
56. Encourage your school and/or company to print documents with soy-based inks, which are less toxic.
57. Use a ceramic coffee mug instead of a disposable cup.
    Ways To Protect Our Air
    
58. Ask your employer to consider flexible work schedules or telecommuting.
59. Recycle printer cartridges.
60. Shut off electrical equipment in the evening when you leave work.
61. Report smoking vehicles to your local air agency.
62. Don't use your wood stove or fireplace when air quality is poor.
63. Avoid slow-burning, smoldering fires. They produce the largest amount of pollution.
64. Burn seasoned wood - it burns cleaner than green wood.
65. Use solar power for home and water heating.
66. Use low-VOC or water-based paints, stains, finishes and paint strippers.
67. Purchase radial tires and keep them properly inflated for your vehicle.
68. Paint with brushes or rollers instead of using spray paints to minimize harmful emissions.
69. Ignite charcoal barbecues with an electric probe or other alternative to lighter fluid.
70. If you use a wood stove, use one sold after 1990. They are required to meet federal emissions standards and are more efficient and cleaner burning.
71. Walk or ride your bike instead of driving, whenever possible.
72. Join a carpool or vanpool to get to work.
73. Check and fix any water leaks.
74. Install water-saving devices on your faucets and toilets.
75. Don't wash dishes with the water running continuously.
76. Wash and dry only full loads of laundry and dishes.
77. Follow your community's water use restrictions or guidelines.
78. Install a low-flow shower head.
79. Replace old toilets with new ones that use a lot less water.
80. Turn off washing machine's water supply to prevent leaks. 
    Ways to Protect Our Water
    
81. Revegetate or mulch disturbed soil as soon as possible.
82. Never dump anything down a storm drain.
83. Have your septic tank pumped and system inspected regularly.
84. Check your car for oil or other leaks, and recycle motor oil.
85. Take your car to a car wash instead of washing it in the driveway.
86. Learn about your watershed.
    
    Create Less Trash
    
87. Buy items in bulk from loose bins when possible to reduce the packaging wasted.
88. Avoid products with several layers of packaging when only one is sufficient. About 33 of what we throw away is packaging.
89. Buy products that you can reuse.
90. Maintain and repair durable products instead of buying new ones.
91. Check reports for products that are easily repaired and have low breakdown rates.
92. Reuse items like bags and containers when possible.
93. Use cloth napkins instead of paper ones.
94. Use reusable plates and utensils instead of disposable ones.
95. Use reusable containers to store food instead of aluminum foil and cling wrap.
96. Shop with a canvas bag instead of using paper and plastic bags.
97. Buy rechargeable batteries for devices used frequently.
98. Reuse packaging cartons and shipping materials. Old newspapers make great packaging material.
99. Compost your vegetable scraps.
100. Buy used furniture - there is a surplus of it, and it is much cheaper than new furniture.

Abandon "Deforestation"

We should abandon Deforestation.
We are not gonna live without stopping deforestation.

Environment Poems

Environmentalists tell us not to pollute a river, It causes harm to fish, but when do we listen, we do what we wish! ! We cut trees to build houses, Instead of living in a town or city. Environmentalists also tell us to do the same, to live in a city with fun and simplicity. Many children go to the same school in different cars, But not knowing that it's burning fossil fuels, it's also giving out poisonous gases.But we know a solution to it, that is, By using a car pool! ! ! ! So knowning that this can lead to Global warming, saving Natural resources is the best, we'll need it for the next generations and that is what is our test.                                                                     by                                        Rishabh Shah

    O' Wetlands! How I mourn for you,
Death is close at hand,
I am called many names,
Estuarine, mangrove swamp, marsh, bottomlands
And surrounded by mangrove forests,
With oysters stuck to my roots,
Fishes live and depend on me, to feed spawn and grow,
Crabs have homes, tunnels of holes around me,
Turtles pay a visit every year to lay,
And birds of green, little blue and yellow night herons
Reflect upon me.

I also help to protect you, I take in carbon and
Release oxygen for you to breathe
I function like a strainer and a sieve to filter pollutants
From the sea, making it safe for you to swim
I hear two thousand a new millennium
Will I be here for my eco-system and other sisters to survive and flourish?
I am now threatened. I have been cut I am bleeding
Garbage is dumped in and around me I cannot breathe
Filth- Sewage flows into me- I will become sick

Development hotels and airports are building around us
We are dying. Who are the powers that be? Does anyone care?
Will we be saved? Is it already too late?
I hope that we can be saved,
Because in saving us the benefits and gains are so rich,That we can become millionaires together with MOTHER EARTH
              and
Magical the sea - Within holds many secrets
Compelled by the gentle waves
A walk to become one with
The moon, skies and stars
My eyes open wide
An astonishing sight
A magnificent humongous shell
Is crawling toward me
I stand still, thrilled by
This captivating sight-
A leather back sea turtle
Come home to lay her eggs
This extraordinary beautiful night
What a sight - The memory is imprinted Never to escape from my life
         and
Knapsack on back -Away we go
Charlotteville here we come
To the sea an adventure
With humming birds, yellow tails and
Blue Tanager to the pinnacle we are
Overlooking the islands, London Bridge
Marble Island, St. Giles with birds of wide spread wings
Man- O- War birds float on the flow of the unmoving wind
Blows to glide to the trees
Decorative with fluff of white almost like a Christmas tree
A flock of birds, Boobies all float on a breeze
Free but hunted in that special place -so sad
The future is to hope that some of this beauty Remains to be enjoyed by those who are not yet born.
                            by 
                               Greta Akili - ET's Administrative Assistant                

Environment Quotes

The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands.  ~Havelock Ellis,The Dance of Life, 1923


There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all.  ~Robert Orben


I'm not an environmentalist.  I'm an Earth warrior.  ~Darryl Cherney, quoted inSmithsonian, April 1990


Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find.  ~Quoted in Time


Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.  ~William Ruckelshaus, Business Week, 18 June 1990


Because we don't think about future generations, they will never forget us.  ~Henrik Tikkanen


I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security.  Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad.  Otherwise what is there to defend?  ~Robert Redford, Yosemite National Park dedication, 1985


Let us a little permit Nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we.  ~Michel de Montaigne, translated


We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.  ~Thomas Fuller,Gnomologia, 1732


We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.  ~Native American Proverb


There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth.  We are all crew.  ~Marshall McLuhan, 1964


Newspapers:  dead trees with information smeared on them.  ~Horizon, "Electronic Frontier"


They kill good trees to put out bad newspapers.  ~James G. Watt, quoted inNewsweek, 8 March 1982