TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Herman's Ten Ways (TW)
Herman's Ten Ways (TW)


10 Ways You Can Improve Earth's Health

The scientific and political arguments surrounding the health of our planet can make the whole topic seem beyond the grasp of the individual. How fast is the climate changing? Exactly what effect to humans have? And what will the government do about it?

How we treat Earth also involves trillions of little decisions by billions of individuals.

That in mind, LiveScience presents 10 ideas for saving energy and otherwise cutting down on your impact on the planet. The list was compiled by the Earth Day Network organization and republished here with permission.

1. Change light bulbs

Many consumers don't know this, but there are now highly efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) that last for years, use a quarter of the energy of regular bulbs and actually produce more light.

Look for the government's ENERGY STAR label, which means the bulb has been tested for quality and efficiency. While each ENERGY STAR qualified bulb will cost more initially—anywhere from $3 to $9 a piece—remember that there are two price tags: what you pay at the register and what you pay in energy costs to over the bulb's lifetime. So you may pay more up front, but you will actually save hundreds of dollars in your household budget over the long term because of their long life.

While CFLs were harder to find a few years ago, they're now widely available and much more affordable. You'll find them at major home improvement and hardware stores—even grocery and some convenience stores.

Here's the impact. If every household in the U.S. replaced a burned-out bulb with an energy-efficient, ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent bulb, the cumulative effect is enormous. It would prevent more than 13 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere—which is like taking more than a million cars off the road for an entire year.

There are other, simple things with household lighting you can do to conserve: turn off unneeded lights, dim lights when you can and bring natural sunlight into your home when it is feasible.

But changing those old light bulbs and replacing them with ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescents that can last for a decade or more is by far the best thing you can do.

2. Drive differently, or drive a different vehicle

The sad truth is that your car emits as much carbon dioxide as your entire house. That's the bad news. The good news is that anything you can do to improve the fuel efficiency of your car will have an enormous impact on climate change. In fact, experts say that paying attention to fuel efficiency in your car may be the single biggest thing you can do to prevent global warming

Buying a fuel-efficient car (like a hybrid) is wonderful. In fact, replacing your gas-guzzling car with a fuel-efficient one is by far the best thing you can do, out of all your choices. But not all of us can do that—at least, not right now. Carmakers haven't sold enough hybrids in the U.S. yet to make them as affordable as they should be. That will change, but not for a few years.

So, in the interim, there are things you can do with the car you drive now to conserve energy and be more fuel-efficient.

Drive less. Every year, Americans as a whole drive more miles than they did the year before. Stop this trend, and we drive a stake in that trend. Telecommuting and public transportation are great options—once a week saves a ton of carbon dioxide a year—but even piling multiple errands into one trip helps. If you can walk instead of drive, even better.

Get your car tuned up. Just a simple tune-up often improves fuel efficiency by half. If 100,000 of us went out and got a tune up, we save 124,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

Slow down, don't race your car's engine, and watch your idling. All of these save on gas (saving you money) and have a big impact on burning gasoline.

Horribly inefficient SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks now make up more than half of the cars on American roads. The real tragedy is that automakers could double the current average fuel efficiency of SUVs if they wanted to, which would save 70 tons of carbon dioxide per car. The technology exists. Unfortunately, consumer demand does not.

3. Control your temperature

The bad news is that half of your household energy costs go towards just two things—heating and cooling. The good news is that means you have lots of room for improvement, and even small changes make dramatic improvements in household fuel efficiency.

Older heating and cooling systems are a third less efficient than the new systems. So replacing the old with the new is a wonderful idea, but not very practical for most of us. Things you can do right now to make sure you're setting the right temperature in your house include:

Tune up your heating system. This one thing every couple of years can reduce your heating costs by 10 percent a year.

Clean vents, close unused vents, and change filters in the vents. Again, just these simple things will save you 10 percent.

Buy a programmable thermostat, which can regulate different temperatures at different times of the day. And if you have one, use it! Right now, three-quarters of people who have programmable thermostats don't use them at all.

Add two degrees to the AC thermostat in summer, and two degrees in winter. If everyone did this, the cumulative impact is significant.

Make sure windows and doors are sealed. Again, this will dramatically improve your household fuel efficiency.

Of course, if you can stand it, by far the best approach is to avoid air conditioners at all. Ceiling fans, instead of AC, can reduce your cooling costs by more than half.

4. Tame the refrigerator monster

Did you know that your friendly refrigerator has a voracious energy appetite? It is, by far, the single biggest consumer of electricity in the average household, responsible for 10-15 percent of the electricity you use each month.

Older refrigerators, as a rule, are far less efficient than the newest ones—as much as 50 percent more efficient in many cases. But buying a brand-new, energy-efficient refrigerator is almost certainly not in the cards for most of us. Fortunately, other things will help.

Don't set the thermostat too high. Even 1 degree will make a big difference.

If your refrigerator is near a heating vent, or always in the sun, then change the location, cover up the heat vent near it or drape the window.

Turn on your "energy saver" switch near the thermostat.

Clean the condenser coil. This one, very simple thing can improve the efficiency of your refrigerator by a third!

Get rid of your second refrigerator. If you don't need it, don't waste the energy.

Make sure the doors seal properly, and keep the cool in.

5. Twist some knobs

The other big users of energy in your household are your hot water heater, your washer and dryer, and your dishwasher. Each, in its own way, can be inefficient. Here are some things to try:

Either turn the hot water heater down a couple of degrees, or turn on the "energy conservation" setting.

Buy insulation for your hot water heater at a local store and insulate the pipes as well.

Install a timer on your water heater to turn off at night and just before you wake up in the morning.

When possible, wash a few dishes by hand. Over time, that will save a few loads in the dishwasher, conserving energy.

Don't pre-rinse dishes. Today's detergents are powerful enough to do the job.

Wait until you have a full load to run the dishwasher.

Wash clothes in warm water, not hot. The clothes will be just as clean, and you'll cut energy use by 50 percent.

Don't over-dry your clothes. That will save 15 percent.

6. Plant smartly

While it is true that planting more trees will help in the short term because they essentially soak up carbon, they also release carbon dioxide when they die. So it just postpones the problem. But there are other reasons to plant trees—as wind breaks to save energy, and as shade to lower cooling costs. And even the short-term help while we get our act together is a good thing.

As for plants, do everything you can in your yard and garden to create ways in which plants use less water. Choose hardier plants, plant things in groups that need more water and put in mulch to help keep moisture in. When you mow your grass, make sure you do it smartly—with sharp blades, and only when the grass needs cutting. Finally, make sure you water your lawn sparingly. All of these will conserve energy.

7. Invest in green energy

Imagine if we ran out of fossil fuels tomorrow, what would we do? Well, we'd get our electricity from renewable sources—solar panels, geothermal and wind power sources. Many utilities now give consumers the option to buy "green power." Ask for it!

Learn the truth about nuclear power and natural gas as viable "green" options. They aren't. Radioactive waste will be a problem for tens of thousands of years into the future, and natural gas kicks out almost as much carbon dioxide as coal and oil. Natural gas can help us make a transition, but it isn't the solution.

Finally, if you invest, invest in green stocks and renewable energy companies through socially responsible funds. They perform just as well (if not better) than all of the unfiltered funds.

8. Go organic

Even with our vast reservoir of scientific knowledge about farming, most American farmers still spray a billion pounds of pesticides to protect crops each year.

Now here's the kicker: when chemical pesticides are used to kill pests, they also kill off microorganisms that keep carbon contained in the soil. When the microorganisms are gone, the carbon is released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. And when those organisms are gone, the soil is no longer naturally fertile and chemical fertilizers become a necessity, not a luxury.

But besides going organic—thereby saving the carbon release from soil—there are other simple things you can do with food that will also make a difference:

Eat locally grown food. If the food doesn't have to travel far, there's less carbon dioxide from the trucks that ship it.

Eat fruits and vegetables in season. Again, that saves the enormous transportation costs.

Plant your own vegetable garden. It's not as hard as you might think.

9. Buy recycled

This may sound simple, but it takes less energy to manufacture a recycled product than a brand new one. So if you and every other consumer buy recycled, you'll help create a market, and conserve energy along the way.

Because many manufacturers don't go out of their way to tout their recycled products, you should know that aluminum and tin cans, glass containers, and pulp cardboard have a fair amount of recycled content. So buy away!

Recycled is often considerably cheaper than non-recycled, so it's cost-effective as well as conservation-minded. For instance, recycled paper can be as much as a third cheaper than non-recycled paper.

Finally, before you buy, check to see if the product or its packaging can be recycled. The recyclable logo (three arrows forming a triangle) is fairly common now.

10. Be a minimalist

We know it's difficult, but in today's consumer economy, an easy way to conserve energy is to simply use—and buy—less. Every time you buy something, energy has gone into getting that product to you. So the less you buy, the more you save energy-wise. It's a simple equation.

This last item on our Top Ten list may, in fact, be the single biggest way to make a dent in the global warming problem. Again, we know it sounds obvious, but buying less things—some of which you just don't need—changes the energy equation across the board, on every single consumer product. If everyone used less, the impact would be large indeed.

So how about some specific things? Here are a few:

Buy in bulk. In short, bulk items use less packaging, which translates into less energy.

Buy one of something, not 21 of something. You don't need 21 pairs of shoes, if one pair works just as well.

Go through your closet. Donate or recycle what you really don't need, then make a pledge not to replace everything you just got rid of.

Buy quality products that will last longer. Over time, you'll obviously buy fewer products that way.

Be creative in what you use for work, play and leisure. You don't always have to buy new products for activities. Re-use in creative ways.

Source: http://www.livescience.com/environment/060421_earth_day_tips.html

August 3, 2010 | 4:53 PM Comments  0 comments



10 Cheapest Ways to Save Livesl
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic


When it comes to public health, lives are often saved, or dramatically improved, by things that cost the least. Simple undertakings—such as washing hands, using a seatbelt or donning a bike helmet—carry little cost to the individual. But collectively such interventions can make a huge difference in global health. We've consulted experts from around the Bloomberg School to come up with 10 of the least expensive ways to save millions of lives around the world. Take a look.

1. Quit smoking.
$0 It costs nothing to quit cold turkey; interventions like the patch cost about the same as cigarettes

CigarettesTobacco is the second major cause of death in the world—killing one in 10 adults worldwide, or about 5 million people each year. The 2004 U.S. Surgeon General's Report concluded that cigarette smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body. "If you think about smoking cessation, there are few interventions that can save so many lives and so cheaply," says Jonathan Samet, senior scientific editor of the 2004 report. The good news is that it's never too late to stop. Within hours after a smoker inhales that last cigarette, health begins to improve.

2. Increase vitamin A supplementation.
$0.04 per dose

Vitamin AIn 1985, ophthalmologist and epidemiologist Alfred Sommer discovered that a capsule of high-potency vitamin A given to children in Indonesia twice a year reduced the number of child deaths by 34 percent. (The micronutrient made them less vulnerable to measles, malaria, diarrhea and dysentery.) Today, the WHO, UNICEF and their partners provide more than 400 million supplements a year for children in developing countries. That translates to hundreds of thousands of kids saved every year. But it's estimated that only one-quarter to one-third of children who need vitamin A supplements receive them.

3. Expand oral rehydration therapy.
$0.10 per one-liter packet

Oral Rehydration TherapyOriginally developed to treat cholera, oral rehydration therapy (ORT) is effective in treating dehydration due to diarrhea from any cause. ORT is also remarkably simple: Mix one packet of a powder containing glucose and electrolytes in water, and give it to people with diarrhea until they get better. Since 1980 when WHO and UNICEF introduced ORT in the developing world, the number of deaths due to diarrhea in children has dropped from 5 million to 2 million per year. The challenge today: to see that ORT is more widely used in developing countries to reduce mortality further, and in developed countries that favor IV treatments to reduce health care costs, says R. Bradley Sack.

4. Build pit latrines in developing countries.
$50 per latrine, depending on materials

LatrineIn areas that don't have flush toilets, ventilated pit latrines can tremendously reduce the environmental contamination by parasites such as roundworms and tapeworms and by a whole range of bacteria and viruses, says tropical disease expert Clive Shiff. Though people don't often talk about them, pit latrines hold the potential for preventing most intestinal diseases, which frequently can be deadly in the developing world.

5. Use bed nets treated with insecticide.
$4.80 per bed net

Baby inside a bed netMalaria is transmitted to humans by the female Anopheles mosquito, which bites almost exclusively at night. Bed nets have been shown to control the spread of the disease in endemic regions. And yet they are underused. Says Clive Shiff: "At least 70 percent of people in the village need to use the net; then you see a major reduction in the transmission of malaria." The nets need to be treated with insecticide to effectively kill mosquitoes and serve as a barrier. Treated or untreated, at just several dollars each, they're a bargain.

6.Treat premature newborns with antiseptic baby wipes or sunflower oil.
$0.30 per treated baby wipe; Sunflower oil: $0.20 per treatment

Premature newbornPreterm babies with a low birthweight are often born with skin that isn't well formed, making them subject to potentially fatal infections, a major cause of neonatal mortality in developing countries. Special kinds of emollients can enhance the function of the skin barrier and reduce the incidence of life-threatening infections. Sunflower oil applied to babies' skin a couple of times a day for a few weeks resulted in a 40 to 55 percent reduction in sepsis, according to research in Egypt and Bangladesh, says neonatal health specialist Gary Darmstadt. And epidemiologist James Tielsch has found that using baby wipes (treated with a quarter percent of diluted antiseptic solution) a few hours after delivery reduced neonatal mortality 28 percent for low-birthweight babies.

7. Use home-based water purification systems.
$0.04 per sachet

Water Purification SystemsMore than 1 billion people in the world don't have access to safe water. The encouraging news: Simple household water treatment can stop the spread of deadly waterborne diseases such as cholera. Water expert Kellogg Schwab points to PUR packets from Procter and Gamble, which are very effective in purifying drinking water in developing countries. The ketchup-sized sachets contain some of the same components (chlorine and flocculent) used to treat water in the U.S. Users merely mix a packet into a bucket containing 10 liters (2.5 gallons) of water. The chlorine kills pathogens, the flocculent causes dirt and contaminants to settle out, and the decontaminated water is then filtered through a cloth before consumption.

8. Increase condom availability.
$1 or less per condom

CondomsTreatment for HIV/AIDS today is much more effective than it was 20 years ago, but it doesn't actually cure the disease, and we don't have a vaccine. That's why the best way to stop the disease remains prevention. Behavior change and condom use can check the global pandemic, says AIDS researcher Chris Beyrer. In Thailand, a free condom campaign reduced the HIV rate in military recruits from 10.4 percent in 1991 to 2 percent a decade later. Unfortunately, shortages of condoms exist in some developing countries that need them the most, and donor countries need to continue to subsidize their cost.

9. Vaccinate poor children against measles.
$0.13 per dose syringe

The measles vaccine is safe, inexpensive and almost 100 percent effective. Yet in many developing countries, only three out of four young children are immunized. (In some of the poorest countries, less than half are.) The kids who don't get immunized also tend to come from the poorest families, and it's the poorest children who are largely at risk of dying from measles, says reproductive health researcher Michael Koenig. As a result, 500,000 to 700,000 children die annually from this preventable disease, and many others suffer lifelong disabilities, including blindness, deafness and brain damage.

10. Breastfeed.
$0

Woman with InfantBreastfeeding is a vital source of nutrition for infants everywhere. In the developing world, the practice can be a matter of life or death. Feeding babies only breast milk for the first six months protects children from infection, especially diarrhea, says nutrition expert Keith West. According to UNICEF, exclusive breastfeeding until six months of age could save the lives of 1.5 million infants every year, and the health and development of millions more would be greatly improved.


SOURCES:

Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH '90, associate professor of Epidemiology, and director, Johns Hopkins Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program; Gary Darmstadt, MD, associate professor of International Health; Michael A. Koenig, PhD, MA, associate professor of Population and Family Health Sciences; R. Bradley Sack, MD, ScD, professor of International Health; Jonathan Samet, MD, MS, chair of Epidemiology, and The Jacob I and Irene B. Fabrikant Professor in Health, Risk, and Society; Kellogg Schwab, PhD, MS, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences; Clive Shiff, PhD, associate professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology; Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS '73, professor of Epidemiology, International Health and Ophthalmology, and former dean, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; James Tielsch, PhD '82, MHS '79, professor of International Health; and Keith P. West Jr., DrPH '87, MPH '79, The George G. Graham Professor in Infant and Child Nutrition.

Note: Costs are estimates and can vary by location.

March 26, 2009 | 11:20 AM Comments  1 comments

Tags:




Herman's Profile

Herman's Friends


Latest Posts
10 Ways You Can...
10 Cheapest Ways to...

Monthly Archive
March 2009
August 2010

Change Language


Tags Archive
climatechange earth environment globalwarming

Filter By Type
Topics

Friends
Alison Lazaro
Amelia Rhea
Annpreet M
Audrey Ottier
Coquille
Dave Matthews
Hafiidhaturrahmah
ilyes
Julie
Justine Castonguay-Payant
Kimia
Kirsten
Liam O'Doherty
Sarah TOUMI
Siena Anstis
Suraya Asmal
Victor Roy
Yassir EL OUARZADI


9363 views
Important Disclaimer