Today is Earth Day so I guess it is appropriate to talk about TIME Magazine's 51 Things We Can Do to Save the Environment, which I read about on Belinda of Bel's Fish Bowl blog. According to the magazine article, everyone of us can do a little bit to reduce carbon dioxide emission and consequently, slow down the rate of global warming on Earth.Using public transportation (bus or subway) or walking and biking are two of the items listed in the magazine because transportation accounts for 30% of all carbon dioxide emission. Unfortunately, it is not always practical especially if you do not live in an urban city.
Other ways to reduce carbon dioxide emission include paying your bills online and signing up for e-notification, using energy saving compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFL), washing the laundry in warm water instead of hot and washing one big load instead of multiple small loads, opening the window instead of switching on the air-conditioner, and eating less meat products.
So what are you doing to protect Mother Earth for our future generations?
21 comments:
Wow. I like the photograph.
Abraham Lincoln
Brookville Daily Photo
For example, i never use any pesticide or weedkiller in my garden (no thanks, Monsanto, your Roundup is a poison). So, bluetits build their nest in my birches and eat greenflies, hedgedogs sleep all winter long in a small shelter just under my kitchen's window and eat slugs like toads do, and so on. Ming, snails have a shell but slugs don't have one, and toads catch them with their long tongue!
Is there anything more 'New York' than the subway? Those things push some serious air down those tubes too. Wonder if there is a way to harness that energy?
Cool pic...You sure do like the slow shutter stuff!
To answer the question you poised...
I think it's very possible and fairly easy to change one's routine and save big bucks on the electric bill and help mother-earth.
We live in a nice small 2-story home in the southern U.S. and managed to drop our energy bill from $200 to $60 or so per month. How? Instead of wastefully cooling the entire house now we just close the bedroom doors at night and utilize a small A/C and/or fan if it get's too warm.
The windows are almost always open downstairs. Screen doors and windows, four large very shady Louisiana pecan trees, and a shift in thinking did the trick for us.
Also when we leave, it's a well established routine to ensure that everything - except the fridge of course- is turned off...including the computers! It's my understanding that leaving the computers on (depending on the computers) can seriously increase your energy usage.
As a species, I think we've become too seperated from our environment. In the south, it tends to get very hot for long periods of time and folks naturally seek the comfort of the indoor A/C...especially the elderly. But, we forget, that people have comfortably lived here for many generations without A/C too.
I wish there were more solutions to naturally cooling houses in very warm temperate climates. I doubt we will see many creative solutions publicized until after the next election cycle though.
Cool pics...keep up the awesome work!
Laterz,
Brien
www.DeltaMovies.com
La.
Looks like it's going really fast.
Hi, Ming. Wonderful picture - the passenger is as much a blur as the train. His or her red jacket adds pop.
I'm heading out in a minute to shoot at St. Louis' Earth Day in Forest Park. Maybe I'll get something good to post this week.
St. Louis Missouri Daily Photo Blog
walking as much as I can. hate AC until absolutely necessary but I still prefer an eletric fan. great photo by the way, you can feel the energy of NY
I can see and feel the speed.
My small, very small efforts include: drying laundry outside when posssible instead of using the dryer, trying to conserve water, walking and biking, using the Burley (leftover from grandkids) to haul groceries home behind my bike, using a fan in the bedroom instead of air-conditioning, and other "stuff"--
when i was in korea and japan a few months ago, i noticed that both countries only use CFLs, even in the remote country areas where you wouldn't expect it. i was pretty impressed. hopefully the whole world will be like that in the future.
Gosh, I'm doing everything you suggested. So why do I feel it's not enough?! Because there's more I can do, that's for sure.
Awwww.....so chuffed I got a mention. Thanks Ming!
Recycle, reduce landfill, always use cold water for laundry and hang clothes out in the air to dry, say no to plastic bags, switch off power points, plant trees, open windows.
New people moved in across the street from us, and they cut down all the trees. Where's the thought in that. So sad :o(
Oh and by the way - awesome pic! (as usual)
Lovely photo, although I'm not fond of subways! :-)
was that superman?
to answer the question:
- use less plastic, i carry a recycle bag when i plan to go shopping or put them in my knapsack without the plastic
- if printing, use both sides of the paper.
Gorgeous picture, I always wonder the technique behind capturing movement...ala Wong Kar Wai's movie style. If there were more people when you captured the pic, it would have looked like Wong's movie. ;)
wonderful shot. I kinda did my own Earth Day when Sydney-siders did theirs. Turned off everything for an hour. I guess I'll be doing it once every month.
I love this picture, The move move is very representational . I love take a subway (tube) I already take the one of Paris, London, Tokyo maybe this NYC.
wooow, That's a lot of things for protect our little planet! I hope we take notice of them and make it real!!
Beautiful photo Ming, I really like it! :)
I think this is one of my favorite photos so far!!!
as far as environment saving...I am a walker...which is very rare in the mid-west...I walk places, and people don't understand why.
(this could also be one of the reasons I live in one of the most unhealthy and overweight cities in the country)
My husband and I only have one car, which is a pain sometimes in a suburb where public transport is poor and slow. This sometimes takes careful planning between the two of us but we see this as one of our contributions to the environment.
I rather take the subway than driving. Where I am now you need a car! It's so horrible!
oh-I so wish I could do one huge load of laundry at once instead lots of small ones, if only they would make the washing machines here bigger!! But I do pretty much everything else you listed because, well, that's just the way things are in Switzerland--walkable city, excellent public transport, combined with rules & fines that act as incentives for more eco-friendly behavior: strict recycling and garbage disposal rules,(we essentially have a garbage tax--we have to use specially labeled pricey garbage bags, which encourages us to produce less trash), e-banking, e- billing (if you opt for paper statements: higher fees), hate AC, most apts here and some offices don't have it anyway, and many buildings have strict rules about not changing the exterior appearance (i.e.-no ugly AC window units). We have to pay for paper grocery bags, but even if we buy them, they are really sturdy and can be reused several times. lots of people also use those energy saving light bulbs that last longer, and the list goes on...love the subway pic!
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