All Articles

AC/DC Green Power

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 13:27:31 -0700

Consumer choice probably isn't what comes to mind when you think about your electric company. The grid is one-size-fits all: electrons work the same whether they come from organically sourced methane or strip-mined coal, and they don't care if they're pumping tunes from the stereo or milk from a cow.

Are you kitchen aware?

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:00:28 -0700

If your refrigerator is more than 10 years old, it could be using twice the energy of a new one and costing you twice as much in power bills. If you've been thinking about getting a new refrigerator, energy efficiency is a good excuse to go shopping today.

Bike to Basics

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:06:34 -0700

If the complexity of solving climate change starts to overwhelm you even a little, it's time to climb on your bike. There's nothing like being outside, getting some exercise to clear the mind. Bicycles are also a fundamental tool for reducing your carbon debt. And we know you haven't forgotten how to ride.

Black balloons: making CO₂ real

emily — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:32:54 -0700

Check out the Alliance for Climate Protection's first ad in our national advertising campaign. We are helping alert Americans about the urgency of the climate crisis and engage them in solving it.

You can see the first ad by clicking the video above.

The ads bring to life the contribution that each household is making towards climate change and demonstrate some very easy ways to help reduce it while saving money. You'll recognize the voice as that of the actor Tommy Lee Jones.

Breaking Tradition in Transport

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:01:18 -0700

Buses, Trains, Subway, Oh my

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 10:52:29 -0700

Among our American climate heroes is the mass transit user. Public transportation riders in the US save 855 million gallons of gasoline per year, for an 8.5 million ton reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to if they drove. In America's 85 largest urban areas, public transportation prevented 1.1 billion hours in time lost to traffic jams. The riders themselves can save even more -- hundreds or even thousands of dollars in driving and parking costs, and for some even the cost of an entire car.

Clean filters, clean air

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:30:50 -0700

Heating and cooling uses about half of the energy in a typical home, accounting for about $1500 a year in annual costs and some 10% of US greenhouse gases emissions. Because these systems condition large amounts of air in homes and apartments, there are many places to look for energy savings. Follow this checklist, then reexamine your home for potential savings unique to your living space.

Climate awareness: make the case

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:34:06 -0700

While the number of people without sufficient knowledge about the climate crisis is diminishing, they still exist. Too frequently these folks, armed with poor data, loud voices and misplaced confidence shake the resolve of the many who are now aware of the urgency of tackling global warming.

Such climate change naysayers come in many different shapes and sizes and with a variety of backgrounds. So how do you get them to listen to the real facts? Here are five hints:

Climate Messengers: Educating and Inspiring the World

emily — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:42:20 -0700

No one could have anticipated the impact of An Inconvenient Truth - the Oscar-winning documentary film whose focus was Al Gore and the climate crisis slideshow he created. Not even Gore himself foresaw the film’s widespread popularity or the cultural and political effects it would have. Seizing the opportunity its success created, in June 2006 Gore founded The Climate Project (TCP), an organization that, with Al Gore, trained select groups of committed volunteers to spread the word about climate change using his now famous slide show.

Cool threads

emily — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:44:26 -0700

Most of the energy consumed by your washing machine is used just to warm the water. If you usually use hot water for your washing you can drop your energy consumption in half by choosing warm water, and up to 90% if you choose cold. That leads to significant reductions in global warming pollutants that are created either directly in your house by your oil or natural gas water heater or by the power plant that supplies your electric water heater.

Debbie and Barry Russell

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:44:08 -0700

Ceramic tile: a handcrafted art form becomes a growing business that's driving an eco-revolution.

Barry and Debbie Russell founded Encore Ceramics, a ceramic tile business in southern Oregon, with a passion for two things: the artform of handcrafted ceramic tiles and a belief in building a sustainable, innovative and green-friendly business that didn't harm the environment.

Figure your footprint

emily — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:10:58 -0700

Wondering how your daily activities contribute to the climate crisis and how just a few changes in your life can make a difference? Tour the EarthLab calculator and learn about your climate footprint and the steps you can take.

Forget the rules of thumb

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:13:50 -0700

Whether you're a truck driver, office worker, janitor, daycare provider, teacher, carpenter, CEO, farmer, engineer or concerned parent, you do have the power to help solve the climate crisis through making changes in your job and at your workplace.

Finding the savings takes a little creativity and true, American out-of-the-box thinking and innovation, but the rewards are huge -- both the impact on the climate and the sense of accomplishment you'll have.

So, what does a Climate P.I. do to hunt down energy savings and climate-friendly solutions?

Gary Dunham: The Slide Show Rocks

emily — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:36:56 -0700

Gary Dunham went to Iraq twice last year and it changed his perspective on life. But it wasn't the war that led to the change -- it was talking to the young servicemen and servicewomen about the climate crisis. He'd always assumed that most people had a pretty good understanding of the climate crisis and its causes. But one day he started to give an impromptu presentation to a small gathering of soldiers and saw the shock on their faces when they realized that this problem was caused by people .

Get a second opinion. Re-use

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:23:49 -0700

We all need to buy things from time to time. Whether it's clothes, electronics, furniture, linens, books, or toys for our pleading children, the greenest and most climate-friendly option when you're in the market is to buy used.

Getting Shady and Staying Cool

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:09:48 -0700

One of the great paradoxes of climate change is that the very technology we've designed to keep us comfortable in the heat is also a big contributor to global warming. According to the EPA, about one-seventh of US electricity generation is used to air condition buildings, accounting for more than 4% of national greenhouse gas emissions. Making the most of that air conditioning -- or finding more efficient ways to stay cool-- could reduce overall emissions a percent or two and substantially lower your energy costs.

Top tips for staying cool

Go All the Way

emily — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:26:12 -0700

As more and more people want to take action to help solve the climate crisis, and with governments lagging behind public opinion in establishing mandatory reduction targets, the idea of carbon offsets has caught on as a way that individuals and organizations can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate use of more renewable energy. Despite some recent confusing publicity, offsets are real, viable, and important as a way to reduce one's climate impact - as long as they are done right.

Green is Green

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:37:15 -0700

The incredible economic progress of the last 150 years was made possible in part through the availability of cheap energy, energy deemed to be without significant global environmental consequences. Had we been able to read the fine print on fossil fuel, we would have seen the warning: "may cause climate change." Now the climate crisis is a full-blown threat, but it's also a great economic opportunity. It's a once-in-a-generation chance to innovate, to reinvent, to get creative, to rise to the occasion.

Home Sweet Efficient Home

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:50:06 -0700

Nearly one-fifth of America's greenhouse gases come from home energy use. Half of that is used to heat and cool our living spaces, while the other half goes to lighting, appliances, and your electronic entertainment infrastructure. That means a 10% reduction in heating and cooling expenditure would result in a 1% drop in the nation's total greenhouse gases emissions!

Host a party to benefit the earth

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:44:13 -0700

Research tells us that the most trusted source of information for most people is a friend. So why not host a party for your friends that combines good information with lots of fun? Make your next gathering a "Climate Party." With the right combination of setting, food, drink, dress, conversation, and even games that suit your social scene, you can create a memorable and momentum-building event.

How to Green Your Supermarket

emily — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:14:59 -0700

It should be as simple as going into your supermarket and easily finding the climate friendly products that you are looking for. But we hear from you that it isn't that simple. Unlike natural and organic foods, which are increasingly easy to find in special sections or end of aisles in your supermarkets, climate friendly products (those that are either produced in a low carbon manner or those that help you to lower your carbon footprint) are still sometimes a bit hard to find. But you can make a difference by asking your retailers to highlight them.

I pledge, you pledge, we all win

emily — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 12:09:52 -0700

Talk is cheap, but inaction is expensive, especially when the climate is in crisis. Take this pledge and then post it on your fridge, make it your screensaver, tape it near the back door or put a tiny version inside your wallet. Then explain to others why this is important so that they too will take the pledge. Hang it up in the coffee room at work. Post it on the community bulletin boards downtown or at the local library. This is all about doing something for yourself and your loved ones.

If you build it green...

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:01:43 -0700

Now is an important time to encourage your local and state officials to adopt green building standards that reduce the energy consumption of all new construction. According to the US Green Building Council, buildings in the US are the source of 39% of our carbon dioxide emissions, almost all of which comes from heating, cooling, and electrical power use. Compared to standard construction, green buildings are designed and built with resource efficiency, energy reduction and human health in mind.

Kansans for green laundry

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:21:09 -0700

If you're in the market for a new washing machine, give thanks to the dirty laundry of tiny Bern, Kansas (population 210). When Maytag and the Office of Renewable Energy were looking for a place to test European-style front-loading washers on Americans born and bred to be top-loaders, they came to Bern. The study took background data on 103 conventional washers in and around the town, then gave them all new front-loaders, also called horizontal axis machines.

Lighten up - switch to CFLs

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 13:04:33 -0700

Despite our obsession with advanced technology, almost 9% of residential electricity is used by light bulbs not far removed from the original design invented by Thomas Edison more than 100 years ago! So, how did we let the light bulb get so far behind?

Linking us together

emily — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 08:20:57 -0700

The Alliance for Climate Protection website offers many ways to explore, click, and begin to make a difference. We've started by offering resources that are applicable in many parts of the world but are mainly written for people in the US since America is one of the two top emitters of global warming gases in the world. Even if you're not in America, we hope you'll still find some solutions and resources that make sense in your home, in your community, on the job, and on the go, and tools to help you demand that your leaders take action as well.

Mass movement

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:17:35 -0700

Miss the train? If your neighborhood is out of the transit loop, you can work to change that. Cars don't have a lock on the American Dream. In fact, 100 years ago the road to prosperity was a streetcar line. The average urban dweller rode public transportation 250 times a year and the US led the world in the construction and use of mass transit.

Mixed media-the arts for climate sake

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:47:16 -0700

Picasso painted Guernica to express his dismay about the ravages of the Spanish Civil War. Woodie Guthrie sang the great American folk song This Land is Your Land just a couple years later. And Steven Spielberg, who once said, "Imagination alone can save the world," directed ET, the timeless story of friendship and tolerance. There are as many ways to express your feelings about the climate as your imagination permits. For many of us, we do best through song, photographs, painting, poetry, rap, videos, sculptures, plays or other expressions of art. Think about how you and your family might express yourselves. For inspiration, click on the map to explore some of the climate expressions around America. Let us know about global warming activities in your community that are artistic and inspirational.

Expressions:

Participate in a public art project: 100 artists have recently produced extraordinary globes with climate messages using a variety of materials to create awareness and provoke discussion about potential solutions to global warming (check it out at CoolGlobes.com). This project, "CoolGlobes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet", is installing the globes along the lakefront in Chicago from June to September 2007. One artist, Eve S. Mosher, is drawing a chalk line along 70 miles of coastal New York neighborhoods demarcating a point 10 feet above sea level, a boundary now used by federal and state agencies and insurance companies to show where waters could rise after a major storm. Her chalk line is not on the beach or marsh land, it's on city streets in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Ten artists in Palo Alto created art for utility's sake by painting murals on utility boxes at various locations in the downtown area. They depict inspirational messages about energy efficiency and renewable energy through each artist's experience.
Help your kids do a climate art project. As part of the CoolGlobes project, children are encouraged to make their own globes using paper mache. Instructions for this project can be found on their website.
Do something easy and small (in size, not importance) that you can send around to your friends, classmates, and co-workers. Write a climate haiku (a haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of a 17-syllable verse form comprised of three metrical units of 5, 7, then 5 syllables) - it doesn't have to rhyme! Dr. Bill Chameides who as chief scientist advises the organization Environmental Defense posts weekly haikus. Here's one he wrote called "Too Warm Winter Haiku."
Apple blossoms bloom
On too-warm winter days, then
Frost, dead. No apples.
Write a blog. Try your hand at a climate blog or include climate topics in your existing blog (even if it is normally about celebrities, baseball, or civil rights). Yes, we know there are many blogs out there, but the one your friends will want to read is the one that you write. That's the one that will share the efforts of your neighborhood, your family, your friends, your church and the information that you find important... and that's the interesting one. And if you talk about how we can solve the climate crisis together, your friends will listen.
Write a play or skit and record it on video. Make a video of the play to share with your friends or post it on your blog. Also, enter the Alliance for Climate Protection/Current.tv PSA competition.
Write a song! As Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band sang: It's not what you look like, when you're doin' what you're doin'. It's what you're doin' when you're doin' what you look like you're doin'!

Express yourself! Express yourself! Express yourself!

On the road again

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:48:18 -0700

In the market for a new car? Now is your opportunity to change your carbon impact. Even if you're not looking yet, keep reading. The car market is changing and, the sooner you understand the changes, the better off you'll be the next time you venture onto the sales lot.

Options and futures in renewable power

emily — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:54:29 -0700

Don't have a green power option where you live? Buy green tags (the attributes of clean, renewable power discussed in AC/DC Green Power) and then send a copy of your tag to your local utility along with this letter. Feel free to email it, but to maximize impact you also might put a letter in the mail.

Dear [CEO]:

read more

Pack lightly

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:43:24 -0700

When the good people at the Environmental Protection Agency get around to counting your trash, the numbers get scary. Containers and packaging are the single largest category in the waste stream, making up 31% (76.7 million tons) of total municipal solid waste (the waste that goes to the city landfill or gets recycled).

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Patricia McArdle: On a Mission

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:30:18 -0700

Patricia Mcardle is a firm believer in the power of the sun.

She recently retired from 27 years at the State Department, often overseas. During her last posting in Afghanistan she realized that simple solar powered stoves could solve the problem of cooking with scarce supplies of wood. When she first arrived the landscape was barren. There were no trees anywhere. She learned from the locals that it hadn't always been that way. Until a few decades ago green forests had covered much of the land. The trees had been cut down cut down for firewood, leaving just brush for cooking fuel.

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Phone it In

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:49:40 -0700

Air travel has a significant impact on the climate -- it's 5-10% of our contributions to global warming pollutants. In addition, traveling for business can be one of the great (mis)adventures in life: getting to the airport, getting through security, waiting for a delayed plane, sitting in a down-sized seat without legroom, circling your destination, waiting for luggage, filing a report when it doesn't turn up, traffic from the airport, a lost reservation at the hotel, a noisy air conditioner next to your room, a stale breakfast, and then a bleary-eyed workday.

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Pump your ride

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:35:11 -0700

Most people seem to notice their tires when they are flat, not realizing that an under-inflated tire uses up more gas, which is bad for the environment and bad for your wallet. Under-inflated tires reduce gas mileage because they are less round than properly inflated tires, and because of that, it requires more energy to begin moving and to maintain speed. If you don't believe us, try rolling a box.

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Purchasing power : green credit cards

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 13:57:55 -0700

Your wallet is filled with credit and charge cards of every variety. Let's see, you use this one for frequent flying and this one to get cool gift rewards and this one gives you money back and...which is the one that helps the environment?

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Read the global label

emily — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 08:12:33 -0700

Here is a challenge to you that will help solve the climate crisis: lower the CO₂ emissions of your appliances and electronics by up to 50% by buying the most efficient ones available. Be sure to ask your retailer how its products stack up against your country's efficiency ratings. For more information about how to understand product efficiency ratings, read on.
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RetroChic: Vintage style suits you

emily — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 08:58:21 -0700

Getting Off the Carbon Runway with Vintage Style and Resale Couture

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Sarah Hetznecker - a solar star

emily — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:32:26 -0700

"Follow Your Passion."

Sounds good, but what does this statement have to do with solar energy and climate change? In the case of Pennsylvania entrepreneur and business owner Sarah Hetznecker, everything.

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Set it in motion - sensors save

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:51:53 -0700

Lights out. It's a simple directive, but hard to follow in some environments, particularly in office buildings where the switches can be inconveniently located or you think somebody else might be coming any minute now. But in commercial buildings lighting accounts for about 29% of electrical energy use, a huge emitter of greenhouse gases. Motion and occupancy sensors can cut this use by about a third to almost half, depending on office rhythms.

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Short films, long pause

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:02:07 -0700

Scroll down to see all 12 short films.
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Spend your green where it's greenest

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:06:22 -0700

Going shopping or on vacation? Want to support green companies? Here's how to find them...

Did you know that Timberland (the footwear and apparel company) is addressing climate change by using renewable sources of energy and examining transportation requirements? The company aims to reduce its carbon footprint and help others to do the same.

Did you know that in 2003, the state of Maine became the first in the US to establish statutory greenhouse gas reduction goals?

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Standby your...office

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:14:58 -0700

Save energy and money by using the most efficient office equipment and taking advantage of the off switch. Office equipment is rapidly evolving and proliferating. It's also the fastest-growing user of electricity in commercial buildings in America. The Department of Energy calculates office equipment in homes and businesses costs $1.8 billion each year to power up and it's responsible for consuming 7% of all commercial-sector power.

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Stars Speak Out

emily — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:23:38 -0700

Some of the hottest celebrities are talking about and taking action on solving the climate crisis. They're asking you to take action too: check out the following video PSA's, featuring stars such as Naomi Campbell, and Julia Louis Dreyfus.

Know someone else who might be inspired by these videos? To share them with a friend, click "Tip off a Friend" in the green box on the right.
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Susan Pacheco: Work Leads Home

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:36:35 -0700

Be careful what you say around Dr. Susan Pacheco. She's a black belt in Tae Kwan Do, along with her husband and three teenage children. Four years ago they took up the martial art as one, and now train together three or four times a week.

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Sweet Dreams - sleeping computers

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 10:48:21 -0700

Myths abound in the world of office technology: how turning computers on and off shortens their life, how screensavers can save the world, the photographic limits of a copy machine, and how IT department performance is linked to vending machine sales of Jolt.

However, the reality is that a few easy steps can set up the automatic power savings options on your computer. You have the power to be energy efficient.

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Take the fast lane

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:22:13 -0700

Next time you're stuck in traffic, visually subtract every fourth car. Breathing easier? Now remove every third car and you're practically home already. That's that magic of carpooling.

It will take a bit of effort for carpooling to reach that level of market penetration, but it's among the most efficient solutions out there for cutting back on drive-time emissions. According to 2000 data, 97 million Americans drive alone to work, while 14 million carpool at least a couple of days a week.

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Take the lead, inspire change

emily — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 06:43:07 -0700

How can you let your leaders know that you would like them to participate in solving the climate crisis? One way is to write them a letter asking them to join you in signing the pledge (another way is to write to your newspapers and magazines). We have written a sample letter below that you can use to contact your local, state, and federal leaders, as well as your business leaders, leaders of your faith community, and other leaders near and far. You can use this online tool to send the letter to your elected officials.

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Taking Action on the Pledge

erin — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:16:25 -0700

If you're like most of us, you've taken the pledge because you are interested in taking personal action to solve the climate crisis but are wondering how you should get started. If you haven't taken the pledge yet, take the Pledge. There are a variety of impactful measures you can start with. Some take one minute and cost nothing. Some take a little time and money up front in order to reap the climate benefits and saved costs. Here are a few tips for each section of the pledge to help you get started on the pathway to a lower climate impact.

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Text your friends, join the campaign

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:05:38 -0700

Want to get your friends on-board to help solve the climate crisis? Here are some suggestions for quick SMSs. See our 7-Point Pledge for the details behind some of these SMS texts. And be sure to read about other things you can tell your friends in person.

Sample SMS texts

I pldg to help solve the climate crisis. More @ www.climateprotect.org. (73 characters)

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The Climate Crisis - the science

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:32:29 -0700

The Climate Crisis
No human challenge is so potentially uniting as the climate crisis. Our human drive to invent and build has led to extraordinary advances and great technological promise. It's also had grave, unintended consequences. And unless we face the climate crisis with ingenuity, resolve, and a sense of urgency, much of the world as we know it will begin to unravel before our eyes.

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Travels in climate land

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 11:48:07 -0700

How many times have you heard that it's cheaper to fly than drive? The extraordinary growth of airline travel in the last twenty years is often touted as a modern miracle of globalization, but it's looking more and more like the blowback may be the impacts of air travel on greenhouse gas emissions. Although the airline ticket might be cheap, jet travel releases more than 660 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.

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Trucking Goes Green

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:40:27 -0700

"For me, running this biodiesel trucking company is like coming home..."

For owner Charles Whitwam, Blue Sky Shipping represents a return to his Midwestern roots and heartland values. Growing up in Michigan, Whitman's family grew all their own fruits and vegetables, composted, and were resource-conscious. Each day's problems were challenges to solve through innovation, creativity, and a little elbow grease.

Whitwam's now in the business of operating a regional shipping and delivery company whose trucks are powered 100% by biodiesel, also made by his company.

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Tune In: Podcasts about how you can make a difference

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:35:41 -0700

These podcasts are a joint podcast series between Live Earth and the Alliance for Climate Protection. Each episode provides information and resources to help individuals make real, meaningful, and measurable changes to their life to help address the climate crisis.

Podcast 1:

Introduction to Live Earth, Climate Science 101, what you can do, introduction to the Alliance for Climate Protection

Click here to download the podcast. Right-click to save the file.

Podcast 2:

Tips for greening your home: appliance energy efficiency, washing in cold water, insulation, CFLs, thermostat

Greening of Live Earth concerts

Click here to download the podcast. Right-click to save the file.

Podcast 3:

Tips for greening your transportation: check your tire pressure, public transportation, demand better public transport, carpooling

Offsets

Click here to download the podcast. Right-click to save the file.

Podcast 4:

Greening your community: sharing, green investing, voting, staying informed, Live Earth calls to action

Click here to download the podcast. Right-click to save the file.

Podcast 5:

Things you can do to save energy while shopping

Click here to download the podcast. Right-click to save the file.

Podcast 6:

Town hall meeting

Click here to download the podcast. Right-click to save the file.

Podcast 7:

Behind the scenes

Click here to download the podcast. Right-click to save the file.

Turn it down... automatically

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:21:26 -0700

Winter or summer, a programmable thermostat keeps your home temperature on a schedule that maximizes both efficiency and comfort. Are you typically gone all day but want the home toasty when you return? Just teach your thermostat to do it for you. By setting the temperature back 10% to 15% for 8 hours when no one is home, you can save as much as $150 a year. If every house in America did this it would drop our total greenhouse gas production by about 35 million tons of CO₂.

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Visualize your purchasing footprint

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 14:47:10 -0700

This story from Christopher M. Jones, Berkeley Institute of the Environment, University of California, Berkeley
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Vote: exercise your right

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:15:51 -0700

Short summary: It's our community, it's our country, it's our world, it's our future. We should have a say.

Together we have the power to demand that our leaders effectively address the climate crisis. How can we do this? By standing up on Election Day and showing our voting muscle. Voting makes a statement that we're here, we're not going away and that politicians of all persuasions, shapes and sizes and at all levels of government must pay attention to the issues we care about.
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We Count

emily — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 07:31:19 -0700

Every day, all over the world, we participate in activities that produce global warming gases. How much pollution are we generating? The global greenhouse gas emissions counter on the collage started from zero on January 1st, 2007 and increases at a rate of approximately 1,268.51 tonnes CO₂-equivalent per second. We refer to global emissions in metric tonnes (rather than short tons, with which we’re more familiar in the US) because metric units are the standard for global reporting and analysis.
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Wear a Sweater

emily — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 14:38:05 -0700

In most homes, heating is the single largest energy cost. Keeping warm can make up two thirds of your total energy bill in colder parts of the country, and puts more than a billion tons of CO₂ overall into the atmosphere. Even small changes in home heating efficiency can lead to large reductions in greenhouse gases.

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Word of mouth, words of wisdom

emily — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:35:27 -0700

How many times has someone asked you, "You got a minute?" They want to know if this looks good with that; if this should go over here; or, what did you think about this, that, or the other?

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Wrap it up. Save energy with R-49.

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 09:53:03 -0700

Only about one-fifth of homes built before 1980 are well insulated. Is yours?

To get an idea of what insulation could do for your comfort, your pocketbook, and the climate crisis, consider what it's already doing: without existing residential insulation U.S. carbon dioxide emissions would increase 15%. That's 1.35 trillion pounds of carbon dioxide, and it would take a forest of 300 million acres, equivalent to all of our harvested cropland, to take it back up.

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All Articles

AC/DC Green Power

Are you kitchen aware?

Bike to Basics

Black balloons: making CO2 real

Breaking Tradition in Transport

Buses, Trains, Subway, Oh my

Clean filters, clean air

Climate awareness: make the case

Climate Messengers: Educating and Inspiring the World

Cool threads

Debbie and Barry Russell

Figure your footprint

Forget the rules of thumb

Gary Dunham: The Slide Show Rocks

Get a second opinion. Re-use

Getting Shady and Staying Cool

Go All the Way

Green is Green

Home Sweet Efficient Home

Host a party to benefit the earth

How to Green Your Supermarket

I pledge, you pledge, we all win

If you build it green...

Kansans for green laundry

Lighten up - switch to CFLs

Linking us together

Mass movement

Mixed media-the arts for climate sake

On the road again

Options and futures in renewable power

Pack lightly

Patricia McArdle: On a Mission

Phone it In

Pump your ride

Purchasing power : green credit cards

Read the global label

RetroChic: Vintage style suits you

Sarah Hetznecker - a solar star

Set it in motion - sensors save

Short films, long pause

Spend your green where it's greenest

Standby your...office

Stars Speak Out

Susan Pacheco: Work Leads Home

Sweet Dreams - sleeping computers

Take the fast lane

Take the lead, inspire change

Taking Action on the Pledge

Text your friends, join the campaign

The Climate Crisis - the science

Travels in climate land

Trucking Goes Green

Tune In: Podcasts about how you can make a difference

Turn it down... automatically

Visualize your purchasing footprint

Vote: exercise your right

We Count

Wear a Sweater

Word of mouth, words of wisdom

Wrap it up. Save energy with R-49.

Black balloons: making CO₂ real