365 Ways to Save the Earth

Gash

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hullo ullo

This is from a book Jon was given. Some of the tips are quite obvious, some are more interesting, some appear repeatedly BUT i will attempt to post one a day although obviously when that's not possible I'll do several when i get the chance.


Here's your first lot:


January 1st - Agriculture - Buy fair trade products and help combat child labour
Buying fair trade products is, among other things, a way of working towards safeguarding basic human rights, especially the rights of children.


January 2nd - Energy - Turn down your heating by 1 degree C
Our houses are often heated to excess. The ideal living room temperature is 20 degrees C and vedroom are healthier at 16 degrees C. Each one-degree increase in temperature produces a 7 to 11 per cent increase in energy consumption, depending on how well insulated your home is. Use your heat wisely and insulate well.


January 3rd - Forests - Recycle Christmas trees and cards
It's a bit late for this one, I know


January 4th - Energy - buy "green" electricity
Find out how you can buy green electricity


January 5th - Energy - Improve the efficiency of your radiators
To reduce your domestic energy consumption, make your radiators more efficient by placing reflective panels or sheets of aluminium foil behind them, this will bounce the heat back into the room


January 6th - Waste - Encourage your place of work to start composting waste
The composting of organic waste can benefit the whole community. Take the initiative and approach you children's school canteeen or the kitchen at your workplace, and explain the ecological and economic advantages of composting waste. Even if they do not decide to compost waste, it might encourage them to think about the amount that is thrown out and come up with alternative solutions to the problem.


January 7th - Water - Use less water when flushing the toilet
Place a bottle filled with sand in your toilet cistern and you will reduct the volume of water used with each flush. Do not use a brick, as is sometimes recommended, since if it starts to decay, pieces could get into the toilet system. Alternatively replace your toilet with a low-flush or dual-flush type toilet. The half flush option means that water use can be reduced by up to 8 litres for every flush.


January 8th - Consumption - Buy recycled
When you go shopping, always look for a recycled version of whatever you want to buy. Many kinds of products are now available, from office supplies, paper, textiles and carpet to building materials and parts for your car.


January 9th - Agriculture - Make it a rule to buy organic for a given product
Organic farming avoids the damage caused to the environment by pesticides and insecticides. Buy organic produce to encourage organic farming practices and in the interests of your own health - strawberries, apples and spinach, in particular, retain high levels of pesticide residue if produced non-organically.
www.organicconsumers.org/organic/pesticide-residues.cfm
 
Gash said:
January 2nd - Energy - Turn down your heating by 1 degree C
Our houses are often heated to excess. The ideal living room temperature is 20 degrees C and vedroom are healthier at 16 degrees C. Each one-degree increase in temperature produces a 7 to 11 per cent increase in energy consumption, depending on how well insulated your home is. Use your heat wisely and insulate well.



:ilol: our house is heated to 25 all throughout, all year round. :Grin:

wouldnt have it any other way. theres nothing worse than being cold in your own home.
 
*snore at josh*


January 10th - Leisure - Be environmentally aware when taking part in your favourite leisure activity

Respect nature and the environment when taking part in outdoor activities. Whatever your passion, whether it's climing in the mountains, diving or sailing, there should be an environmental charter for your sport to encourage responsible behaviour. Contact your sport's national federation and if such a charter does not yet exist, suggest one be drawn up.
 
January 11th - Do not feed wild animals

Be content to watch wild animals from a distance, without trying to attract them closr with food. Also, make sure that you put your own food and rubbish out of reach of wild animals, so that the bolder ones are not tempted to help themselves while you are not looking.


I'm both saddened by the lack of interest in saving the world but at the same time deeply chuffed that i've not been posting on the wrong days yet :Wink3:
 
josh..........:imad: !!!!



i try do my bit oonz but never enough ...people are lazy unfortunately.......av managed to get my house m8z to recycle even tho their first excuse at suggesting it was they couldn't be arssed....wtf!

as for heating...more duvets and put on a jumper, costs less 2 !!!!
 
no, the fun is being able to walk around your house in a t-shirt whatever its like outside!
 
January 12th - Be an ethical investor

Ethical investments generally carry as little risk as the non-ethical kind and are offered by various savings institutions; they include simple mutual funds, life insurance contracts and deposit accounts. There are enough ethical financial products on the market to suit all your investment requirements.
www.sricompass.org

sorry this one's so lame however this isn't my own advice so don't go doing anything silly just cuz i say a book said so
 
Hi Gash.
I was givin this book by my flatmate.
This book is very very helpful, getting to know how we should do for our planet.

This thread is good as well.
Thanks Gash.

Love'n light A
 
not that i care what people think of course cuz i'm so ultra cool and laid back but yay!

January 13th - Energy - Use the refrigerator correctly to keep energy consumption down

Do not position your fridge or freezer near a heat source, such as a cooker or radiator, or preferably not even a south-facing window. And take care not to put hot dishes inside or to overfill it. Both will lead to increased energy consumption.
 
in that case, take matters into your own hands. have a tour of your flat or whatever and spot things like this, make a list, approach the people in charge of the student accomodation and ask what they'd like to do about it. if they won't do anything, ask for their environmental policy. if they don't have one, kick up a stink! remember, getting your flatmates (if you have any) to think about these things is changing the world in a small way even if none of the greater ventures are succesful. not to mention, if they hear what you say, fingers crossed you've got 50 flats like yours up/downstairs/across the hall that could be fitted similarly.
 
you've obviously never dealt with the university of york.. red tape twenty miles across

they even re-paint the rooms during term time (meaing i'm gonna have to move my studio gear, grrr..) , i very much doubt they give a flying hoot about a few environmental concerns, much less coming from a student

(and i live in the nicer bits of accomodation here.. some of the other blocks are fekin awful!)

gonna wait till i get my own house, then put all the effort in then
 
ooooh pleeeease! if you approach the accomodation people with a list of propositions as to how to make your accomodation more ecologically sound and save THEM money, the worst they can do is tell you to go away. at this point you make clear the rather important point that it's the first accomodation hundreds of youngsters stay in after moving away from home and it's their responsibility to ensure the building meets even the lowest of ecological expectations, just energy efficient bulbs where they light stairways and halls 24/7 would save them loads of money. some of the bulbs in this flat have been working for 3 YEARS!
the effect that ethical living quarters could have on years worth of students surely is a feasible investment.

sorry i'm being a hippy fascist. i keep getting sweared at for telling strangers to pick up rubbish they've just thrown on the floor, a lad from my psychology module looked like he was gonna deck me when i did it to him on campus, ON CAMPUS FFS! i pay money to go to this uni and i don't expect some lazy little toe-rag to litter it!

back to the not bullying people into being environmentally aware.... oh yes, i'm gonna write to york uni and ask what their policy is re energy efficiency etc in student halls. can't do any harm!

i've got over-excited cuz someone gave a crap about my one and only ever eco-thread, sorry pete!
 
January 14th - Waste - Coffee, milk and sugar: say 'no' to individual portions

at your workplace, suggest that individual packets of coffee, sugar, creak and tea be replaced by large containers for everyone's use. it will be cheaper and will keep waste to a minimum. the environmental cost of individually packaged foodstuffs never bears any relation to their size.


January 15th - Chemicals - Use natural paints

Many paints are a cocktail of chemicals. avoid those that contain heavy metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), toxic organic pigmments and antifungal compounds. replace them with natural paints made from renewable sources such as plant oils. choose beeswax, natural resins (such as pine), casein or chalk as binders, balsamic oil of turpentine or citrus distillates as solvents and opt for vegetable pigments (valerian, tea, onion) or mineral (sienna, iron oxides). just choose the colour you want.
 
January 16th - Energy - Switch off any lights you don't need

Make a point of switching off lights that do not need to be left on, paricularly when you leave a room, and try to use daylight wherever possible. The less electricity you use, the less greenhouse gases will be pumped into the atmosphere in order to produce it.

there's no excuse for this one folks, specially as generally the light switch is right by the door on your way out the room!
 
January 18th - Chemicals - Make use of old-fashioned household cleaning tips

Hark back to a time when cleaning producs were much more natural: dishwashing detergent for oil stains, coal tar soap for grease stains, milk and lemon for ink, lemon juice for polishing copper, and many more...
 
you'd be amazed how much cleaning can be done with vinegar
 
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