Save the Earth

Today is Earth Day and HBO channel 60 has just shown the film "An Inconvenient Truth" by the former US Vice President Al Gore. The film offers a passionate and inspirational look at Al Gore's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. With wit, smarts and hope, "An Inconvenient Truth" ultimately brings home Al Gore's persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue - rather, it is the biggest moral challenges facing our global civilization.


From the film, i learnt that there are many simple things you can do in your daily life — what you eat, what you drive, how you build your home — that can have an effect on your immediate surroundings, and on places as far away as the Antarctica. Actually we read about the threats of global warming constantly in the papers and also when we were in school but sometimes due to our hetic lifestyles, most of us tend to push it to the back of our mind. It is never too late to start taking action and playing a part in stopping global warming NOW :>


We should all do our part to save Earth no matter how small or insignificant our contributions are. It does not really take alot of effort to do so. For example, i try to carry a bigger bag when i go shopping or marketing so that i can try to minimise my use of plastic bags. At home i try to set aside rubbish that can be recycled so that i can dump it at the recycle bin downstairs on my way out.


You can also shrink your utilities bill and do your part in stopping global warming at the same time with useful tips from websites like:

http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_actionitems.asp

http://www.nccc.gov.sg/energylabel/aircon.shtm


http://www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/


Some of my favourite tips (meaning i strongly believe in it or try to do it frequently ;>) found online are:

1) Drive Less - walk, bike, carpool or take the public transport more often. You'll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive.

2) Recycle More - You can save 2400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste like unwanted paper, plastic and glass.

3) Avoid products with alot of packaging - You can save 1200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

4) Turn off electronic devices and light - Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, computer and lights when you're not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year and your utility bills. Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use energy. Save over 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $256 per year by unplugging un-used electronics.

5) Wash a full load of laundry at a time - Alternatively, you could set the water level to match the amount of laundry. Also, a significant amount of energy used is for heating of water. You may wish to consider the need to wash with the hot water cycle. Alternatively, use cold water during the rinse cycle to cut a load's energy use in half.

6) Ditch the Plastic - 2.5 million individual plastic water bottles are thrown away every hour in the US. Start using a reusable water bottle and just say no to plastic!