Global warming - things you can do about it

I watched the movie "The inconvenient truth" today. It basically covers a speech given by the ex US vice president Al Gore, who's an activist in environmental issues. The movie presents a lot of facts on what causes global warming, how global warming in recent years has affected the earth, and most importantly, what we can do about it. You can watch the trailer here.

What you can do:

Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact flurescent light bulb (CFL).
CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Move your thermostat down 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer
Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.

Clean or replace filters on your air conditioner
Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Install a programmable thermostat
Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning.

Choose energy efficient applicances when making new purchases

Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year) instead of hot.

Turn off electronic devices you're not using
Simply turning off your TV, DVD player, stereo and computer when you're not using them will save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Unplug electronics from wall when you're not using them
Even when turned off, things like hairdryers, cell phone chargers and TV use energy. In fact, the energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year!

Be sure you're recycling at home
You can save 2400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates.

Buy recycled paper products
It takes 70-90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.

Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by tree can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10-15%.

Buy locally grown and produced foods
The average meal in the US travels 1200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.

Buy fresh foods instead of frozen
Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.

Seek out and support local farmers markets
They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth.

Buy organic food as much as possible
Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all our corn and soybeans organically, we'd remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Avoid heavily packaged products
You can save 1200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

Eat less meat
Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.

Cut down driving by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit
Avoid just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

Keep your car tuned up
Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere.

Check your tires weekly to make sure they're properly inflated
Proper inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference.

When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle
You can save 3000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid.

Fly less
Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. Your can also offset your air travel by investing in renewable energy projects.