NationStates Jolt Archive

This is pretty simple stuff that most Europeans already know, but from experience many Americans have yet to realize it, soooooooooooooooo:

- Turn off all electronics when you are not using them
- Use public transportation
- If you need a car, don't buy an SUV, buy an electric hybrid, diesel, or smart car
- Fix your appliances as soon as they break and try to avoid them breaking, as many can leak toxic chemicals
- Composte
- Recycle
- Use non-toxic cleaners to clean
- Use energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Fix any leaks in your house (such as in air conditioning)
- Don't take as hot of showers, and if you do, turn off the water when applying soap and shampoo, then turn the water back on. Take shorter showers


If I missed some please feel free to add them in.

Drive less and combine trips, wrap insulation around your water heater, buy the most efficient air conditioner/heater on the market (heating consumes over 80% of residential natural gas), switch from oil or coal heat to natural gas, and use natural heating/cooling to their maximum potential.

Even better, invest in solar panels and an inverter and set up a solar water system; either that, or use a tankless water heater that runs on electricity rather than natural gas. Buy green energy from your utility if possible and turn up your thermostat in summer and down in winter; if everyone in the US turned their thermostat down two degrees in just the winter, we would save 6% of our natural gas consumption.

Also, you could plant some more trees to offset your CO2; not only that, but they increase the value of your house. The energy savings are another plus, especially since renewable energy can actually make you money if you produce more than you use from installed solar panels.

Also, you could plant some more trees to offset your CO2; not only that, but they increase the value of your house. The energy savings are another plus, especially since renewable energy can actually make you money if you produce more than you use from installed solar panels.
Planting trees in the right place also helps shade your house in the summer, keeping it that much cooler so you don't have to use as much energy to cool it down.

This is pretty simple stuff that most Europeans already know, but from experience many Americans have yet to realize it, soooooooooooooooo:

- Turn off all electronics when you are not using them
- Use public transportation
- If you need a car, don't buy an SUV, buy an electric hybrid, diesel, or smart car
- Fix your appliances as soon as they break and try to avoid them breaking, as many can leak toxic chemicals
- Composte
- Recycle
- Use non-toxic cleaners to clean
- Use energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Fix any leaks in your house (such as in air conditioning)
- Don't take as hot of showers, and if you do, turn off the water when applying soap and shampoo, then turn the water back on. Take shorter showers


If I missed some please feel free to add them in.

I think the last one is a little extreme

use paper, not plastic

This is pretty simple stuff that most Europeans already know, but from experience many Americans have yet to realize it, soooooooooooooooo:

- Turn off all electronics when you are not using them
- Use public transportation
- If you need a car, don't buy an SUV, buy an electric hybrid, diesel, or smart car
- Fix your appliances as soon as they break and try to avoid them breaking, as many can leak toxic chemicals
- Composte
- Recycle
- Use non-toxic cleaners to clean
- Use energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Fix any leaks in your house (such as in air conditioning)
- Don't take as hot of showers, and if you do, turn off the water when applying soap and shampoo, then turn the water back on. Take shorter showers


If I missed some please feel free to add them in.

okay other than the public transportation here sucks and I need my SUV, I think I am covered. I take a 2 minute shower, I don't bother with the turning the water off and on and all that....

EDIT: I forgot to add one....

hmm.........oh, use a cup to rinse when you brush your teeth, all that water running down the drain for no reason, it irks me. I guess that's more conservation than a green house thing though right?

Planting trees in the right place also helps shade your house in the summer, keeping it that much cooler so you don't have to use as much energy to cool it down.

That's absolutely correct. It also protects against the cold wind during the winter if you plant some evergreen trees and shrubs; these plants also help with drainage and soil retention which further bolster the value of your house.

Live in a white house.

Don't grow coniferous trees.

My proposals are all designed to increase the earth's albedo.

Well, if you contracted some fatal, contagious disease, refused treatment, and spread it amongst your neighbors, I'm sure that would reduce the carbon output in your neighborhood.

hmm.........oh, use a cup to rinse when you brush your teeth, all that water running down the drain for no reason, it irks me. I guess that's more conservation than a green house thing though right?
I probably use less water than that when I brush my teeth... I wet my brush, turn the water off and then when I'm done I turn the water on again to get a mouthful, rinse my mouth and my brush at the same time and then turn it off again. Plus I don't have to use water to wash the cup.

I probably use less water than that when I brush my teeth... I wet my brush, turn the water off and then when I'm done I turn the water on again to get a mouthful, rinse my mouth and my brush at the same time and then turn it off again. Plus I don't have to use water to wash the cup.


This is what I've always done.

I never understood people tha tleft teh water running the entire time they brushed.

This is pretty simple stuff that most Europeans already know, but from experience many Americans have yet to realize it, soooooooooooooooo:

- Turn off all electronics when you are not using them
- Use public transportation
- If you need a car, don't buy an SUV, buy an electric hybrid, diesel, or smart car
- Fix your appliances as soon as they break and try to avoid them breaking, as many can leak toxic chemicals
- Composte
- Recycle
- Use non-toxic cleaners to clean
- Use energy saving compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Fix any leaks in your house (such as in air conditioning)
- Don't take as hot of showers, and if you do, turn off the water when applying soap and shampoo, then turn the water back on. Take shorter showers


If I missed some please feel free to add them in.
I do recycle. LED's save more energy than flourescent bulbs. No leaks. Got the compost pile for yard waste. No broken appliances.

As for the public transit, it doesn't fit my schedule so I need a car. And I like my freedom. And I don't have 20 grand to fork over for something whose MPG drops like a stone when you go for a long time without braking or at higher speeds or both. It's just a problem with the design. I don't live in a densely packed city so a hybrid wouldn't save me much if anything.

And if I feel like taking a long shower I will. Don't tell me I can't. I'm not going to turn the water off and on just to satisfy the green police.

This is what I've always done.

I never understood people tha tleft teh water running the entire time they brushed.

No one would do that if they had to pay some sort of market price for their water.

Water has been free wherever I've lived, so I haven't had any incentive not to waste it.

I probably use less water than that when I brush my teeth... I wet my brush, turn the water off and then when I'm done I turn the water on again to get a mouthful, rinse my mouth and my brush at the same time and then turn it off again. Plus I don't have to use water to wash the cup.
true, I brush my teeth 4 times though... I am sure that's abnormal.

I have a friend who I used to live with and she would leave the water running the whole time she was brushing her teeth, not only did it annoy me, but it was hard on the water bill.

I need my SUV

Sorry why d'you need your SUV? Wouldn't a normal car suffice?

Sorry why d'you need your SUV? Wouldn't a normal car suffice?
no, a normal car won't, it won't hold all my stuff that I need, I would end up using more gas to make trips back home inbetween. Besides my Jeep gets better gas mileage than most other SUV's anyway.


The only way a "normal" car would work is if I packed the trunk, the backseat, the front passenger seat, and still left stuff at home, and you know tied my kids to the luggage rack on the roof with bungee cords.

Whenever you walk across a cattle stick a plug up its ass, that does more then anything else you could contrive :rolleyes:

Sorry why d'you need your SUV? Wouldn't a normal car suffice?

Some people need an SUV. The road to my parents' house is sometimes impassable without an appropriate vehicle and some skill in driving it.

Not everyone lives in a city. Not all roads are paved.

dont do anything
stop moving
stop breathing
stop living

dont do anything
stop moving
stop breathing
stop living
and do so on the compost heap :)

no, a normal car won't, it won't hold all my stuff that I need, I would end up using more gas to make trips back home inbetween. Besides my Jeep gets better gas mileage than most other SUV's anyway.


The only way a "normal" car would work is if I packed the trunk, the backseat, the front passenger seat, and still left stuff at home, and you know tied my kids to the luggage rack on the roof with bungee cords.
Minivan?

Minivan?
gets worse gas mileage than my Jeep, my Jeep gets 28mpg, the minivan my friend has gets 20mpg...

how is me getting a vehicle that gets worse gas mileage going to be better for the environment?

the "dont drive an SUV" is obviously for those who dont realy need the space, or other qualities of the car and only bought it because it's the thing to buy

however, driving agreements, with coleagues who live in the same neighbourhood as you do, would mean less cars used. not only good for the environment, but also less cars to cause traffic jams

nice quote from over the hedge: "So how many people fit in here (SUV)?" "Usualy one."

the "dont drive an SUV" is obviously for those who dont realy need the space, or other qualities of the car and only bought it because it's the thing to buy
oh, yeah. Those people annoy me, there is this guy at the gym with a Hummer who tries to tease me because his car is bigger than mine.............idiot.

but also less cars to cause traffic jams

That's a temporary benefit. We only build the roads we need.

oh, yeah. Those people annoy me, there is this guy at the gym with a Hummer who tries to tease me because his car is bigger than mine.............idiot.

Hummers are for wimps.

http://www.internationaldelivers.com/site_layout/XTFamily/cxt.asp

Hummers are for wimps.

http://www.internationaldelivers.com/site_layout/XTFamily/cxt.asp
haha!

Hummers are for wimps.

http://www.internationaldelivers.com/site_layout/XTFamily/cxt.asp

lol

drive that to the local green peace meetings

That's a temporary benefit. We only build the roads we need.

think of the savings when the government doesnt have to build roads for a while cause the traffic problem is less

If you must buy an SUV buy the one with the best gas mileage.

Don't start forest fires. Imagine what all that smoke from them is doing to the Ozone.

cycle or walk, dont drive

Imagine what all that smoke from them is doing to the Ozone.

What?

And smoke interferes with ozone how, exactly?

think of the savings when the government doesnt have to build roads for a while cause the traffic problem is less

Government savings only ever result in extra government waste.