Green 2013 Resolution
A New Year’s Resolution for the Environment in 2013
By living a typical lifestyle in North America, each of us consumes more renewable and non-renewable energy and material resources and produces more recyclable and non-recyclable and degradable and non-degradable wastes than our counterparts anywhere else on the planet. We are like ungrateful guests at a party: we eat and drink more than our fair share but never offer to help with the cost or clean up and are always the last to leave. The party has actually been over for a while now, but we've been having too good a time to realize that the music has stopped and its time to pay the piper. We have been living like there is no tomorrow, and if we keep it up, we will be right.
However, we can slow and even reverse these self-destructive trends by reducing our resource consumption and waste production, individually and collectively, so as to reduce our ecological or
environmental footprint http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_footprint
while living a reasonable approximation of the North American lifestyle to which we have become accustomed. Thank you in advance for your rededication and recommitment to environmentally enlightened (green) living and responsible stewardship in 2013.
Here is a by no means complete checklist of things you can do to reduce your environmental/ecological footprint, to live in a sustainable way as a responsible steward, and to foster a social, economic, and political environment that encourages others to do likewise:
(1) Reduce water consumption by installing low-flow shower and faucet heads, low-flush toilets, composting vegetable wastes, shortening showers, brushing teeth and shaving without water running, rinsewater reuse for indoor plants and outdoor gardens, and roof rainwater runoff capture for watering gardens and lawns. Avoid bottled water.
(2) Reduce home energy consumption by switching to more efficient light bulbs and appliances, turning off/unplugging electronic appliances and devices, insulating roofs, walls, and windows, and setting the A/C to a minimum of 78 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Obtain some or all energy from renewable sources, such as geothermal via heat pumps, wind or solar power.
(3) Reduce transportation energy consumption by walking or bicycling locally, buying energy-efficient automobiles, vans, and trucks, and using efficient mass transportation systems for long-distance travel.
(4) Buy foods locally, garden, and compost.
(5) Reduce waste production by using reusable containers for transport and storage and buying rechargeable batteries. Use paper instead of plastic bags at the grocery store, and reuse the paper bags for solid waste storage and disposal at home. If you must or prefer to use plastic bags, use them only from stores that recycle them, and then recycle them.
(6) Purchase goods that are made from renewable resources in such a way that the components are nontoxic, ecodegradable, and/or can be readily reused or recycled. Advocate for green labeling to assist consumers in this regard.
(7) Use tools, equipment, supplies, and services that are produced from recycled/recyclable and upcycled/upcyclable materials using clean energy with minimal, properly managed wastes. Reuse and Recycle.
(8) Purchase greenhouse gas offsets for energy consumption for the home, transportation, and food and consumer goods in production, transportation, use, and waste disposal. Give them as gifts for major life milestones, such as births, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, confirmations, and graduations.
(9) Patronize and invest in companies that provide verifiably green goods and services and that do not engage in any of the practices identified in (10).
(10) Boycott and disinvest in companies that engage in greenwashing, oppose fair and reasonable consumer, occupational, and environmental protection laws, regulation, and standards, misinform the public on the safety of their products or practices or discredit scientists whose study results challenge the safety of their products or practices, or that support politicians who oppose fair and reasonable consumer, occupational, or environmental protection laws, regulations, and standards.
(11) Support honest elected and appointed members of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government who support fair and reasonable consumer, occupational, and environmental protections laws, regulations, and standards and oppose those who don’t.
(12) Educate yourself and others on environmental issues and advocate for the environment to represent the interests of future generations in today’s decision-making processes.
More detailed green living tips are available at http://www.sierraclub.org/tips/, http://greenliving.lifetips.com/ and http://www.enn.com/lifestyle/article/29262.
Adopting an environmentally appropriate lifestyle voluntarily now is intended to forestall the day when laws, regulations, and standards are imposed involuntarily that severely restrict our lifestyle in order to save the planet from our excesses and equitably share what’s left. The willingness to forgo or limit one’s own benefit for the benefit of someone else without expectation of a reward is a selfless act and a form of altruism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism. We are advocates of a sustainable world the needs of which are supplied by a government-regulated, interacting social, economic, and political systems tempered by altruism to bring consideration for the future consequences of our actions, individually and collectively, into today's social, economic, and political decision-making processes.
Here are some additional links to help you gauge your environmental or ecological footprint to encourage you to go on a green diet for sustainable living:
http://www.myfootprint.org/
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/gfn/page/calculators/
http://www.ehow.com/how_2044084_reduce-environmental-footprint.html
http://www.earthday.org/footprint-calculator
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/smgp/product_footprint.htm
Here’s to a happier, healthier, wealthier, greener, and wiser New Year to you, yours, and theirs for 2013 and all the years to come of the sustainable future we are helping to build, one green home at a time.
However, we can slow and even reverse these self-destructive trends by reducing our resource consumption and waste production, individually and collectively, so as to reduce our ecological or
environmental footprint http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_footprint
while living a reasonable approximation of the North American lifestyle to which we have become accustomed. Thank you in advance for your rededication and recommitment to environmentally enlightened (green) living and responsible stewardship in 2013.
Here is a by no means complete checklist of things you can do to reduce your environmental/ecological footprint, to live in a sustainable way as a responsible steward, and to foster a social, economic, and political environment that encourages others to do likewise:
(1) Reduce water consumption by installing low-flow shower and faucet heads, low-flush toilets, composting vegetable wastes, shortening showers, brushing teeth and shaving without water running, rinsewater reuse for indoor plants and outdoor gardens, and roof rainwater runoff capture for watering gardens and lawns. Avoid bottled water.
(2) Reduce home energy consumption by switching to more efficient light bulbs and appliances, turning off/unplugging electronic appliances and devices, insulating roofs, walls, and windows, and setting the A/C to a minimum of 78 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Obtain some or all energy from renewable sources, such as geothermal via heat pumps, wind or solar power.
(3) Reduce transportation energy consumption by walking or bicycling locally, buying energy-efficient automobiles, vans, and trucks, and using efficient mass transportation systems for long-distance travel.
(4) Buy foods locally, garden, and compost.
(5) Reduce waste production by using reusable containers for transport and storage and buying rechargeable batteries. Use paper instead of plastic bags at the grocery store, and reuse the paper bags for solid waste storage and disposal at home. If you must or prefer to use plastic bags, use them only from stores that recycle them, and then recycle them.
(6) Purchase goods that are made from renewable resources in such a way that the components are nontoxic, ecodegradable, and/or can be readily reused or recycled. Advocate for green labeling to assist consumers in this regard.
(7) Use tools, equipment, supplies, and services that are produced from recycled/recyclable and upcycled/upcyclable materials using clean energy with minimal, properly managed wastes. Reuse and Recycle.
(8) Purchase greenhouse gas offsets for energy consumption for the home, transportation, and food and consumer goods in production, transportation, use, and waste disposal. Give them as gifts for major life milestones, such as births, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, confirmations, and graduations.
(9) Patronize and invest in companies that provide verifiably green goods and services and that do not engage in any of the practices identified in (10).
(10) Boycott and disinvest in companies that engage in greenwashing, oppose fair and reasonable consumer, occupational, and environmental protection laws, regulation, and standards, misinform the public on the safety of their products or practices or discredit scientists whose study results challenge the safety of their products or practices, or that support politicians who oppose fair and reasonable consumer, occupational, or environmental protection laws, regulations, and standards.
(11) Support honest elected and appointed members of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government who support fair and reasonable consumer, occupational, and environmental protections laws, regulations, and standards and oppose those who don’t.
(12) Educate yourself and others on environmental issues and advocate for the environment to represent the interests of future generations in today’s decision-making processes.
More detailed green living tips are available at http://www.sierraclub.org/tips/, http://greenliving.lifetips.com/ and http://www.enn.com/lifestyle/article/29262.
Adopting an environmentally appropriate lifestyle voluntarily now is intended to forestall the day when laws, regulations, and standards are imposed involuntarily that severely restrict our lifestyle in order to save the planet from our excesses and equitably share what’s left. The willingness to forgo or limit one’s own benefit for the benefit of someone else without expectation of a reward is a selfless act and a form of altruism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altruism. We are advocates of a sustainable world the needs of which are supplied by a government-regulated, interacting social, economic, and political systems tempered by altruism to bring consideration for the future consequences of our actions, individually and collectively, into today's social, economic, and political decision-making processes.
Here are some additional links to help you gauge your environmental or ecological footprint to encourage you to go on a green diet for sustainable living:
http://www.myfootprint.org/
http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/gfn/page/calculators/
http://www.ehow.com/how_2044084_reduce-environmental-footprint.html
http://www.earthday.org/footprint-calculator
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/smgp/product_footprint.htm
Here’s to a happier, healthier, wealthier, greener, and wiser New Year to you, yours, and theirs for 2013 and all the years to come of the sustainable future we are helping to build, one green home at a time.
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