www.driveneutral.org has some awesome tips and ideas on how to make the world a cleaner, better place. I found them so wonderful that I'm posting some of my favorites on this blog. To see them all, visit DriveNeutral's website!

Make your eyes as big as your stomach.
The average family of four wastes $600 of food a year. In addition to the unsavory price tag, food waste also contributes to pesticide pollution, fossil fuel use, deforestation, and water use.

Plan driving ahead of time.
Gasoline made from fossil fuels is the largest man-made source of carcinogens and the leading source of toxic emissions, according to the . EPA. Instead of going on several trips, try to combine them. Combining trips can reduce gas consumption and emissions. And added bonus: your car runs most efficiently when it’s warm.

Slow Down.
Did you know that driving at 75 miles per hour uses 13% more gas than going 65 miles per hour? Aggressive driving requires more braking and keeps the car in a lower, less efficient gear.

Compute your savings.
Changing your computers’ power saving settings can decrease the amount of electricity it uses.

Tree your home.
Shady trees can dramatically reduce the need to cool your home in the summer. Some kinds of trees can even keep you warm in the winter. Deciduous trees lose their leaves when it’s cool, allowing the sun’s rays to function as a heater.

Use the library.
Why buy a book you will read just once when you can borrow it for free? Most libraries are bursting at the seams with good books, magazines, and even music. If you do need to buy books, then buy used whenever possible, have a book exchange with your friends, and sell the books you no longer need. Trees everywhere will thank you.

Turn down your hot water heater.
For every 10 degrees that you lower your hot water heater, you can reduce your energy consumption between 3%-%5! This lessens emissions produced by your energy provider and also helps extend the life of your water heater. Most homes can set their heaters between 115-125 F.

Have a garage sale.
Is your attic, basement, or closet overflowing with stuff? Do you rarely use your gadgets? Reducing waste can be a win-win situation! You can also sell your stuff on the internet or exchange it with others.

Buy recycled paper.
Recycled paper requires less energy to produce. Every pound of recycled paper you buy prevents 4 lbs. of carbon dioxide emissions. Look for the highest available post-consumer content.

Lose the heavy stuff.
Each 100 lbs. in your car increases gas consumption by 1-2%. Another great reason to leave all bricks and rocks at home!

Share.
Didn’t your mother always tell you to share? If you only use your tent, ladder, or video player once in a while, consider lending it to others. Some communities have a shared tool shed. Workplaces have book exchanges. Or, you and a friend can team up to buy rarely used items. Sharing decreases the energy and pollution from mining, manufacturing, packaging, and transporting new goods.

As you can see, DriveNeutral really knows what they're talking about! And while it'd be great for you to do everything in this post, it's not always possible. Doing just a few of these things really could make a difference! Thank you for helping us to be out with global warming. =]

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Some people would say, "Oh, I don't need to change MY lifestyle or the way I do things. One person doesn't make a difference."

But that is most certainly false. It takes everyone in the world to make a change on this planet, to turn our earth's warming around and get everything back the way it should be. Imagine all the people who think they don't make a difference. We won't get anywhere, will we?

If you think the little you things you do don't matter, you're wrong. They matter a lot, and they mean a lot! If you can do one more thing to change the world for the better, I suggest you do it. One person out of millions and billions CAN and WILL make a difference. And you will be a good role model for others who are still a little hesitant. Of course, going green doesn't require to change your entire life. You can do something simple like make a poster for the cause.

TODAY'S TIP: Only turn your dishwasher on when it's full. Wait and run it when there's no more room left. This saves money, and it saves our planet, because you won't be running the dishwasher as often as you would be otherwise.

For more good tips on what you can do for your part, click here.

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Have a great day,
and keep the earth clean! :]

If the temperature trend continues, it will take aproximately 25 to 35 years until the last polar bears living in the wild die out. Why? There is a lack of ice at the north pole! Take a look:



Pretty scary, isn't it? But how can we prevent that from happening anymore? Of course we can do more at home and be more conservant [see other posts in this blog] from now on, but that won't be enough.

We'd need to export snow to the Arctic through huge water pumps that pumps in fresh water from Russian or Canadian lakes to the worst Arctic areas. When the freshwater reaches it destinations, it would be made into snow using snow cannons.

That's not an easy thing to do. It would require a lot of energy and probably 100-200 billion dollars every year. Not simple, and not cheap either.

Since that's pretty much out of the question as of now, we'll have to do something easier. We'll need to build oil platforms in the Arctic. Polar bears can live in the enclosure and be fed by the oil workers.

To all the people who insist to me that the sea ice is NOT melting or getting thinner, that it is in fact GROWING in thickness... You are wrong. The consequences of global warming are not good! As you've seen, the ice sheets of the north pole are rapidly decreasing.

Be conservative at home to help this earth... Avoid driving your car; carpool, walk, or bike instead. Buy recycled/organic products. For recycling to work, there must be a demand, so purchase those products. Keep your car's tires properly inflated, and change your air filter. Replace old appliances in your house. Unplug un-used electronics, even when they're turned off. Only run your dishwasher on a full load [don't run it as often]. Keep your temperatures down 2 degrees in the winter, and up 2 degrees in the summer. If you get cold, bundle up instead of cranking the heat! And last but not least, BUY A HYBRID CAR. :]

For some more good tips on what you can do for your part, click here.

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The word needs to be spread about global warming... And thanks to technology, there are so many ways you can do that!

One- On this website, there are some buttons in the sidebar where you can "link us". Just copy the entire code below the image. Then paste it into your website, profile, or whatever you want. Be sure not to change the code, or it won't work. This will let people discover global warming and this website-right from YOUR site/profile!

Two- Go to www.stopglobalwarming.org On that website you can join in their "virtual march". When you sign up another "marcher" will be listed. The higher the number of "marchers" grows, the more global warming is recognized and the world is shown that people DO care. Also on Stop Global Warming's website, you can see other ways to spread the word and things you can do.

Three- Talk about it, and show strength through your actions! Talk to your friends all the time about global warming, and what THEY can do. Teach your community. Then do the things you can do to lower the carbon dioxide in the air and end global warming. Your actions will encourage others to do the same.

SPEAK UP and SPEAK OUT! Let global warming [and ways to end it] be fully known to everyone you meet...

If you really want to do more, here's a fun, easy way. Just make a poster to help reverse global warming!

Valetines Day is coming up, and while love will be in the air, so will pollution... Valetines Day is a nice chance to give back to the world and make some simple changes.

* Buy a ream of 100% post consumer recycled paper to make your valentines with this year. Save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper
* Move your heater thermostat down two degrees in winter... Not only is this helping the environment and saving you money, but it gives you an excuse to cuddle up with the one you love!
* Carpool! If you're going out this Valentines Day, carpool [or even walk or ride a bike] instead of driving your own car.

Those are only a few suggestions for what you can do this Valentines Day... But here are some more quick ones: Run your dishwasher only with a full load. Keep your water heater thermostat no higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Take shorter showers. Unplug all un-used electronics, even when they're off. Put on warmer clothes instead of cranking up the heat. Buy more recycled and organic products. And last but not least, plant a tree.

Happy [early] Valentines Day! :]

I was recently conducting a search on Yahoo! Answers, asking if people thought global warming was a serious issue... And I've also read other questions similar to mine that people have asked. I'm shocked to hear that a vast majority of people respond saying that they don't care! I will post some answers I see [on my question and on other peoples'], and always update this post with new answers as time goes on...

"I am doing nothing to stop it. Global warming is not a FACT."

Fact or no fact, global warming is a serious issue. Besides, it's pretty much proven that humans are causing the problems. And no matter what you believe, the world could still be a little cleaner, a little better. All of the factories, all the cars that are driven every day, and all the little things we do or DON'T do at home, aren't helping. Global warming DOES exist, and it is something that needs to be put to an end.

"I don't think it's a serious issue. Honestly? It's not going to affect me, so why should I care?"

Global warming affects EVERYONE. While it might not be as serious in your lifetime, it will be extremely serious for your children, your grandchildren... All the future generations. And they're not the ones who screwed up the world, we are. So why leave them with the consequences of our mistakes? It's not right, especially when we could turn around right now and begin to fix what we've started.

More to be added soon...

Some of our favorite national parks, forests, and wildlands are at risk because of global warming. We don't want to lose these wonderful treasures to something we can start working on right now to do away with!

Glaciers vanish from National Glacier Park. Mountain landscapes fade in Cascadia parks. Yellowstone's grizzlies face a shortage of food. Colorado Plateau parks become too hot to handle. Scenic meadows disappear in the Rockies. Beaches flood in Coastal California parks. Crowds and pollution increase in Yosemite.

Pest outbreaks, less snow, an increase of wildfires, warming temperatures, drier conditions, rising sea levels, and prolonged heat and drought are only some of the things that are destroying our national parks for good. The beauty that we all know and love could soon be lost, in some cases, in less than a few decades.

If you don't want to see the gorgeous Yosemite or wonderful Yellowstone gone, then you should start acting now or doing more to do out with global warming. Keep your eyes peeled for things you can do in your daily life, and also check out the links and info below.

For some good tips on what you can do for your part, click here.

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"Why should I care about global warming? It's not like anything serious is really going to happen."

False. Unless we act now, the young generation and future generations will have to deal with a hotter world, dirtier air and water, more wildfires, and more severe floods and droughts. It will affect all of us all over the world, not just a select few. This is a problem everyone needs to recognize and fight.

Earth's climate is rapidly changing. Global temperatures increased by around one degree Fahrenheit over the last century, and could rise another three to nine degrees globally over the next century if something isn't done. What causes this? A thickening layer of carbon dioxide pollution that traps heat in the atmosphere.

If something isn't done and temperatures keep rising, we will have to face disastrous consequences. Sea levels will rise, flooding coastal areas where huge numbers of the population live. Droughts and wildfires will occur more often. Heat waves will be more common and more intense. Mosquitos that carry disease will expand their range, and species will be pushed to extinction. But that's not what's coming in the distant future. Many of these changes have already begun.

You want proof?

Most of the United States is already getting warmer, in some areas up to four degrees Fahrenheit. No state in the lower 48 states has experienced below average temperatures in 2002. The last three five-year periods are the warmest on record.

Some of the worst wildfires in years have occured in the past decade; in some places millions of acres have burned at once. And in many places the past decade has been drier than any other.

National annual precipitation has gone up between five and ten percent since the early 20th century, which results in very heavy rainfall in some areas. Many states have had severe flooding costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, and some states have gotten more than double their normal rainfall in the past several years.

Extreme heat waves caused over 20,000 deaths in Europe and more than 1,500 deaths in India in 2003. Mosquitos carrying diseases are spreading their range as climates shift, allowing them to survive in area that they never could have before.

Warmer water in the oceans gives more energy to tropical storms like hurricanes, making them more powerful and destructive. The number of category four and five storms has increased A LOT over the past 25 years, and so has ocean temperature.

Rising global temperatures will cause glaciers and ice caps to melt. At the rate things are going, all of the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone by 2070. And according to NASA, the polar ice cap is now melting at a terrifying rate of nine percent per decade. Thickness of arctic ice has decreased forty percent since the 1960's.

Global sea level has already risen four to eight inches in the past one hundred years. Scientists guess that the sea level will nineteen inches more by 2100, and maybe even by as much as 37 inches.

A recent study published told us that at least 279 plant and animal species are already responding to global warming because of the shifting of geographic ranges. Forests are being lost, and and some penguin populations have decreased by 33 percent over the past 25 years.

There is plenty more, but not even enough time to list all of the damages our world and things inhabiting it are facing. Before it's too late we need to get to work on making a difference in our homes, communities, and daily lives. Please watch this blog for ways you can start defeating global warming. It's not always hard or expensive to rid of something terrible, and if everyone pitches in, soon we'll be out with global warming.

For some good tips on what you can do for your part, click here.

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