Posts Tagged ‘Affect’
The majority of the scientific community agrees. Man is adversely affecting the environment and accelerating global warming. Greenhouse gases created by our modern lifestyles are blanketing the Earth in a warming cocoon and causing an ugly metamorphosis – a planet riddled with severe weather, animal species extinctions, and an inhospitable environment for future generations.
Governments and industries are not reacting quickly. In our lifetime, the world as we know it may no longer exist. It is up to everyone to start making changes NOW, working together towards a common goal: the preservation of this glorious, beautiful world in which we live.
Quit overstuffing yourself at the table.
Huh? That is a strange statement! How can your eating habits have an effect on greenhouse gases?
There are a growing number of overweight and obese people in the so-called affluent countries. Have you ever considered where all those hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets come from? Producers use prime agricultural land to cultivate grass and grain crops for feeding animals in the human food chain.
A single cow needs about five acres of pasture in order to thrive. During its lifetime, a cow can create truckloads of manure – manure that creates a considerable amount of methane (a greenhouse gas). The agricultural land required to raise one cow would feed humans more efficiently when devoted to crops like wheat and soybeans.
The meat we consume goes through several processing stages using a variety of materials – including paper, plastic, Styrofoam, and cardboard. Transportation to the slaughterhouse, processing plant, retail store, and then to the kitchen burns up energy and creates toxic greenhouse emissions.
All that extra food ultimately creates methane gas when it ends up in the sewer. In addition, each extra pound of fat on the body requires more oxygen to maintain, depleting a resource that plant life must replenish.
Give back some of the oxygen you breathe!
Plant life consumes carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) and produces life-giving oxygen. However, man clears forests and prime agricultural land to erect ever-higher skyscrapers. If we were to spend more time building down into the ground instead of up into the air or sprawling into the countryside, we would leave more surface area for agriculture and nature. Until architects embrace this concept, we can help replenish a bit of the Earth’s oxygen by filling our lives with greenery.
Surround yourself with houseplants. Every balcony can have flowerboxes filled with beautiful oxygen-producing blooms. Apartments with flat roofs can have rooftop gardens. Business people can fill office buildings and retail establishments with live trees, hanging plant baskets, and exotic flowers. Even people with a ‘brown thumb’ can find easy-to-grow plants like philodendrons, cacti, spider plants, ivies, and African violets.
Reduce the impact of your trash.
Most landfills produce huge amounts of methane. Garbage produces methane gas when it decays in an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment. Most landfills crush garbage and place it into a plastic-lined pit, then layer the trash with dirt and more garbage.
You can help prevent landfill methane production by composting as much as possible. Just about anything organic is compostable – potato peelings, coffee grounds, unsalted pasta water, moldy baked goods, etc. Avoid large items like whole potatoes and corncobs. You should chop them into smaller pieces before adding them to your compost bin. Avoid meat, oily or fatty substances, or anything prepared with appreciable amounts of salt.
Add finished compost to your houseplants and garden, or use it for lawn top-dressing to create lusciously healthy growth. You can purchase a commercial compost bin at your local department, hardware, or garden supply store. Alternatively, search the Internet for ‘plans compost bin construction’ if you would like to try building a bin from scratch.
You can add many unusual items to your compost:
100% cotton clothing (no buttons or zippers)
100% wool sweaters or socks
brown paper bags
burnt toast, cakes, potatoes
corked or soured wine
crushed eggshells
dryer lint
feathers and fur
hair clippings
junk mail (no plastic or metal)
leather goods (metal and plastic pieces removed)
pasta, cooked or uncooked (without the sauce)
shells from almonds, peanuts, and walnuts
shredded paper
small pieces of cardboard
small quantities of expired dairy products
tea bags and coffee filters
toenail and fingernail clippings
vacuum cleaner bags and contents
wooden skewers (broken into small pieces)
wooden toothpicks
You can locate a more comprehensive list if you search the Net for ‘things to add to compost’.
These tips are just a start. Keep watching for further informational articles in the days to come.
(c) Copyright Kathy Steinemann: This article is free to publish only if this copyright notice, the byline, and the author’s note below (with active links) are included.
Rather worrying I thought, an independent peice of research has revealed that where you live can affect how much you pay for gas and electricity.
In January around 4 UK utilities providers varied their gas prices in the UK according to the cost of piping it to your home. So amazingly if you just happen to live nearer wherever the companies begin piping gas in the UK you’re better off when it comes to your bill – how unfair is that for people who don’t live as close?! This is creating a ‘lucky dip’ for customers who have to pay the bills. There are also 3 more utilties companies considering charging customers on this basis. It would certainly be a better way to attract new switching customers if one of these energy companies could prove they do not charge us for piping the gas around the UK. After all that’s part of their job and it should be factored into the maufacturing costs NOT passed onto the consumer by means of another bill increase.
As more gas suppliers adopt this pricing structure combined with the recent price increases, lots of people will have seen their home energy bills rise above inflation and smash the £1,000 per year mark!
The adoption of regional gas prices by some suppliers further emphasises price variations around the country. The average gas price increase is now around 12.8 per cent, but customers living in areas like London and the East Midlands are being hit with much bigger price rises of around 23 per cent. People must try to find the best deal to fight the effects of what is really a lucky dip when it comes to utility bill prices.
You could Move house in order to change your tariff and lower energy bills, but there are easier ways to lower your fuel bills! There are plenty of comparison web sites which help you to compare hundreda of tariffs on a nationwide basis to find a cheaper energy supplier. When switching energy suppliers you should also consider opting for an online tariff if you have internet access. An online tariff can be hundreds of pounds cheaper because the energy company doesn’t have the administrational costs involved with an offline account.