50 Things That you can do

1. Stop Junk Mail
2. Snip Six-Pack Rings
3. Use a Clean Detergent
4. Aerate Your Faucet
5. New Ingredients
6. Tanks, But No Tanks
7. Make a Phone Call
8. Brush Up On Paint
9. Time to Retire
10. Home on the Range
11. Don't Go With the Flow
12. Gas Station Ecology
13. The Twilight Ozone
14. Your Gas is as Good as Mine
15. Recharge your Batteries
16. Attention Shoppers
17. Find the Hidden Toxins
18. Leave it a Lawn
19. Stamp Out Styrofoam
20. It's a Beach
21. Buyer Beware
22. Pests & Pets
23. Make it a Royal Flush
24. Air-Power your Shower
25. Recycle Motor Oil
26. Tune up the Heat
27. Light Right
28. Don't Let Go
29. Reuse Old News
30. Recycle Glass
31. Don't Can Your Aluminum
32. Precycle
33. Use Cloth Diapers
34. Put it to Work....at Work
35. Recycle The Rest
36. Build a Backyard Wildlife Refuge
37. Help Protect the Rainforest
38. The Great Escape
39. Plant a Tree
40. Prevent Pests Naturally
41. What a Waste!
42. Carpool to Work
43. Start Composting
44. Install a Greywater Tank
45. Drive Less
46. Eat Low on the Food Chain
47. Start a Recycling Program
48. Xeriscape
49. Stay Involved
50. Spread The Word

Stop Junk Mail

Did You Know?

• Americans receive over 2 million tons of junk mail every year
• About 44% of junk mail is never even opened up or read
• The average American spends nearly 8 full months of their life opening junk mail
• Junk mail is made possible by the bulk rate offered by the US Postal Service
• If only 100,000 people stopped their junk mail, we could save about 150,000 trees annually.

What You Can Do:    Recycle the junk mail that you receive

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Snip Six-Pack Rings

Did You Know?

• Plastic Six-Pack rings are virtually invisible underwater, so marine life often cannot avoid them
• Gulls and Terns often get them caught around their necks while fishing and strangle
• Young animals get them caught around their necks and as they grow strangle and die

What Can You Do:    Recycle the rings with your plastic or snip the rings so that no animal can get caught in the rings.

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Use A Clean Detergent

Did You Know?

• You may be using a high-phosphate detergent without realizing it. 
• Phosphates are not necessary

What You Can Do: Use a natural organic detergent.  Several manufacturers, including Shaklee Inc., have phosphate free liquid and powdered laundry concentrates that work just as well as, if not better than, popular brands.

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Aerate Your Faucet

Did you Know?

• The normal faucet flow is about 3 to 5 gallons of water per minute (gpm).

What you can do:    Install a low flow aerator or contact your local plumber for more water saving options

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New Ingredients

Did you Know?

• your coffee filters, paper towels, etc. are white because they're bleached.  but this isn't a benign aesthetic; the process of bleaching paper is responsible for creating  dioxin, a deadly toxic which has been dumped into American waterways.
• in many cases, paper is bleached despite the fact we rarely look at it. for example; Americans buy millions of bleached coffee filters every year,, and then throw them away after one use.
• To make plastic wrap cling, manufacturers add "plasticizers," potentially harmful chemical that can work their way into you food.

What you can do:    Use reusable containers, use unbleached coffee filters or a multi-use filter, clean with rags, etc.

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Tanks, But No Tanks

Did you Know?

• Many people keep their water heaters at 140°, hotter than needed.  Not only does it waste energy but it reduces the life of the unit.
• For every 10° you turn down your water heater, you save 6% of the energy used.

What You Can Do:    Keep your water heater set at around 130°.

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Make a Phone Call

Did you Know?

• Just making a phone call to your utility company can provide you with information to save energy and money.

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Brush Up On Paint

Did you Know?

• According to the San Francisco Household Waste Facility, paint and paint products account for 60% of the hazardous waste dumped by individuals.
• Not only oil-based paint is toxic, but the by-products of manufacturing are nasty pollutants.
• Disposing of any paint by pouring it onto the ground is risking groundwater contamination.  And letting any oil-based paint products evaporate pollutes the atmosphere.

 What Can You Do:    Keep you paint lids on tight.  Call your local waste authority and find out how best to dispose of paint and paint products.

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Time To Re-Tire?

Did you know?

• Tire inflation preserves the life of the tire
• Tire inflation reflects on the fuel economy of your vehicle
• Recycling tires takes 71% of the energy to produce new rubber for tires

What you can do:    Keep your tire properly inflated, drive less, and recycle your old tires.

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Home On the Range

Did you know?

• If all consumers raised the settings of their air conditioners by 6 degrees, we could save 190,000 barrels of oil every day
• More than 25% of the average city apartment dweller's electrical costs goes to refrigerators
• Washing machines use about 14% of the water consumed in the home
• Microwaves use only 1/3 to 1/2 as much energy as conventional ovens.  Toaster ovens are more energy efficient too

What you can do:    Keep your appliances clean and they will run more efficiently.  Turn down the AC just 6 degrees.

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Don't Go With The Flow

Did you know?

• A running faucet puts 3 to 5 gallons of water down the drain every minute
• You can easily use 5 gallons of water if you leave the tap run while you are brushing your teethe
• Washing dishes with the tap running can use an average of 30 gallons of water
• If you shave with the water running you use an estimated 10 to 20 gallons of water
• If you wash your car at home with a hose you use about 150 gallons of water

What you can do:    Do not let the tap run when it is not needed, and wash your car in an automatic car wash or use a bucket and sponge to rinse also.

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Gas Station Ecology

Did you know?

• Butane is a component of gasoline and when you pump fuel the vapors are released into the air and add to the greenhouse gasses

What you can do:    Let your vehicle get lower on fuel and then fill the tank from empty.  Less of the vapors will escape this way.

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The Twilight Ozone

Did you know?

• Freon from air conditioners creates CFC's which deplete the ozone
• 10% of the aerosol sprays still you CFCs

What you can do:    You the air conditioning only when you must, and by spray bottles instead of aerosols and if you must but aerosols buy those with no CFCs

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Your Gas is as Good as Mine

Did you know?

• Autos and light trucks emit 20% of this country's fossil fuel carbon dioxide-The key ingredient in the "greenhouse effect"
• The amount of CO2 a car emits is directly related to the amount of gas it uses.
• Cars give off 20 lbs. of CO2 for every gallon of gas consumed
• Cars also  cause acid rain by emitting  34% of the nitrogen oxide spewed out in the U.S.  That is more than 7 million tons every year
• Cars emit 27% of the hydrocarbons that cause tree killing, lung damaging ozone smog.

What you can do:    Keep your car tuned up well.  This will reduce emissions.  Keep track of your gas mileage, if there is a sudden drop you can catch the problem early and fix it.

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Recharge Your Batteries

Did you know?

• Prolonged exposure to mercury can not only make you sick, but can even effect behavior.  In the 1600's hatmakers who used mercury to treat felt and fur began acting strangely.  Since no one knew that the hatters were showing the effects of mercury poisoning it was assumed that they were just going crazy.
• About 50% of the mercury and 25% of the cadmium used in the U.S.  goes to batteries
• The average annual use of mercury in batteries exceeds the federal limits on mercury allowed in garbage by 4 times

What you can do:    Buy and use rechargeable batteries

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Attention Shoppers

Did you know?

• Plastic shopping bags are not biodegradable
• Paper shopping bags are never made from recycled materials because manufacturers say they need the long fibers they can only get from the virgin pulp.

What you can do:    Take your own reusable canvas bags to the store

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Find the Hidden Toxins

Did you know?

• Permanent-press cloths and no iron linins are treated with formaldehyde resin in such a way that it becomes a permanent part of the fiber, and result in toxic fumes in the home.
• Air fresheners do not actually freshen the air.  They coat and deaden your nasal passages with oil.  Many of these oils contain chemicals such as; xylene ethanol, naphthalene, etc.
• Mothballs "Made  from 100% paradichlorobenzene," which is harmful to your liver and kidneys.

What you can do:    Buy a good air purifier that will remove the toxins from the air instead of adding them.  Buy clothing and linins that are not permanent press and use an iron.  There are  many organic pest control products that are safe for anyone of any age to use an will not effect pets or children.

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Leave it a Lawn

Did you know?

• Home owners use up to 10 times more toxic chemicals per acre than farmers
• The average home owner uses 5 to 10 pounds of pesticide per lawn, with a national total of about 25 to 50 million ponds.

What you can do:    Shaklee's Basic H cleaner is used by many to keep pests from their lawn and home, as it is 100% organic, non-toxic, and safe it even fertilizes the lawn.  And at around $12.00 for a bottle that makes 48 gallons it will benefit your wallet at the same time!

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Stamp Out Styrofoam

Did you know?

• Polystyrene foam is completely non-biodegradable
• Because of it's very structure it takes up a lot of space in the landfills

What you can do:    Do everything you can to avoid buying products that are packaged with it, and let the companies know that you are against them using it for packaging and that there are alternatives to foam packaging.

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It's a Beach

Did you know?

• Every year on September 23, the Center for Marine Conservation sponsors a nationwide 3 hour beach clean-up.
• It is quite effective
• Taking the garbage from the beach saves millions of lives.

What you can do:    Get involved with a beach clean-up at your favorite beach you go to on vacation.  Three hours out of your vacation will not ruin it, and if everyone did the same your favorite spot would be beautiful and clean for years to come.

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Buyer Beware

Did you know?

• 25 years ago there were 1.5 million elephants in Africa, but because of poaching and the market for their ivory there are only 750,000
• Many dolphins are still being killed by tuna fisherman

What you can do:    Boycotting really works well.  If  enough people boycott a product and state the reasons for the boycott companies will mend their ways.  Without consumers to purchase a product there is no reason for it harvest and or production.

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Pests and Pets

Did you know?

• An estimated 50 million flee collars are discarded annually
• The pesticide on some flea collars finds its effectiveness in permanent nerve damage
• The Chemicals found on flea collars can cause liver damage, and the DDVP on the collar is a carcinogen.

What you can do:    Order citrus oil sprays, or adding brewer's yeast or garlic to your pet's food

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Make it a Royal Flush

Did you know?

• Each time you flush your toilet uses 5 to 7  gallons of water
• You can get a low cost displacement device which will lower the amount of water held in your tank

What you can do:    Call your plumber and have him/her install a displacement unit or tank

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Air-Power Your Shower

Did you know?

• Shower account for about 32% of the water used in the home
• According to the Department of Energy heating water is "the 2'nd largest residential energy user."

What you can do:    Install a low-flow shower head.  It will save on the water

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Recycle your Motor Oil

Did you know?

• Some experts say that 40% of the pollution in America's waterways is from used crankcase oil.
• About 2.1 million tons of used oil finds it's way into our streams every year
• Pouring oil into a sewer is like pouring it directly into a stream or river
• Tossing oil in the trash is essentially the same thing as pouring it out.  The oil will be dumped in a landfill, where it will eventually seep into the ground

What you can do:    Recycle your used oil

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Tune Up the Heat

Did you know?

• According to Worldwatch, home heating is responsible for spewing 350 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year.
• About 12% of U.S. emissions of sulfur oxide and nitrogen oxide come from home heating
• if you heating system is running inefficiently, 30 to 50% of the energy it uses is wasted.

What you can do:    Have your furnace cleaned and tuned up.  Make sure that it is working properly and you will not only be helping the earth but your wallet at the same time

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Light Right

Did you know?

• Compact fluorescent lights use 1/4 of the power a standard bulb uses
• A standard bulb lasts about 750 hours, but the fluorescent last 7,500 to 10,000 hours

What you can do:    Use compact fluorescent bulbs

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Don't Let Go

Did you know?

• Balloons released at special events can travel hundreds of miles
• When a balloon lands in the water, they quickly lose their color and appear like a jellyfish which are some marine animals favorite food
• for some odd reason squids seem to gather around plastic in the water and sperm whales love to eat squid.  So when they eat the squid they end up eating the balloon also

What you can do:    Do not release balloons

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Reuse Old News

Did you know?

• Americans use 50 million tons of paper annually
• Making new paper from old paper uses  30 to 50% less energy

What you can do:    Recycle paper.

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Recycle glass

Did you know?

• The energy saved from recycling  one glass bottle will light a 100 watt light bulb for 4 hours
• Al glass bottles and jars can be recycled
• Glass produced from recycled glass instead of  raw material reduces related air pollution
• Because glass takes so long to decompose the bottle you threw away will be in the landfill for about 3000 years

What can you do:    Recycle glass

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Don't Can Your Aluminum

Did you know?

• If you throw an aluminum can out of your car window, it will still litter the Earth up to 500 years
• If you throw away 2 aluminum cans, you waste more energy than is used daily by each of a billion human beings in poorer lands
• The energy saved from recycling one can will power a TV for three hours

What you can do:    Recycle your aluminum

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Precycle

Did you know?

• Each American uses about 190 pounds of plastic a year
• About 30% of plastic  produced is for packaging
• Roughly 5 million tons-more than half of all the plastics we throw away each year-are packaging

What you can do:    Recycle plastic

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Use Cloth Diapers

Did you know?

• About 1% of all of America's landfill space is occupied by disposable diapers.  They can take up to 500 years to decompose in a landfill.
• Cotton diapers can be reused 100 times
• Manufacturers recommend that people wash out disposable diapers before discarding them, but only about 5% of us do
• Environmental Action estimates that because of disposable that because of disposable diapers, "3 million  toms of untreated feces and urine end up in landfills rather than in the sewage system every year."

What you can do:    Use disposable diapers

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Put It To Work...At Work

Did you know?

• The Average office worker throws away about 180 pound of high grade recyclable paper every year
• Each ton of recycled paper saves more than 3 cubic yards of landfill space
• Every ton of recycled paper is collected from office buildings and industrial plants for recycling

What you can do:    Get your work place to recycle their paper waste or do it yourself.  Take the initiative and do the right thing

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Recycle the Rest

Did you know?

• We'll repeat it: In the U.S., we throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour
• Recycled plastic can be used to make a number of different products

What you can do:    Recycle your plastic

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Build a Backyard Wildlife Refuge

Did you know?

• You can attract specific animals to your garden with certain plants
• Animals that are active in the daytime will visit yards if shelter such as walls a shrubs is provided
• Birds are often desperate for water in the winter, when the ground is frozen.  A heated bird bath can help hundreds of birds

What you can do:    Plant bushes and trees in your yard and make it more attractive for the local wildlife to visit

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Help Protect the Rainforests

Did you know?

• Even though the rainforest take up only 7% of the earths surface they support over half  of the worlds animal and plant life
• 80% of the deforestation of the rain forest has taken place since the 1980's
• Deforestation contributes to 10 to 30% of the CO2 emissions

What you can do:    Support organizations that are active in conservation of the rainforest.  Consider alternatives to tropical hardwoods.  Boycott companies that are involved with the deforestation of the rainforest

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The Great Escape

Did you know?

• If every gas heated home was properly insulated the natural gas saved annually would be enough to heat 4 million homes
• Nearly half of all the energy used in our homes is wasted
• Attic insulation can save 5% or more on heating costs

What you can do:    Have your home checked by a qualified professional and properly insulated

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Plant a Tree

Did you know?

• In some places deforestation is proceeding at a run away rate
• When trees in a forest die naturally or are responsibly harvested the trees are replaced

What you can do:    Plant a tree

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Prevent Pests

Did you know?

• Ironically, pesticides don't seem to be improving agricultural yield
• According to the EPA, at least 74 pesticides have been found in the groundwater of 38 states

What you can do:    Buy organically grown food or even have your own organic garden

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What a Waste

Did you know?

• Hazardous wastes often found around the home include: paints and paint thinners, car batteries, mothballs, drain cleaners, batteries, light bulbs etc.
• People seem to have little idea when they are dealing with hazardous wastes.

What you can do:    Keep everything in the original container and read all warning labels.  You can also look on the internet to see the proper disposal criteria for certain products

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Carpool to Work

Did you know?

• One third of all private auto mileage is racked up going to a from work
• The average commuter car carries 1.3 riders
• If each commuter car carried just one more person we'd  save 600,000 gallons of gas a day and prevent 12 million pounds of carbon dioxide

What you can do:    Talk to people who work with you and arrange a carpool schedule.

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Try Composting

Did you know?

• Every year we throw away 24 million pounds of leaves and grass
• Leaves alone can account for 75% of the solid waste in the fall
• The average American family produces more than 1,200 pounds of organic garbage every year
• It costs $65.00 per ton to dump solid waste in a landfill

What you can do:    Start composting your organic garbage and if you do not have the area to do it find someone that does and is or talk to someone that has the ability and get them to do it with you

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Install a Greywater Tank

Did you know?

• Greywater makes up 60 to 65% of the total indoor water consumption
• Greywater systems are tricky and you should consult a professional concerning laws and safety

What you can do:    Look into the what you can do if anything

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Drive Less

Did you know?

• On the average, the 140 million cars in America are estimated to travel almost 4 billion miles a day
• The ecological effects are staggering

What you can do:    Keep your trips to a minimum but if you must run errands try to do several along the way to and from you furthest destination

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Eat Low on the Food Chain

Did you know?

• According to Diet for a New America: If Americans reduced their meat intake by just 10%, the savings in grains and soybeans could adequately feed 60 million people
• 220 million acres of land have been deforested to produce livestock
• Live stock produce a lot of methane which is a green house gas

What you can do:    Eat less meat

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Start a Recycling Program

Did you know?

• Many areas still do not have a recycling program

What you can do:    Find out more about your local recycling program and if there is not one get one started

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Xeriscape

Did you know?

• If you live in a dry are you are not force to water of plant cacti
• There are a lot of plants that you can plant

What you can do:    Go to your local nursery and find out what you can plant in you area

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Stay Involved & Spread the Word

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