Save the Planet

In honor of my new Avatar I will post the following facts and things we can do to help our only home.



If you throw away 2 aluminum cans, you waste more energy than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) of the world's poorest people use a day.

More than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) trees are used to make disposable diapers every year.

Some rain has a pH of 3 or 4. (which is pretty acidic, considering 7 is neutral, not acidic, and battery acid has a pH of 1). Some fish, such as lake trout and smallmouth bass, have trouble reproducing at a pH of 6, which is only slightly acidic. Some clams and snails can't survive at all. Most crayfish are dead at a pH of 5. You can see how bad this is for the environment.

On average, a person in the US uses energy two times more than a person in Japan or West Germany does, and 50 times more than a person in India.

Since there is little oxygen underground, where we bury our garbage, to help bacteria eat the garbage, almost nothing happens to it. Scientists have dug into landfills and found ears of corn still intact after 20 years, and newspapers still readable after 30.



Turn off other electric things, like TVs, stereos, and radios when not in use.

In winter, wear a sweater instead of turning up your thermostat.
Insulate your home so you won't be cold in winter.

Use recycled paper and/or recycle it. Reuse old papers.

Plant trees, especially if you have cut one down.

Cut up your six-pack rings before throwing them out.

REDUCE, REUSE, & RECYCLE.

Another great way to help AND get healthier...is to walk everywhere (if the weather agrees of course) that you can instead of driving!

If you must drive, carpool as often as possible :)

Yes they are. Thanks for posting them.

Those definatly are great reminders, thank you Carol.
What I was wondering about: Where did you get them and how old are they? Because why does it say:

[quote="Carol"]
On average, a person in the US uses energy two times more than a person in Japan or West Germany does, and 50 times more than a person in India.

I mean: We don't talk about east and west germany anymore since almost twnety years by now... Just wondering if the text is this old or if somebody just didn't think of it...

I am a bit sensitive on this topic b/c I think it's so important to see Germany as one country by now!

[quote="Annika"]Those definatly are great reminders, thank you Carol.
What I was wondering about: Where did you get them and how old are they? Because why does it say:

Carol wrote:

On average, a person in the US uses energy two times more than a person in Japan or West Germany does, and 50 times more than a person in India.

I mean: We don't talk about east and west germany anymore since almost twnety years by now... Just wondering if the text is this old or if somebody just didn't think of it...

I am a bit sensitive on this topic b/c I think it's so important to see Germany as one country by now!

I'd say it was just copy/pasted, and the data wasn't updated. Everyone knows Germany is one country now, but you still see references to east and west in some older articles.


I try to do my part, although for selfish reasons many times. I burn the energy saving bulbs in the entire home, and recycle my aluminum, plastic, tin and newspaper. I also only use the a/c during the heat of the day, and only in rooms I occupy. These all save me money on utility and disposal bills.
As for gas, I just can't afford to go anywhere, so it's a non-issue. The wife drives to work and back, and we go to the store once a week, and that's about it.

I think I could fix this Western Germany problem. Though I still don't know what the error was in Carol's source - using old data or just some kind of "misspelling" the country's name - the fact is still up to date.
I found several sources (among others the IAE) which state the present energy consumption per capita in the USA as twice as high than in Germany.
I have to admit that I was too lazy to check the India-data as well.

But I don't think that the energy consumption per person this is such a good argument at all, because it doesn't take into account the industrial development and living standards of a country. It's easy to have a low consumption of energy when nearly 60 % of the people don't have any access on electricity and live like in pre-industrial times like it is in many of the poor and threshold countries. I doubt that this are desirable conditions.

So even if I understand what the messege is, I think this often used comparison of energy consumtions is flawed. Beside this it says nothing about the used energy sources and the emission of hazardous substances.

I copied some of the things from this page:

We've Got to Save our Planet Earth

rana wrote:

But I don't think that the energy consumption per person this is such a good argument at all, because it doesn't take into account the industrial development and living standards of a country. It's easy to have a low consumption of energy when nearly 60 % of the people don't have any access on electricity and live like in pre-industrial times like it is in many of the poor and threshold countries. I doubt that this are desirable conditions.

So even if I understand what the messege is, I think this often used comparison of energy consumtions is flawed. Beside this it says nothing about the used energy sources and the emission of hazardous substances.

This is a very good point Rana. This discussion has been going on at another site I go to, and nobody has even thought to bring this up.

That IS a very good point Rana. America is a very industrialised country so of course it's going to use more energy, electricity than a 3rd world country.
But that is the reason why we in America should be careful and we should be concious of the energy we use. I can compare two countries as I used to live in El Salvador and then came here at 7 years old and it was a huge difference in the aspect that now that I think back. A middle class family here in America can use a lot of energy when it's not really necessary.

I went from having 1 TV to three TVs and a VCR. Went from having one car in the house to three in the house. We had the AC, in El Salvador we had fans... now this is back in the 80s... so now you could consider all the video games that kids like to play until the early twilight (some of them :P) and a lot of teenagers have cars here, it's so easy to buy electronic things in America versus other countries....

That is why they make the comparison... all the people in other countries are living okay without using so much energy. Of course there are people who are deprived and do not live in good conditions, but I'm talking about middle class families in other countries that don't use so much energy but still live okay. Part of that may be that they don't have access to all the things we do here in America... but they still survive.

Carol wrote:

That IS a very good point Rana. America is a very industrialised country so of course it's going to use more energy, electricity than a 3rd world country.
But that is the reason why we in America should be careful and we should be concious of the energy we use. I can compare two countries as I used to live in El Salvador and then came here at 7 years old and it was a huge difference in the aspect that now that I think back. A middle class family here in America can use a lot of energy when it's not really necessary.

I went from having 1 TV to three TVs and a VCR. Went from having one car in the house to three in the house. We had the AC, in El Salvador we had fans... now this is back in the 80s... so now you could consider all the video games that kids like to play until the early twilight (some of them :P) and a lot of teenagers have cars here, it's so easy to buy electronic things in America versus other countries....

That is why they make the comparison... all the people in other countries are living okay without using so much energy. Of course there are people who are deprived and do not live in good conditions, but I'm talking about middle class families in other countries that don't use so much energy but still live okay. Part of that may be that they don't have access to all the things we do here in America... but they still survive.

Oh, I agree with the premise, it's the statistics that I question.
There's no doubt the US uses way more energy than is necessary, considering how easy it is to save (not to mention the money you save, something that poorer Americans like me can seize upon).

Take right now for instance. It's a cooler day, so instead of running a/c, I have the screen door open. The refrigerator and freezer is running of course, but other than that, this pc and the aquarium pumps are all that's on.
You can call your electric or gas company, and usually they can tell you your average bill per month for the past year or two. The person who lived here this time last year paid $140 for May's electric bill. Mine was $80. That's over a 45% decrease.
As for recycling, I average about 3 mid-sized bags of trash a week. Everything else is recycled (luckily, my town has pickup that comes around and collects it just like they do the trash).
Saving energy isn't that hard, and you don't even have to do without much if you plan it right.

I agree Larry.
My neighbors use the AC a LOT.... starting at 5pm, that AC unit starts going on and off until the morning... their electric bill is almost $200 a month...

Ours is around $55. We, (and my neighbor as well) have double paned windows that keep out the heat (and in the winter, keep out the cold) We only put the A.C. on around 7pm... it's programmed to come on when the house is at a certain temperature. We also installed dimmer switches ... so when we turn on a light... we only adjust it to the sufficient light we need.
Another thing that helps is that when we dry clothes... we put them in a cloth line and after a little while, put them in the dryer which only takes about 10 minutes to dry the clothes and make them soft.

:sillySmiley:

We use solar powered lights in the evening.

Yes, I am a hippy.