Go Green This Earth Day

Earth Day, April 22, marks the anniversary of the birth of the environmental movement in 1970, leading to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clear Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. The concern for a clean environment is still strong, almost mainstream, 42 years later. The electric car is making a comeback, plastic grocery bags are banned in cities in California and Texas, and corporate sustainability programs are as common as wellness programs.

Unlike the first EarthDay, grassroots demonstrations in the streets and parks, today, companies are pioneering ways to go green and conserve the environment. Coca-Cola has a billboard in the Phillippines made of plants contained in old Coca-Cola bottles that reduces air pollution by 13lbs of carbon dioxide a year.  UPS operates the largest private alternative-fuel fleet in the transportation industry, including more than 1,600 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas, hybrid electric, electric and propane-powered vehicles and began testing an all-electric, zero-emission package car in London.

Cox Enterprises has a national sustainability program that is designed to reduce its carbon footprint by 20 percent, reducing its energy consumption by embracing alternative energy methods, conserving natural resources and inspiring eco-friendly behavior.  90% of thier network  operations vehicles at Cox Communications use a new hybrid operating system and are zero emissions vehicles during aerial operations. And Cox Business encourages customers to go paperless with an electronic ordering system. In one quarter alone, more than 50,000 pieces of paper were saved due to electronic ordering.

In addition, Cox Media Group just completed a studio lighting upgrade in Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando and Seattle by replacing incandescent lighting with modern fluorescent lights at a number of its television locations. The upgrade reduces studio energy consumption by up to 45 percent and prevents more than 780 tons of carbon from entering the environment. Cox Communications is posting tips all month on their social media pages, including Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

You don’t have to buy an electric car or install solar panels (but if you do, that’s good!) to make a difference this Earth Day.

Here are ways you can go green:

• Check your tire pressure. Having your tire pressure at the appropriate psi can reduce strain on your engine and significantly increase your gas mileage.
• Use a reusable water container or bottle. The average time for a plastic bottle to biodegrade fully is approximately 450-1000 years. Hard and reusable bottles take a longer time, and the soft and non-reusable ones take a shorter time. Time also varies with the size of the bottle. If they are sitting in landfills sealed and compacted with all of the other trash and bottles with no air moving, they won't decompose at all.
• Replace your light bulbs. If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star-rated light bulb, we would save enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year, save about $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to those from about 800,000 cars. Earth Day marks the launch of a new 20-year life bulb that uses 85% less energy.
• Turn off your power strips or use smart power strips. Putting your appliances and computers on power strips that can be turned off (or will turn off automatically); many appliances and computers continue to draw a small amount of power even when they are switched off.
• Wash a full load in cold. Unless you're dealing with oily stains, the cold water setting on your machine will generally do a good job of cleaning your clothes. Even switching your temperature setting from hot to warm can cut a load's energy use in half. If you are washing a small load, use the appropriate water-level setting.

(Note to readers: I was compensated by Cox Communications to share their message.  However, the editorial, tips and my opinions remain my own).

HostelBookers.com is switching off for WWF's Earth Hour 2012

HostelBookers, the budget accommodation specialist, is supporting WWF's Earth Hour, the world's largest campaign for action to protect the planet.

On 31 March 2012 at 8.30pm the global skyline will be plunged into darkness as hundreds of millions of people, landmarks and businesses across the world switch off their lights for a world with a brighter future.

WWF's Earth Hour is a simple idea that's become a global phenomenon, spanning a record 135 countries in 2011. It's a symbolic action to show we all care about protecting the environment and reducing our impact on it.

David Smith, COO at HostelBookers, says; 'We understand that business has a key role to play in protecting our brilliant planet and so in support of this year's event HostelBookers properties will promote Earth Hour 2012 worldwide in different ways.’ Many of HostelBookers eco accommodation are running special events or initiatives:   

Mosaic House located in Prague will turn off lights for an hour. It will gather 330 guests to unite in the candle-lit theatre bar, offering candle lit tours to the grey water recycle unit with heat. St Christopher's at the Mosaic House is an eco-pioneer in the industry. It is the first in the Czech Republic to use 100% renewable-source electricity, 100% biogas, water recycling system with heat recuperation, and a fully electric car. It also boasts solar panels on the roof, electric shutters, smart temperature control and energy-efficient lighting.’

In the heart of Yerevan, Armenia, Envoy Hostel is a European Standard Hostel designed by travellers for travellers. The property will organise games by candlelight at night, where guests will play different board games. 

In Port Douglas, Australia Port O’Call Eco Lodge is a resort style accommodation at a budget price, just a few minutes’ walk to the beautiful Four Mile Beach and to the Marina and Port Douglas Village. Rated green star environmentally friendly, Port O'Call is ecologically sustainable with solar heating, water and lighting efficiency. To support Earth Hour the property will be turning off all air conditioning for an hour. All the external lighting is run off batteries supplied by solar cell power and all hot water on that day will be supplied by solar hot water and the Bistro will be lit by just candles.

Hundreds of other UK businesses and landmarks have already signed up for WWF's Earth Hour 2012 and getting involved as a company is easy - simply sign up online and switch off your building's non-essential lights on the night.

Colin Butfield, Head of Campaigns WWF-UK says; 'WWF's Earth Hour it not about saving an hour's electricity. It's something much bigger. It's about people coming together to put the focus on this brilliant world we all share - and how we need to protect it. Not just for an hour a year, but every day.’ You can find out what's happening across the country and get involved by visiting wwf.org.uk/earthhour

Going Green with my car?

Automobiles seem to be a necessary evil of the world today. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE to drive. Fast, in fact. But I am ever conscious of the NON-green aspects of my guilty pleasure and the fact that the cars I love to drive burn copious amount of non-renewable fossil fuel.

In the US, Chevy just announced a green warm fuzzy for new car buyers, called an Ecologic window sticker. The 2013 Sonic will be the first new vehicle to display the sticker that features the fuel-saving technology, end-of-life recyclability and the responsible manufacturing practices that went into the vehicle.

According to GM North America President Mark Reuss, "Customers want companies to be honest and transparent about their environmental efforts and sustainability goals, and rightly so."

At least we will now be more informed about the entire life cycle and the environmental impacts of our gas guzzlers. Kind of like guilt-free chocolate.

30-35 million Christmas trees are sold each year in the U.S. A renewable resource, 98% of all Christmas trees are grown on Christmas tree farms, who plant 2-3 seedlings for every one tree harvested.

Fortunately, 93% of them are recycled in community recycling programs, gardens and backyards, as they would surely fill our landfills otherwise. Christmas trees can be chipped, shredded and used as mulch again for water conservation and weed control, erosion and dust control on biking trails and bridle paths, and as additives in composting operations. For Christmas tree recycling in your area, go to earth911.com

Few items of daily use that you can recycle

Every single contribution in recycling of the used and waste products can help in saving natural resources. It is important that everyone starts reusing the existing and waste products to reproduce into new goods. Go searching your household, you will find numerous objects which are waste, but can be recycled. Not only the old papers, waste bottles, plastic bags, aluminum cans, used batteries, car tires, and textiles but even your computers, washing machines and mobiles can also be recycled into new products.

Here’s a list of items, which are of regular use by most of us, and can be recycled and reproduced.

Batteries:

All kinds of batteries can be recycled. The list includes:

Rechargeable batteries

Alkaline batteries

Lithium Ion (Used in watches and hearing aids)

Nickel Cadmium batteries

Lead Acid batteries

Laptop batteries.

The only precaution to be taken is to tape the batteries to prevent fire while in their collection and transportation.

E waste:

If you plan to upgrade the electronic items of your daily use, do not dump them, rather put them in a recyclable bin around you. These include:

Televisions and VCRs

Copiers, CRTs, CPUs

Stereos and DVD players

Laptops and Fax machines

Microwaves

Before sending e-waste for recycling, it is important to ensure that you have deactivated the property office stickers and erased the hard disk.

Textiles and clothing:

All the textiles and clothing used at home can be recycled.

Plastic bags and products:

Plastics are cheap and easy to produce, but it is non bio-degradable. Plastics can be melted, reshaped and reused. The easily recyclable home use plastics are;

Bubble wraps

Deflated air packets

Journal or magazine wraps

Plastic bags

Electronic appliances:

Recycling electronic items is not only cumbersome but also labor intensive process. It includes separating many components from the equipment as well as dealing with toxic materials like Lead, Mercury and chemical refrigerants. Though, the specialist companies do this at nominal rates. Some of these are:

Refrigerators

Washing machines

Mobile phones

Incubators and other large metal appliances

Aluminum cans:

The best reason why aluminum can recycle is advisable because they save almost 95 percent of the energy used for producing new cans. Mining and refining Bauxite, the ore for Aluminum, not only takes huge effort but causes great deal of pollution too.

Automobile waste:

Automobile waste is toxic for soil and can also cause fire hazards. Tires are recycled into crumbs to give fake soil effect which are further produced into artificial turfs for Football ground. The tires are being widely used for landscaping as well.

These recyclable daily use products are first collected and sorted. There are a few materials which are salvaged from the complex products like: Gold from computer components, Lead from the car batteries. Recyclable bins, Buy-back centers and curb side collection methods are used to collect the recyclable items.

Since the realization has set the mood to save the world from pollution and conserve natural resources, every individual should contribute towards it. This we can begin by recycling our daily use products.

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About the author: Alia Haley is a blogger who is passionate about green living. She is a big fan of vehicles based on the concept of green design and plans to own one soon.

Green building costs can decrease with growing popularity, good planning

It is the need of the hour to have the best eco friendly and energy efficient homes. Earlier on, it was considered that only naturalists and tree hugging individuals preferred to stay in Green Buildings and people living in Green Buildings was not a very common sight;

But all this has changed drastically with the changing times as people now a days are becoming more and more environment conscious and are even ready to shell out extra dollars to buy a place in a green building. As living in green buildings is becoming a normal trend in today’s time, it would not come in as a surprise if the prices of constructing a green building would actually fall with the increase in demand.

Today, many individuals and firms are opting to incorporate new and efficient energy saving models and concepts in their buildings. They are not just trying to save energy but to also stay ahead of the competition, as it is believed that soon, having a green house would be very much in vogue and thus there would be a great demand for green homes in the near future.

The green buildings in today’s times are unlike the ones in history. They are more sophisticated, modern, self sustained and highly advanced with a flair for nature’s essence and are more energy efficient than their traditional counterparts. Special measures are taken to incorporate the usage of renewable sources of energy in them to take care of a part of their energy needs for a cleaner and greener energy production for the purpose of self usage. Through better and efficient planning of the buildings, their costs can be easily reduced by the optimum utilization of the available resources.

Mostly, solar energy is used to produce energy in the Green Buildings and amounts to almost 90 percent of the total energy production but depending on the location of the building other natural sources like wind are also harnessed. Architects are now very seriously incorporating new and better design ideas for creation of even better Green Buildings.

The level of ignorance about the usage of solar power, to take care of the energy expenses, is fast decreasing as the people are slowly but steadily becoming more and more aware of the benefits of living in a green building. Even environment groups have contributed in spreading the knowledge about clean energy and the benefits of living in a Green Building. Even the Federal Government’s Energy Ratings System has popularized the awareness of Green Buildings. The U S Green Building Council has a unique Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design concept that looks into the energy efficiency of the constructed buildings in the U S by evaluating their usage of natural resources, their ability of conservation of energy, water and even building materials, and their carbon footprint. All these Green Buildings are L E E D certified on the basis of their energy efficiency and their capacity of energy generation by a perpetual and cleaner medium like the Sun. With so many efforts being put into the Popularization of the Green Building concept. The day is not far when they would be very much in demand, and once their construction gains speed and momentum the average cost would also come down significantly.

Energy efficiency and conservation of all available resources is the need of the hour and the Concept of Green Buildings not only uses it but also makes it a very feasible alternative to the present common way of construction of buildings where resources are wasted. The U S Government is seriously looking to make the Green Buildings popular by the introduction of the L E E D certification of the buildings. Energy efficiency and conservation along with the usage of Solar energy for self sustainability is slowly gaining popularity, and looking at the trend it can be easily said that soon the demand for a greener home would increase many folds and as a result the costs would significantly come down and what is needed is better planning and realization of the potential market of the aware citizens who wish to have a home in Green Buildings. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

About the author: Alia Haley is a blogger who is an ardent follower of eco friendly existence. Being an eco friendly enthusiast, she prefers to own only organic clothes and accessories in her closet.

Las Vegas is Going Green with Personal Electric Vehicle Charging Station on the Strip

MGM Resorts International debuted the first Electric Vehicle Charging Station on the Las Vegas Strip. This new Charging Station is located at the valet entrance to The Shoppes at Mandalay Place, between Mandalay Bay and Luxor resorts.

Charging service is available free of charge to retail and resort customers driving personal electric vehicles, like the Nissan LEAF and the Chevy Volt.

“I couldn’t be more proud that Mandalay Place is first with this forward-thinking program,” said Chef Rick Moonen, best-selling author and one of the world’s leading advocates for the use of sustainable seafood in the food industry. “Someone has to take the leadership role and I’m happy MGM Resorts is willing to move toward a better way of doing things.”

Chef Moonen, known for his appearances on national television programs like Bravo’s “Top Chef,” also operates the two rm seafood restaurants inside The Shoppes at Mandalay Place.

MGM Resorts energy experts say this is an important first step that reflects the Company’s continued commitment to environmental responsibility in the hospitality industry.

Go Green and Go to Vegas!

Go Green for Spring!

Did you know that the air inside your home is probably more polluted than the air outside? The average home contains 62 toxic chemicals swirling around and comfortably settling in your carpet, on your pillow, and on your toothbrush. Clear out the chemicals with condiments from your pantry. (Reprinted from PlanetGreen.com)

1. Cheap and Easy Pantry Ingredients! If you want a really easy, inexpensive, and all-natural way to get clean this Spring, make your own cleaning products using white vinegar, salt, oil, and water. Pull them out and lets get started!

2. Get Rid of Dryer Sheets Dryer Sheets are made from toxic synthetic chemicals that are not safe to use on clothing. And you definitely don’t want them touching your skin! Clothes should never be washed or dried in chemicals. Use natural alternatives that you can actually make with vinegar. There are a slew of natural clothing detergents and dryer sheets. Try Seventh Generation, Whole Foods 356 Brand, or Mrs. Meyers.

3. Whiten Naturally We all want white teeth. Thankfully you don’t have to fill your mouth with dangerous bleaching agents in order to obtain that pearly finish. Whiten your teeth naturally without the use of chemicals by mixing 1 ripestrawberry with 1 tsp baking soda. Spread the pinkish paste on your teeth and leave for 5 minutes.

4. Forget about Antibacterial Soap Antibacterial soap is a toxic cocktail of chemicals desig

ned to kill. It also harms people, especially children, who should be trying to build up a healthy immune system. Use natural soap or make your own all-natural essential oil antibacterial concoctions and let your child's immune system fight off the bacteria itself- that’s what it is meant to do. You are making a big mistake if you try to turn your home germ free.

5. Get Pretty with Homemade Beauty Products Women absorb up to 5lbs of makeup chemicals every year. Many "anti-aging" creams may actually be doing the opposite thanks to chemicals and hydrogenated oils that pack a heavy-handed punch. Instead, choose products made with organic ingredients and save money by slathering your skin with homemade skincare and age erasers: olive oil or coconut oil. Both are amazing moisturizers that do wonders for your skin if applied just before bed time.

10 EASY WAYS KIDS CAN CELEBRATE EARTH DAY

Just in time for Earth Day, TreeLiving's Mia, the 11 year old host of Mia's Show, would like to share her 10 simple ways that kids and their families can celebrate Earth Day this year.

By Mia, host of TreeLiving.com's family eco series "Mia Show'

1. Start out Earth Day by taking a shorter shower.

2.Wear all green or earth-friendly clothing. If you don't already own something then check out your local vintage or used clothing stores rather than buying something new.

3. Carpool to and from school with your friends.

4. Try giving up meat for the day and eat only vegetarian foods.

5. Turn off the TV and go play outside! Visit your local parks and plan a family picnic; go on a family bike ride around your neighborhood; or go on a garbage walk with your family and pick up all of the trash you find along the way.

6. Check out your local library. Many are providing free Earth Day story hours and make sure to read a copy of Dr. Seuss’s "The Lorax" and other earth-friendly books while there.

7. Did you know that batteries can be recycled? Visit your local recycling center and learn what other items besides cans and bottles they accept.

8. Use that recycling money you just earned by purchasing some flower and vegetable seeds and plant a garden. If you don't have a yard, almost everything can be planted in containers. Look around your house to see what containers (old tin cans, jars, etc) would make good pots and plant away!

9. Visit your local zoo or aquarium. Most offer special Earth Day activities and learn first-hand about the natural environment, plants and animals living there and why it's important to save them.

10. In the evening, light some candles and turn off all electricity for at least one hour. Play some board or cards games by candlelight with your family.

About Mia

She may be only 11 years old, but Mia is not your ordinary pre-teen. Between studying for her spelling and math tests, she is host of the environmentally conscious Internet series, "Mia's Show." From Ed Begley Jr. to Lisa Ling, Mia interviews celebrities and other "green" enthusiasts, spreading the word to teach kids, and adults alike, all about green living. Her series airs on TreeLiving.com and tackles tough issues in a language that both kids and adults can understand. She is NOT an actress, just your average 5th grade girl who is doing everything she can to make the planet a better place for future generations. Her high-energy personality and love of Mother Earth have made Mia, not only an entertaining host to watch, but also the perfect spokesperson for the next generation of environmentalists.