Mother Earth’s Situation: An Inconvenient Truth

I was checking my email when I received a forwarded message from a friend. As part of the email’s attachment was a poster-slash-teaser for a documentary entitled “An Inconvenient Truth”.

What caught my attention was the top portion which told me “10 Things To Do” and upon reading further, the list was actually comprised of things that one can do so as to help alleviate global warming.

Here is the complete list:

1. Change a light. Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

2. Drive less. Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don’t drive!

3. Recycle more. You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

4. Check your tires. Keeping your tires inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere!

5. Use less hot water. It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of CO2 saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year).

6. Avoid products with a lot of packaging. You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

7. Adjust your thermostat. Moving your thermostat just 2 degrees in winter can up 2 degrees in summer. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.

8. Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

9. Turn off electronic devices. Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you’re not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

10. Spread the word.

[Image from Slapnose]