So sustainable environment… yada yada… global warming… yada yada. I know, I know… reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Well, lighterfootsteps.com has produced an article outlining the ten easiest ways for you to start moving toward a lighter lifestyle. Some of the usuals are on there, like switching to Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (which I assume the majority of people reading this blog already use), but there are also some not so obvious ones. A number of my favorites are:
1) Unplugging idle appliances and electronics. Regardless of whether or not the device is in use, it is continues to draining power. By unplugging these devices you could drastically reduce your power bill… I’m talking hundreds of dollars a year.
2) Leave the car at home. Try biking, public transport or a ride-share program. It will save you piles of money, get you exercising and seriously benefit the environment.
3) Go meatless once a week. The human body does not need to eat meat everyday, let alone every meal. Try reducing your meat intake. There are plenty of excellent alternatives out there. As Lighter Footsteps puts it: Each calorie of animal protein requires 78 calories of fossil fuels to produce, and irrigation directly associated with livestock production (including feeds) amounts to about half of all the consumed water in the United States. Interesting…
Lets face it, something has to be done and I’m willing to change of few of my less environmentally friendly habits in order to provide a better future for my children.
Article: Lighter Footsteps – Ten First Steps
In the past year I’ve been exposed to a number of great websites/programs that you should definitely check out. I thought since I’ve got the blog back up and running, I would post 3 of them up and let you try them out for yourself. I wouldn’t have come across them if it wasn’t for LifeHacker.com, so please give them a visit as well.
– A search engine with a twist. While most search engines make a pile of money buy exposing YOU to advertising, GoodSearch takes 50% of its advertising revenue and donates it to the charity of your choice. All you do is punch in the URL, type in your search words, type in your charity and search away. Its powered by Yahoo, so you’ll get the same high quality search results you’re used to… and its good to get away from Google for a change.
– As their website puts it “Use the idle time on your computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux) to cure diseases, study global warming, discover pulsars, and do many other types of scientific research.” Its funded by UC Berkeley and allows you to choose what project your computer works on. Boinc uses your computer’s idle time to crunch numbers and do simple forms of analysis on projects in an area of research that you care about. It doesn’t slow down your computer and makes great use of all the times you accidentally leave it on. Works a treat on my Linux box.
– I just recently found out about LocalCooling.com. Yes, I do realize that it sits in conflict with Boinc, but it is good none the less. Download LocalCooling and watch as it reduces your computer’s energy consumption… really quite fascinating.
Thats it for now. I’m going to try and post links to interesting energy saving websites / software more often. If you have any sites that you’drecommend, please let me know.
