Five tips for greening your life & Four things the federal government can do to preserve our planet

As a follow up to yesterday’s blog, I wanted to post a few suggestions on greening your lifestyle. Happy (Belated) Earth Day!

It’s Easy Being Green!
5 tips for greening your life

The choices we make everyday have a direct impact on our planet. Here’s some helpful suggestions to consider:
 
1) Carpool, Walk, Ride a Bike or Take the Bus: Using mass transit or human power is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprintwww.ecocycle.org  About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is just 28%. ~Environmental Protection Agency. You can feel good about helping our economy at the same time: recycling creates 6 times as many jobs as landfilling. ~ Colorado Recycles

2) Go Zero Waste:

3) Buy local and Buy Green Products: Purchase Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) Bulbs instead of regular bulbs. If you change just 3 bulbs in your house, you can reduce your carbon emissions by over two tons! You can find compact fluorescent light bulbs at most general purpose stores such as McGuckins, Home Depot, Lowes, and Target.

4) Unplug: From Treehugger.com: When you’re not using your electronics, appliances, and lamps, unplug them. Or better yet, plug them into a power strip and turn off the power strip when you’re not using them. Appliances and electronics pull power even when they are turned off. The cell phone charger is the biggest offender. Your cell phone charger pulls the same amount of power whether your cell phone is plugged into it or not. So unplug your cell phone charger when you aren’t charging your phone. By unplugging you can save up to 40% on your electric bill. Who said going green is more expensive?"

5) Offsets Won’t Save Us, But Are a Useful Tools: Carbon offsets can help compensate for the greenhouse gases you contribute to Earth’s atmosphere. While making real changes in your life will have more impact than any carbon offset you purchase, you can still help reduce the impact of your lifestyle on global climate change by purchasing offset credits.

It’s Easy Being Green Part II

4 things the federal government can do

Our Federal government can play an important role in reducing the emissions of global warming pollutants. Here are some ideas I will work on in Congress that can help America play a leadership role:

1) Set a high goal: At least an 80% reduction in emissions of climate changing pollutants by 2050;

2) Increase the standard mileage that cars get to 50 miles per gallon by 2020, and require that 10% of vehicles sold in the country are electric vehicles within five years;

3) Support a renewed national commitment to research into renewable fuels, both to make production more cost effective, and to facilitate distribution. Federal dollars for renewable energy research should be doubled immediately and new outcome-based funding models should be used to more effectively allocate some of the increased funding;

4) Encourage conservation by providing incentives through a revenue-neutral "feebate" approach to energy-consuming products such as vehicles, refrigerators, housing, and appliances. Feebates charge fees on inefficient products and use the funds to provide rebates for efficient ones. Rather than saving $1.63/month on an energy efficient refrigerator, consumers could recognize $200 off the purchase price, which is 10 years of energy savings.

As a matter of personal and collective integrity, we need to stand up for the environment by initiating and supporting policies that emphasize sustainability through innovation and collaboration. Rejecting the false dilemma that pits economic growth against environmental stewardship, we should focus on solutions that achieve both of these important goals. Listen to an Earth Day discussion of the most pressing issues our world faces.

Happy Earth Day!

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