It seems like virtually every day we here more people talking about being environmentally friendly, earth conscious, green, or some other version of the same idea. The need to be more responsible in our actions to protect our life here on earth is a topic covered on TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, and even at the water cooler.

In our research for this newsletter, we came up with some pretty interesting facts about waste and ideas on how to reduce it. Here's an even dozen we'd like to share with you:

1. Offset your emissions. Visit www.drivinggreen.com and the sites simple calculator will tell you how much global-warming greenhouse gasses your car emits and the equivalent cost of its impact on the environment. (For example, a 2006 Toyota Camry driven 12,000 miles a year equals $32 in carbon dioxide emissions.) You can then pay that amount at the site's checkout to offset your pollution. The money helps farmers install equipment called digesters which convert animal waste into renewable energy - and keep the waste out of our precious water resources!
2. Learn what can safely be tossed and what can't and how to disposes of it by going to www.earth911.org for contact info for local recyclers of more than 250 materials.
3. Tune up your car as recommended in your owner's manual and improve its efficiency anywhere from 4% to 40%.
4. The average household of 4 people, each taking one 5 minute shower a day, uses 700 gallons of water a week. This is the equivalent of a 3-year supply of drinking water for one person! So keep it short and install a high-efficiency showerhead. In a year's time you can save 1,000 to 8,000 gallons of water per person - and save on water heating costs, too!
5. Americans throw away enough aluminum every month to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet. Recycle it!
6. The junk mail Americans receive in one day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes (and the average American spends 8 months of his/her life opening the stuff!) Save time and trees, don't open it, just plonk it in the recycling bin! Better yet, curtail it by going to www.ftc.gov and clicking on "For Consumers," then "Telemarketing," then "Unsolicited Mail, Telemarketing and E-Mail: Where to Go to Just Say No." If every person in the USA reduced the junk mail they receive, 100 million trees could be saved each year. And think of all of that oxygen they emit and the carbon dioxide they get rid of! It's really worth the effort to make a few clicks when you think about it.
7. If all newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year.
8. The average faucet releases 3 gallons of water a minute, so shut it off while you brush your teeth or shave.
9. Buy green power from your utility. In many states, you can opt to purchase renewable energy from your local power company for a few extra dollars a month. Visit the green power network's US map at www.eere.energy.gov/greenpower to get started. In Houston, Reliant Energy in Houston now gives customers the option to use wind energy at the same rates as non-green energy.
10. Need a new computer? A laptop uses about 50% of that of a desk top. Choose an Energy Star model and use 70% less energy of than a non-certified model.
11. Almost 40% of the waste some cities produce is organic matter, i.e. food scraps and yard waste. That means that if all the organic waste was composted rather than thrown away, we'd need 40% less space taken up by landfill sites. And the compost could aid our badly aging soil resources currently being damaged by polluted water and poor agricultural methods.
12. About 130 million mobile phones are tossed every year, resulting in 65,000 tons of partially hazardous waste. Recycle yours at a location near you listed on www.call2recycle.org or through www.collectivegood.com, a clearinghouse for non-profit phone-recycling efforts to benefit groups such as the American Red Cross.

We can all do our bit to help save our planet for our grandchildren and beyond, by simply using only what we need, and before throwing something away, find a way to recycle it!

Want to learn more? There are lots of sites, including http://www.oberlin.edu/recycle/facts.html.