Did you know that...

¨ If you throw away 2 aluminum cans, you waste more energy than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) of the world's poorest people use a day. Making a new can from scratch uses the energy equal to half a can of gasoline. c7q22qt
¨ About one third of what an average American throws out is packaging.
¨ More than 1,000,000,000 (one billion) trees are used to make disposable diapers every year.
¨ In one minute, 50 acres of rainforest are destroyed.
¨ About 90% of the energy used in lighting a standard (incandescent) light bulb is lost as heat.
¨ Air conditioning uses 10 times more energy than a fan, therefore, it creates 10 times the pollutants.
¨ Cars and pick-up trucks are responsible for about 20% of the carbon dioxide released into the air.
¨ There are about 500 million automobiles on the planet, burning an average of 2 gallons of fuel a day. Each gallon releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air.
¨ About 80% of our trash goes to landfills, 10% is incinerated, and 10% is recycled.
¨ Since there is little oxygen underground, where we bury our garbage, to help bacteria eat the garbage, almost nothing happens to it. Scientists have dug into landfills and found ears of corn still intact after 20 years, and newspapers still readable after 30.
¨ The average American makes about 3.5 pounds of trash a day.

REDUCE

§ Turn off lights.

§ Turn off other electric things, like TVs, stereos, and radios when not in use.
§ Use rechargable batteries.
§ Do things manually instead of electrically, like open cans by hand.
§ Use fans instead of air conditioners.
§ Use less hot water.
§ Whenever possible, use a bus or subway, or ride your bike or walk.
§ Try to buy organic fruits and vegetables if you're concerned about pesticides. (Organic food is grown without man-made fertilizers and/or pesticides).
§ Don't waste products made from forest materials.
§ Don't buy products that may have been made at the expense of the rainforest.
§ Don't buy pets taken from the wild.
§ Don't buy products if animals were killed to make it.

REUSE

§ Plant trees, especially if you have cut one down
§ Reuse old papers.
§ Encourage your grocery store sell environmentally friendly cloth bags for people to use when they shop, or bring your own.

RECYCLE

§ Use recycled paper and/or recycle it.
§ Avoid products that are used once, then thrown away.
§ Buy recycled products.