Tue 26 Jan 2010
inconvenient truths
Posted by timezoneone under New Zealand
The website http://www.climatecrisis.net/ is the official site for the feature film documentary “an inconvenient truth” starring Al Gore. The site details the key challenges we face regarding climate change and sustainability.
It also lists 11 things we can do to reduce our own carbon emmissions in the TZ1 studio and at home:
1. Change your light bulbs- Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Our studio no longer has any regular light bulbs.
2. Drive less- Bike to work or walk or catch the bus more often to save money, parking fees and 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. In the studio, cardboard recycling is collected from work four days a week and general recycling is collected every Wednesday.
4. Check your tires- Keeping your tires inflated correctly will improve fuel mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon of fuel 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. Our shower at work has a low-flow electric instant-hot heater to save energy. We can also lower the thermostat on the hot water cyclinder to reduce our energy use.
6. Avoid products with a lot of packaging- You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your rubbish by 10%.
7. Adjust the air conditioning temperatures- Moving our thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer could save us about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
8. Plant a tree- Our trees on the balcony will each absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over their lifetime.
9. Turn off electronic devices- Simply turning off your television, DVD player and stereo when you’re not using them will save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
10. Try Meatless Mondays- Skipping meat one day per week helps save over 35,000 gallons of water. Cutting meat out of your diet entirely would help save 5,000 lbs of carbon emissions per year.
-Nigel “telling it like it is” Foley
