Invest half an hour to protect the environment by changing how you live each day

Hi friends,

You may not be able to reduce global warming, end pollution and save endangered species single-handedly, but by choosing to live an earth-friendly lifestyle you can do a lot every day to help achieve those goals.

And by making wise choices about how you live, and the amount of energy and natural resources you consume, you send a clear message to businesses, politicians and government agencies that value you as a customer, constituent and citizen.

Here are five simple things you can do—in 30 minutes or less—to help protect the environment and save Planet Earth.

Invest half an hour to protect the environment by changing how you live each day

1.Drive Less, Drive Smart

   Every time you leave your car at home you reduce air pollution, lower , improve your health and save money.

Walk or ride a bicycle for short trips, or take public transportation for longer ones. In 30 minutes, most people can easily walk a mile or more, and you can cover even more ground on a bicycle, bus, subway or commuter train. Research has shown that people who use public transportation are healthier than those who don’t. Families that use public transportation can save enough money annually to cover their food costs for the year.

When you do drive, take the few minutes needed to make sure your engine is well maintained and your tires properly inflated.

Public Transportation: Fast Track to Fewer Emissions and Energy Independence

Families that use public transportation can save more than they spend on food

If you want to help reduce global warming, let alone air pollution, one of the best things you can do is to get out of your car.

Walk or ride a bicycle for short trips, or take public transportation for longer ones. Either way, you will significantly reduce the amount of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions you generate each day.

The Rising Environmental Cost of Driving Alone

Transportation accounts for more than 30 percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), public transportation in the United States saves approximately 1.4 billion gallons of gasoline and about 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Yet only 14 million Americans use public transportation daily while 88 percent of all trips in the United States are made by car—and many of those cars carry only one person.

Added Benefits of Public Transportation

Consider these other benefits of public transportation:

Energy independence—According to Treehugger.com, if just one in 10 Americans used public transportation daily, U.S. reliance on foreign oil would decrease 40 percent.

Safety—Riding a bus is 79 times safer than riding in an automobile, and riding a train or subway is even safer.

Health—Studies have shown that people who use public transportation regularly tend to be healthier than people who don’t, because of the exercise they get walking to and from bus stops, subway stations and their homes and offices.

Cost savings—According to an APTA study, families that use public transportation can reduce their household expenses by $6,200 annually, more than the average U.S. household spends on food every year.

The Heart of the Debate Over Public Transportation

So why don’t more Americans use public transportation?

Transportation experts and social scientists may argue about which came first, America’s love affair with the automobile or the urban and suburban sprawl that makes long daily commutes in at least one and often two cars a requirement for many American families.

Either way, the problem at the heart of the debate is that good public transportation systems are not available to enough people. While public transportation is readily available in many major cities, the majority of Americans in smaller cities, towns and rural areas simply don’t have access to public transportation.

So the problem is twofold:

Persuading people with ready access to public transportation to use it more often.

Creating affordable public transportation options in smaller communities.

Trains, Buses and Automobiles

Train systems are the most efficient in many ways, typically emitting less carbon and using less fuel per passenger than buses, but they are often more expensive to implement. Also, the traditional advantages of trains can be mitigated to a large extent by using hybrids or buses that run on natural gas.

Another promising alternative is bus rapid transit (BRT), which runs extra-long buses in dedicated lanes. A 2006 study by the Breakthrough Technologies Institute found that a BRT system in a medium-sized U.S. city could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 650,000 tons during a 20-year period.

If you live in an area with good public transportation, do something good for the planet today. Park your car, and take the subway or the bus. If you don’t, then talk to your local and federal elected officials about the benefits of public transportation and how it may help solve some of the problems they’re wrestling with right now.

2.Eat Your Vegetables

Eating less meat and more fruits, grains and vegetables can help the environment more than you may realize. Eating meat, eggs and dairy products contributes heavily to global warming, because raising animals for food produces many more greenhouse gas emissions than growing plants. A 2006 report by the University of Chicago found that adopting a vegan diet does more to reduce global warming than switching to a hybrid car.

Raising animals for food also uses enormous amounts of land, water, grain and fuel. Every year in the United States alone, 80 percent of all agricultural land, half of all water resources, 70 percent of all grain, and one-third of all fossil fuels are used to raise animals for food.

Making a salad doesn’t take any more time than cooking a hamburger and it’s better for you—and for the environment.

3.Reusable Bags: Paper, Plastic or Something Better?

   Switch to Reusable Shopping Bags Producing plastic bags uses a lot of natural resources, and most end up as litter that fouls landscapes, clogs waterways, and kills thousands of marine mammals that mistake the ubiquitous bags for food. Worldwide, up to a trillion plastic bags are used and discarded every year—more than a million per minute. The count for paper bags is lower, but the cost in natural resources is still unacceptably high—especially when there is a better alternative.

Reusable shopping bags, made of materials that don’t harm the environment during production and don’t need to be discarded after each use, reduce pollution and save resources that could be put to better uses than making plastic and paper bags. Reusable bags are convenient and come in a variety of sizes and styles. Some reusable bags can even be rolled or folded small enough to fit into a purse or pocket.

4.Change a Light Bulb and Change the World

   Compact fluorescent light bulbs and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are more energy efficient and less expensive to use than the traditional incandescent bulbs invented by Thomas Edison. For example, compact fluorescent light bulbs use at least two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, and they last up to 10 times longer. Compact fluorescent light bulbs also generate 70 percent less heat, so they are safer to operate and can reduce energy costs associated with cooling homes and offices.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if every U.S. household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road. On top of that, for every incandescent bulb you replace with an approved compact fluorescent light bulb, you will save consumers $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.

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5.Pay Your Bills Online

   Many banks, utilities and other businesses now offer their customers the option of paying bills online, eliminating the need to write and mail paper checks or to keep paper records. By paying your bills online you can save time and money, lower the administrative costs of companies with which you do business, and reduce global warming by helping to prevent deforestation.

Signing up for online bill paying is easy and doesn’t take much time. You can either choose to have certain bills paid automatically each month or elect to review and pay each bill yourself. Either way, you will receive outstanding returns on your small investment of time.

Why Online Bill Paying is Good for the Environment

Reduce waste paper, save time and money with online bill paying

Take Care,

With Love,

yasar arafath p.k. malappuram.