How to reduce your impact on the planet
Earth Day happens one day a year. But it should spur us to do our best to reduce our impact on the environment for the other 364.
I've picked five sites that provide a framework for how to live your life in a way that's better for the environment. Whether it's car-pooling or simply eating the right foods, you'll find ways to be a more responsible Earthling.
The tools of the trade
When you start using Carbon Diet, you'll be required to input your usage of electricity, natural gas, and vehicle fuel. Simply input your monthly bill amounts and Carbon Diet will do the rest. It then calculates your impact on the environment. You can go back each month to update your usage. As you input more information about your activities, it continuously modifies your impact, displaying graphs and charts to give you a visual outline of what you're doing to the planet.
The best tool on Carbon Diet is its "analysis" feature, which examines your activities and gives you tips toward becoming a more responsible environmentalist. It told me that I need to stop driving so much. I also need to turn the TV off instead of leaving it on for most of the day.
You'll learn a lot from Carbon Diet. It's the best carbon calculator I've seen. Try it out.
When you first go to The Daily Green, you'll probably have trouble finding what you're looking for simply because there's so much content to consult. If you start with the news, you'll find a host of interesting articles and discussions on topics that relate to the green lifestyle. The section is also filled with articles on political news surrounding environmental concerns.
But the most value you'll get from The Daily Green can be found in the site's "Tips and Advice" tab, which shows you ways to save money with green products. The site also provides advice on how to turn your home green so you become a more responsible environmentalist.
If you want to change the way you eat, The Daily Green also has green recipes. All of the dishes contain organic products, like soy milk and basmati rice. The site claims green food is just as delicious as dishes that don't use organic ingredients. I can't corroborate that claim--the recipes didn't sound all that appetizing to me.
The Daily Green is the perfect destination to immerse yourself in the green lifestyle. It makes you a better inhabitant of Earth.
With GoodGuide, you can search for over 70,000 products, including food, personal care items, toys, and household goods. The service will tell you which products are harmful to the environment. It will let you know which items are good for your health. And it will inform you about products that are perpetuating some of society's biggest problems.
I searched GoodGuide to find out what kind of impact some of the products I use in my home have. Luckily, most of the products I use were rated highly and have little negative impact on my health or the environment. But I found that some products--even those that are relatively well-known--were produced with sweat shop labor. One toy I found, the Star Wars Mini Basketball Hoop Set, contained harmful chemicals. Without GoodGuide, I would have never known that.
GoodGuide is one of the best services I've ever used. And I've used a lot of services. You need to try it out. You (and society) will be happy you did.
Whether it's clothing or travel, GuideMeGreen directs you to all the companies in the U.S. that provide a green alternative to some of your favorite brands. That said, the majority of the companies on the site are brands you've probably never heard of. But that doesn't mean they don't provide a service to those who want to go green. Quite the contrary, you'll find that most of the products the companies offer are comparable to the products you use now.
GuideMeGreen is a fine directory that's designed well and delivers on its promise of exposing you to green companies. Though you might not find enough options to replace all the products you currently use, you will probably find a few.
The Nature Conservancy works around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters. It uses scientists to find those areas and partners with local communities to ensure government and private organizations don't use the land for commercial construction.
If you donate funds to The Nature Conservancy, they go toward helping to pay for its operation worldwide. But if you volunteer, you can plant trees native to your area, help clean up preserved lands, and educate the public on the focus of the organization. All the while, you can help achieve the goal of reducing your impact on the planet.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
@biffhenerson and his follower:
Whether you like it or not we are all part of a larger community. If everyone thought like you this world would be in a lot more distress than it is. True, one person makes very little impact on this huge ball of a planet. But there isn't just you. There are almost seven billion people on Earth. If I was to blow a whistle near you it would be nothing but a sound. But if one thousand people blew whistles in your vicinity your ears would bleed. Now imagine billions of people saying F#$K the environment and doing nothing to live a greener life. Imagine a world where everyone just threw trash on the ground, drove big gas guzzling SUV's, and made no advances to alternate life choices. Would you want to live on that planet. I know I wouldn't. I don't like the shape it's in now. So I am doing MY part to help. It's all I CAN do. So I am doing it.
You wrote: "It's when those people try to pressure me into making their same green to the extreme choices that I draw the line."
At least you have a choice to be green or not. If everyone else on the planet decides to "go green" it will only affect you in a positive way. It will make your air, water, and food cleaner. You will live longer and be happier for it. THAT is the result of the people in your community making greener choices. Oh how horrible for you. But the reality is that most of the people share your mentality. Screw it! "Do what every YOU want." And the result is higher pollution levels, poisons in our air and water, Monsanto's %@$#%^$ gardening coup. I want to live in a clean environment. But because of the majority who are to short-sighted to care I can't have what I want. It pisses me off that the world I inhabit is being destroyed by others making bad and lazy choices. No matter how green I live I will still have to live in the filth. But through awareness, teaching, and example more and more people are coming around.
You ranted: "Reduce my impact on the planet? That's ridiculous. My impact on the planet is so small it is immeasurable. It is zero. Seriously, you really think that anything I do has any measurable effect on the plant as a whole? Seems pretty foolish to think so."
So you have no plastic in your home, don't drive, ride a bike to work, use no electricity, don't create garbage, you recycle everything. You have more of an impact than you think. It's foolish to think otherwise. So you go ahead. Be lazy. Do nothing. I know my efforts will probably not bear fruit for a long time, if at all. But I am still going to do what I can to make this world a cleaner place, at least my little corner of it. Even facing an uphill battle I am still going to try. And I will die one day knowing I did what I could to make this a cleaner world. Then I'll remember all the fatalists like yourself and just laugh a little inside.
More fun: "But "green" IS an effective marketing campaign as it does separate some people from their money."
Kinda like tobacco ads and liquor ads huh? Pretty effective marketing campaigns I would say. Here are two things that are proven to be dangerous and linked to many health related issues. At least the green marketing campaign is only trying to make your life better.
Can we start our carbon sequestration by not ever opening another carbonated drink?
Will it be too long until Obama fires the CEO of Coca-cola for polluting the world and causing global warming, climate failure and imminent invasion by the Ant people??????
[number of people that offset calculation at http://www.strfish.com/2009/04/few-people-know-their-carbon-footprint_20.html]
The seven day forecast is a perfect example!!! They have been working on that for years and it is still way off. Given that, how do we put all this trust into the forecasts on the climate change. It is absolutely hillarious. People are idiots.
Simply put, when a truck drives by me, and I catch a face full of exhaust, I cough, and it doesnt feel/smell pleasant, why would I not want to push for some for of change in the way trucks are fueled and try to limit the the pollution they emit. Its not about blindly accepting anything, its just our own inclinations with what we have observed in our daily lives. At least thats why I support an environmentally conscious mentality.
I dont think theyre preaching to stop advancement, but rather take a good look in not only what we are advancing in, and how we are doing it.
- by Davidforgreenenergy December 5, 2009 9:38 AM PST
- I have discovered a new product from a local start up green energy company that I think you all will love. The product is Garbogone and you can buy it at www.garbogone.com. The packets are thrown into your garbage bag before taking it to the curb. The packs ingredients speed the rate at which your garbage decomposes which reduces the amount of space it takes up in the landfill and then produces landfill gas which is being used as a clean renewable energy source. We will never run out of garbage so we will always have a supply of this energy source. Give it a try! For less than a buck a bag it's worth it to make a difference.
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