9 Ways on How to Take Care of Our Mother Earth

GOOD BOY!

Little things you can do to help our Earth

 1.     Exercise in the Morning.

-        You will eliminate the extra shower after a midday or evening workout. Saving water and time. Plus, air-pollution levels are lowest in the early morning, so you will fill your lungs with oxygen, not ozone.

2.     Use a shampoo-conditioner combo

-        If 10 percent of men skipped the separate conditioner, the plastic saved would cover seven football fields. The shorter shower also helps your skin retain more moisture; especially if you like you water hot.

3.     Dispose of disposable razors

-        Buying these cheap choppers buys you a scraped face and a hunk of metal and plastic that can’t be recycled nor decomposed. Better: Refillable razors. Best: Safety razors – you kick it old school and get a great shave as well as recyclable blades.

4.     Walk to the market

-        Chances are, you are no more than a 15-minute walk to a supermarket selling produce and fresh meat. Save yourself a trip to your traditional wet market. There are enough trucks travelling thousands of kilometers to deliver the goods to someplace you can walk to.

5.     Sign up for Earth Hour

-        Go to www.earthhour.org and sign up to receive more tips on how to help save the planet. Earth Hour is a global movement that has everyone turn off their lights for one hour, all at the same time, once a year. They also challenge you to do it every day, as well as calculating your carbon footprint at http://earthhour.zerofootprint.net

6.     Get a map

-        Know when you are going and you will save on fuel and frustration. Google maps have an accurate map of places and other major areas. While you are at it, avoid left turns. Idling in traffic produces 20 times more pollution that if you hooked a few rights.

7.     Drink beer from bottles

-        It takes about twice as much energy to make an aluminum can as it does to produce a glass bottle of equal size. And no matter what kinds of cans they develop, bottles beer always tastes better.

8.     Drink water from the tap

-        Fill up your body, not the landfill. 71 million plastic water bottles are tossed daily and less than one-third are recycled worldwide. Use sturdy and reusable plastic drink bottles like Nalgene, or the corporate giveaways that come your way every December.

9.     Use compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL)

-        A CFL runs cool, uses 70 percent less energy than an incandescent bulb. And lasts 10 times longer. It also saves you up to $25 in electricity over the life of the bulb. A typical bulb can shine continuously for 14 months, or 14 years if used two hours a day. The best part? New CFL bulbs come on instantly and emit warm light that’s nearly indistinguishable from incandescent light. Next big thing: light-emitting diode lamps. They’ll last even longer.

Nurse our Mother Nature

NATURE’S RIDE

Many people use all public utility vehicles as their own private vehicle. If you are one of those who insist on getting of exactly in front of your building even if there are no bus stops there, for the love of all that is good and true, walk from the proper bus stop. “Ideally, there will be only designated bus stops along the Highways, as opposed to what we have now” says Jacobo. “But commuters are hard-headed as well.” Fewer stops would mean less idling on the vehicles. Idling for even 20 minutes generates the same amount of emission as vehicle would when they travel 482 kilometers. Now if PUV drivers were smart, they’d start charging people who do this double (for the chauffer service), or include it in their strike demands that passengers who insist just have to jump off the speeding bus.

Cut down on the use of vehicles, especially when there are alternative present. Use the trains. As stinky and uncomfortable as it is getting in, it’s worth at the time you save from gridlock. For shorter trips, skip the trike; walk instead. Or use that bike you only use on weekends!

Most people think this is crazy: I walk from my workplace to my house. Of course I have to take the route where there are fewer vehicles riding the streets. Sure, I’m sweating like a pig by the time I get home, but I feel better knowing I helped in saving the environment in some way.

USE LESS, THROW LESS

If there is one upside to the digital age, it is fact that we use less paper and plastic nowadays. Score one for the environment! We may well be years before the world is significantly less dependent on the plastic and paper, so be a man and carry your own bag whenever your wife asks you to go to the market. Some grocers also offer discounts for those who do bring their own bags. A mug does the trick for coffee shops, so bring your own for a discount, too. And do recycle old papers. Paper production is ecologically worse than producing new plastics. Sure papers are more biodegradable, but it is harder to produce and the process is more harmful to the environment. Always, always print on two side of the paper. How would you like it if trees only took in the carbon dioxide but did not release oxygen afterwards?

3 Simple Tips on How to Save the Earth

STOP BLOWING SMOKE
“Most of the pollution in the city can be found right in one’s home,” says Balayon. Let’s see: cooking fumes, cigarette smoke, the occasional revving of the vehicle in the garage, insect repellant sprays, the never-ending stack of garbage – egad! He’s right!

 It is easy to think about burning your own refuse when the garbage truck comes less often than Santa Claus, but it is prohibited under the Clean Air Act. Take that to your neighbor once he’s put lit matches to his heap of dried leaves.

And speaking of dried leaves, tobacco is also considered a major pollutant. While nicotine does not deplete the ozone layer like rubber compounds and plastics do, we all know that secondhand smokes do to a person. The US Environmental Protection Agency, as well as International Agency for research on Cancer (branch of the World Health Organization) classifies secondhand smoke as the only known human-carcinogen.

USE GREEN AIR CONDITIONERS

 There are a number of environmentally-friendly air conditioning products out in the market. The monetary amount you spend may be offset may be offset by what you gain health wise. In fact, experts insist on you getting one. Land Transportation Office’s Safety Division Chief Daisy Jacobo says that air conditioners help filter out dust particles. It does not matter whether you live in a condo unit or a typical suburban village; you simply cannot escape metropolitan dust. According to the Department of Natural Resources – Environment Management Bureau, dust is the major component found in the city pollution. Just look at the amount of construction seen around the metropolis. Short of rallying in protest in front of the senate building; protect yourself by wearing masks when you walk the streets. It may not be as funny or goofy when you think of all the particles you inhale as you pass by a construction site. Think of it as a cool display of protest, and maybe it will start a new fashion trend. Go for one that filters at least 97 percent of the dust particles, even if it makes you look like a straggler from the SARS scare.

LOVE YOUR CAR

Those cute little electric cars may be the wave of the future as far as transportation goes in the country. Or it could be another pipe dream for yet another genius inventor. The G-car built by engineer Gerry Caroro is meant to be a glimpse of the future. It depends on how you feel about trading your ozone-killing machine for one of them electric cars.

 While it may be years before we see at least one electric car to take on perils of main roads, there are alternative fuels readily available in the market. By now, you should be using unleaded gasoline at the very least. If not, shame on you. Make sure you also get a tune up at least once a year. Expert also agrees that vehicles that run at least 14-15 kilometers a liter is the best thing you can do for the environment.

Mother Nature’s Son

You don’t need a picket sign to help the environment, but you do need new ways to pitch in. Help yourself.
Then you get back home and taxi drivers, upon seeing your luggage, each in turn park their cars in the middle of the street, oblivious of the line of vehicles behind them honking, and start offering you the most ridiculous amount of fare to take you home. And once you are home, the tricycles rouse you from slumber as they race each other on the neighborhood’s narrow streets. If that does not bother you, then maybe your neighbor’s loud music will. Or maybe that old man across your house starts burning leaves he just swept off his driveway, and the fumes reach your window. It is like you are being smoked out of a foxhole. Not good.

What is the major difference? Effective urban planning, for one. Singapore government is strict adherence to environmentally-friendly policies makes their streets enjoyable for pedestrians to tread on. The roads are also quiet. Drivers are mostly tolerant of each other. And did I mention they have sidewalks with actual people using them? And we wonder why in other countries are eager to find an exit out of the land.

 This is not a political rant against the inadequacies of other government, nor a cry for the banishment of unnecessary public utility vehicles (through that would be nice.) Rather, this is a wake-up call to everyone (and we don’t mean everyone) to be accountable in saving our environment. Or at the very least, help improve its deteriorating condition. Buckle down, hug a tree, and start treating the environment as you would your body. (Assuming you treat your body right, which is the reason why you are reading this article right?)

PLANT TREES

 We know, we know. Where the heck are we going to plant trees in this time of stacked buildings and 30-square-meter homes? You can start by joining groups of fellow tree-huggers. “We’re now on the next stage – this year, we will concentrate all efforts in rehabilitating the watersheds” Why is it important to reforest our watersheds? “Erosion is a big part of the problem in these watersheds,” says Anabelle Plantilla, Haribon Foundation’s Executive Director. “Soil may contaminate our water sources, and make it harder for service providers to filter out sediments.” Plantilla also warns of a very real impending water crisis. “Do you remember when we had that scare of shortage because of the long dry spell? Can you imagine not being able to take baths? Or importing potable water?

Beyond reforesting watersheds, it is also important to plant trees around the cities. According to Balayon, it takes about 10 trees to clean vehicle emissions from one car. Think of all the vehicles playing urban streets and do the math. Start in your own backyard. Or your living room, indoor plants can ease your neighborhood pollution troubles, as well as help with indoor-air quality.