I really want to get involved?

Question

with helping save our world...like really help. I feel like I waste my time day by day and that what I do isn't helping making a difference...what should I do to be more helpful to our envrionment? Lately I've been feeling really passionate about this I just don't know how to get started.

Answer 1

DOING OUR PART & TAKING ACTION ON RAPID CLIMATE CHANGE:

(Sources of information for citizens & educators from the references of Earth Under Fire)

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy,

http://www.aceee.org/consumer/consumer.h...

Tips on home energy savings and motor vehicle efficiency.

Climate Change Education,

http://www.climatechangeeducation.org

Links to museums, lesson plans, and other resources

relating to climate change.

Climate Institute, "What You Can Do,"

http://www.climate.org/topics/you/index....

Recommendations for reducing our environmental footprint.

Earth Day Network, "Climate Change Solutions,"

http://www.earthday.net/resources/2006ma...

Focus the Nation,

http://www.focusthenation.org

Nationwide college organizing committee on global warming solutions and political awareness.

National Council of Churches of Christ,

http://www.protectingcreation.org

Interfaith campaign for climate justice.

Vanity Fair, "FiftyWays to Help Save the Planet,"

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/featu...

200605

Weather Channel, "Solutions Library,"

http://climate.weather.com

Answer 2

Start growing your own food and vegetables. Or get involved in a community growing project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyXJzjJnd...

Answer 3

First, start by educating yourself.  Check out what your library has in the way of Green Living books, and also about the environment.

Next, change your way of living.  This is the easy part.

1. Do you have a ceiling fan with four lights in it? Take the lightbulbs out of two of them.  A bathroom with a row of incandescent bulbs over the mirror? Take out all of them, and put in one or two compact fluorescent blubs.  

2. Turn off your AC and heater as much as you can stand-- put on a sweater or wear shorts as the weather demands.  

3. When you shower, use water cooler than you're used to; turn on the water, rinse off.  (Turn off the water.  Soap and shampoo.  Turn the water back on, rinse off the soap.)  

4. DON'T use your dishwasher-- it is a monumental waste of electricity; it takes heated water from your home water heater, then puts it over electrical coils to make it steaming hot.  Also, it uses a water pump that is very, very inefficient.

5. Clean your kitchen counter, stove top, and sink with regular dish soap-- it has Triclosan in it, which is the same disinfecting chemical as you will find in Neosporin and some toothpastes.  Effectively, your kitchen surfaces will be clean enough to eat off of, and you won't be using environmentally unfriendly cleaners chemically based on ammonium or bleach.

6.  Quit using your dryer.  Hang up your clothes on a balcony rail, the backs of metal chairs, on hangers placed over the tops of doors.  Dryers take an amazing amount of electricity, which is not only expensive, but wholly unnecessary.  Air drying can make your towels and pants a little stiff, but if you put them in the dryer on tumble-dry for about 5 minutes, it will soften them up and use a tiny fraction of the energy it would typically require.

7. Make your own food.  Go to the grocers, look for locally-grown and locally-raised produce and meats.  Making your own food saves money, and reduces the amount of packaging you require.

8. Try to avoid beef (cows are wasteful, bison are better, fish are best), especially ground beef.  To make a pound of ground beef, 2,500 gallons of fresh water are used-- and that's not just what the cow drinks, but also what the meat processor and grinders use.  All of it is waste water in the end.  

9. Recycle.  There is probably a recycling center near you.  It is probably free.  Most of the things you use are probably recyclable.  Do an internet search for recycling centers in your area.

10. Don't drive if you don't have to.  If the grocery store is right down the street, consider walking.  If you get the sudden craving to go to the nearest corner store and get a soda and candy bar, simply don't.  Think about every trip in the terms of what you as an individual deserve-- is one candy bar worth the half gallon of gas it takes to get it? Is it worth drilling that petroleum, shipping it, refining it, and shipping it again? (And increasingly, is the trip worth $4 / gallon for the gas?)

Only after you've changed your own habits can you justly and effectively encourage others to change theirs.  (If I were just listing things I don't do myself, you would know immediately that I was a hypocrit and a liar, and you would not trust me in my suggestions.)  When your parents, friends, and coworkers ask, 'what are you doing on your day off?' and you answer, 'Taking the recycling to the recycling center,' they will be made aware of your efforts, and be encouraged to do the same.

Answer 4

walk, run, recycle, composting, buy organic, turn off appliances, ride bike, turn off lights, plant trees, give food to animals, don't waste food.