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Earth Day has come & gone, but Earth’s challenges remain. Climate change, energy conservation & deforestation are just a few that come to mind. These problems are so enormous that we might be inclined to believe that one person can not make a difference, but that isn’t true. Here are ten tips that can assist you be more ‘earth friendly.’

(1) Call companies that use more packaging than necessary for their product & ask them to reduce the amount of packaging they use.

(2) Pay your bills on line & go paperless with as many of your bills as possible.

(3) Recycle all glass, paper, metal, plastic & newspapers & everything you possibly can.

(4) Batch your errands to reduce gas consumption.

(5) Fix leaky faucets & use low-flow toilets & shower heads.

(6) Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents.

(7) Switch off lights whenever you leave a room & turn off any electronic devices you are not using at the moment.

(8) Borrow books from the library instead of purchasing new ones.

(9) Only do full loads of laundry & use cold water instead of hot.

(10) Lower your thermostat two degrees in the winter months & raise it two degrees in the summer.

You can visit my website for many more tips on how to help the environment. I am also compiling a comprehensive list of conservation tips & ideas. I invite you to submit your tip or idea to info@MyConservationBaby.com I will add it to the list currently on my website, MyConservationBaby.com

Ellen McNeill
http://www.MyConservationBaby.com
Baby Gifts for the Eco-Friendly Baby

How to save money & combat climate change in the same time ? By saving energy !

Global climate change threatens Earth’s balance & the way millions of people are living. Human energy consumption is responsible for a large part of greenhouse gaz emissions. Anyone can reduce its power consumption & contribute to energy savings, efficiency & conservation.

Energy efficiency means getting the same job done, having the same comfort while using less energy. Energy efficiency is usually done by doing simple tips such as turning down the thermostat, turning off the light when not used or turning up the temperature of your refrigerator. At job, you could activate ’sleep’ features on computers, copiers, & other machines that power down when the equipment is on but not in use for a while, & turn off equipment during long and extended periods of non-use to cut energy costs & improve longevity. Screen savers do NOT save energy. Many other tips on the US Department of Energy’s website. Easy ways to save money, funny animations & plenty of ideas !

You can save energy by replacing an older, less efficient appliance with a new one. The purchasing guide Saving Energy & Money presents a great choice of saving energy products : lighting, home appliances & electronics, heating & cooling, office equipment & renewable energies. You will find there Energy Star qualified appliances, which help save environment & consumers money by using less energy through advanced design & construction. With Energy Star, you can save up to 30% or more than 600$ per year.

Let’s save money & energy now !

Age : 25
Hobbies : Sports, Sustainability

Saving Energy & Money

As our planet continues to take more & more of a beating, there has been a real emergence of building environmentally conscious housing. In years past homes were constructed with materials that were not just damaging to the environment but as we eventually discovered, harmful to us as well. Prime examples of this were the use of things like lead based paint & piping & asbestos. There is more. These materials have caused an amazing amount of damage to the planet & to people’s health.

Today the concept of constructing homes that are considerate to the planet has become more than an idea, it has become an absolute necessity. The focus of this movement is the construction of homes using recycled & renewable resources. Clear? It also focuses on clean power sources. There is more. These power sources have little to no negative impact on the environment as they harness the power of sun (solar power) & aim to reduce the amount of electrical & gas power needed to keep the home comfortable. Another great idea that is helping the environment is designing homes with efficient drainage which assists in the replenishing of ground water resources.

Homes that are properly insulated require far less electricity to heat. The end result of this kind of building philosophy is that it will cost less for the owner to heat & maintain. However the most desirable result of these type of homes & policies is the reduced impact that construction is having on the environment & the planet. With the population on the rise & industry on the rise too, we as residents of this planet need to do everything in our power to ensure the safety & longevity of our habitat.

Arow Blackdragon is a representative of ChicagoHomeEstates.com, the foremost source for Chicago real estate. For all your Chicago property needs, Chicago Home Estates has you covered.

We must continually work to make more energy efficient housing. Do you follow? There is virtually no one who disagrees with such a worthy goal. The question becomes; how will we be easily able to take the next giant leap forward, while maintaining the incremental gains in energy efficient housing. Do you follow? The only way to propel such technologies is to experiment & adapt with new prototypes.

Perhaps what we ought to do is to fund new innovative ideas & concepts. Allow people to submit proposals for new energy efficient home designs for funding with the stipulation that they will do a continuous study for five years on the energy efficiency of the home. These people will live in the home & use it, as they normally would, yet constantly audit their energy usage.

The auditing should be done by the family for the first two years & then by an outside third part energy auditor the next three. This does a couple of things. First, the family learns how to live more efficiently. Second, their normal new lifestyle & usage will be documented for research purposes, giving us a better idea of how such technologies will save money & energy in the future.

Surely, the goal here isn’t to provide housing, but rather to study alternative energy efficiencies. There is more. Those people will not necessarily be getting a free house, rather they will become test subjects from human housing & the future of alternative energy efficiencies. Clear? In the last housing boom many homes were slapped together & few had energy efficient materials, this was to save money on the cost to build them - indeed those in the home will be paying for that for years to come.

L. Winslow is an Economic Advisor to the Online Think Tank, a Futurist & retired entrepreneur http://www.worldthinktank.net . Currently he is planning a bicycle ride across the US to raise money for charity & is sponsored by http://www.Calling-Plans.com & all the proceeds will go straight to various charities who sign up.

The duty of every right minded, forward thinking citizen of the world is to recycle; that is an accepted fact across the planet.

The theory of recycling waste matter is widely recognized as the only way to conserve energies & resources for future generations & save our world from certain extinction. I accept that, I’ve no problem with it & I’m very happy to go along with all the arguments which support recycling in all its forms.

What I can not accept, is the amount of floor space it takes up in my kitchen. There is a bin for plastic, a bin for paper, & a bin for stuff I can not make up my mind about because it looks like paper but behaves like plastic & feels like fabric. There is a bin for glass bottles which is four times the size of the bins for everything else because we drink a lot in my house. (Sometimes we get drunk & confused enough to place plastic bottles in the glass bin because the contents have the same effect.)

There is a bin for metal caps, which is tiny because we tend to prefer cans for beer & soft drinks, & there is a bin for corks which is overflowing (we are saving them to build a boat & at the rate we drink wine around here we should have a fleet by the winter).

There is a big plastic hanger full of plastic supermarket bags & another full of thicker plastic bags which we use for garden waste, which we also submit for recycling. In the corner there is a enormous pile of magazines that nobody remembers to take to the paper skip on the road into town, & it therefore resembles a paper igloo. I comfort myself that in the event of the Bank repossessing the house, we’re fully equipped to construct a papier mache three bedroomed detached.

My kitchen measures about fifteen square  metres & at least nine of them are dedicated to saving the world.

Jan Gamm writes reflections on life with an emphasis on world travel. She has lived in many countries & traveled extensively in the Far East, the Middle East, America, South America & throughout the South Pacific. She writes for fun & for money whenever she can manage it.

I’ve lived in the Northeast my entire life, & despite an occasional drought during the summer, water-shortages have never been a major concern. Why? Living up here, you are sure to bump into a lake, pond, river, or stream without having to go too far. It was not until after learning about the current droughts over in Australia, South Africa, & England, that I began to question my in-home uses of fresh water.

If you have ever Googled the term ‘water saving tips’ or something similar, you’re bound to find thousands of household hints you can implement. For this article I have selected a few of the simplest, yet most effective ways to reduce your household fresh-water consumption.

Tip 1: Install a low-flow showerhead. Look for models which offer 2.75gpm or lower. This is the easiest & quickest way to reduce both your water & energy (heat) consumption.

Tip 2: Check for leaks around your house. Assuming a faucet is dripping at one drop per second, you will use 2,700 gallons in a year.

Tip 3: Only use dishwasher/washing machines when they’re filled. Also, look for appliances with the Energy Star rating.

Tip 4: Use waterless car washing products when cleaning your vehicles. A traditional bucket & sponge wash can use up to 140 gallons of water!

Tip 5: Don’t leave water on when brushing your teeth, shaving, washing face, etc. Basically, use it only when you need it.

These are only a few tips of the thousands that are out there. I had recommend these other sites if you need more information:

http://www.wateruseitwisely.com
http://www.waterconserve.info
http://www.ecotouch.net

Lastly, if you are curious about what the water supply is like in your area, the US Drought Monitor has an excellent site showing water levels across the United States. There is more. They can be easily found here - http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html.

James Dudra is an ecopreneur from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He currently owns & runs eco touch LLC, which sells a complete line of earth-friendly waterless car care products at eco touch? waterless car wash + polish

Do you separate your newspapers & plastics from the rest of the trash & take them to be recycled? Do you think carefully about the products you buy in an effort to discourage environmentally damaging corporate practice? If, like most people, you are concerned about the future of the planet & want to do your bit to help, here’s one more thing you might consider, & that is switching to solar power.

Whilst many people sit around waiting for governments to do something about energy production & pollution, those in the know understand that any change has to start with us. Government inaction is no reason for you to delay when you have the option of switching to solar power in your own home.

Although this requires an initial cash investment, it will dramatically reduce your fuel bills in the future, so it is not as financially burdensome as it might sound. What’s more, solar power devices are much cheaper than they used to be, & there’re many more solar power options available.

If you can not afford to install a full row of solar panels, do not let that make you think that you can do nothing. Many smaller solar devices cost just a few dollars. Clear? It is possible for you to switch to solar simply by making smart choices as you replace ordinary items in your home.

If you have a well lit kitchen, why not install a solar power stove to use on sunny days? These devices are light & portable so you can even take them with you when you go on vacation. Why not put a solar radio on your windowsill & listen to it as you go about your daily routine? Why not replace old outdoor security illumination with solar powered lights?

The flexibility of solar power options in the modern world makes gradually switching over to solar power a practical option for practically everybody. It may only seem like a small thing, but if a lot of people do it, it can make a big difference.

Sunny Ray writes about solar products environmental issues, & solar power exclusively for Sunjuiced Solar Products. So… Sunjuiced Solar is a resource for all things solar, from lighting to portable power options.

I know how much people love smog. We can not get enough of the stuff, but I think we should think about trying to get rid of it.

Problem is that we will not dispose of the smog until we stop driving our cars to work or we make cars that do not pollute. Problem is most people live to far from work to walk or ride their bike & purchasing a car that doesn’t run on gas is to pricey for the common folk.

I know the one thing that we can afford to do, is stay at home & work. You can start a business these days for about the same price of one car payment.

Just think of the money you save from not driving to work & how much cleaner our air would be if virtually everyone worked from home. I believe most people do care about the environment but they say to themselves. “What can to I do about global warming, I’m only one person, how can I make a difference?”

You can make a difference by working from home & getting other people to work from home as well. This is how we can do our part. One home based business owner at a time.

It is a fact. Global Warming is a problem & our governments will not stop burning fossil fuels anytime soon. There is to much money at stake. There is one way to reverse the effects of global warming, but I’ll save that for a different article.

I know this article is kind of far-fetched but anything is possible if we just work together. I believe humans were put on this earth to save it, not destroy it.

Your Money Maker

I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin called Shell Lake. People there’re friendly & down to earth. Sure virtually everyone knows everyones problems & virtually everyone gossips about each other. That is because there is nothing else to do. Except drink, fish, hunt & tip cows all at the same time, but I believe there is no better place on earth then Shell Lake. The thing is I am a big city boy with big city needs. There is more. That is why I live in the second best place on earth. Denver, Colorado. There is so many fun things to do in Denver. So many that I can not name them all. Plus I never do anything because I am to busy writing articles. http://www.makercash.com

When we say; ‘think green’ we’re not talking about the color of the paint that you’re planning to use on your kitchen walls! A ‘green’ remodel is an environmentally friendly approach to any home renovation project. Thinking green not just improves the look of your home but it’s a healthier home with less maintenance & lower utility costs. Plus you’re contributing to a making our planet a better place for future generations.

As with all remodel projects, good planning is the key to success & cost efficiencies. If you plan green, you’ll obtain a wide range of additional benefits that include, comfort & convenience coupled with beauty & efficiency & all of these will be structured on environmentally sound conservation policies with a view to increasing the health of you & your family.

Most people when tackling a painting project go straight to the paint store & collect a quantity of color swatches, go home & concentrate their decision on what paint to buy based closely on color. Little consideration is given to the type of paint, its gloss factor & to the surface preparation, both of which must be taken into account if you expect to end up with a quality finish. A professional painter will tell you that more than ½ of the time required on a painting project is used for surface preparation, primarily cleaning. Paints do not adhere well to dirt, dust & grime.

In thinking green you must consider the entire project from initial surface preparation to the final paint coat.

Often in order to clean the surface a simple solution of soap & water will get rid of all of the dirt & grime. For greasy areas increase the soap to water proportion. If your surfaces require something stronger look for the least toxic & select a cleanser that in non-chlorinated & non-acid. Avoid cleaners with hazard warning labels such as ‘Poison’ or ‘Danger’.

If sanding is necessary wear a dust mask, & eye protection.

For more information on ‘Thinking Green’ throughout all remodel & home renovation projects follow the links below.

For additional information on Think Green.

For additional information on home renovation projects, visit Renovation Headquarters.

Today, more than ever before, we as residents of this planet have the responsibility to safeguard the earth so that there will be one left for our children. If this move doesn’t start in the home then it may never gather the momentum that it needs. There is more. There’re a number of eco-friendly technologies & developments designed specifically for homes & it is time that we investigated some of them & what they bring to the table.

Perhaps the best known innovations, or at least the most commonly see, are things like low-flow toilets, solar heating & energy efficient appliances. There is more. These developments have come a long way in past years & were some of the original “green home” products. There is more. They helped to form the basis of what would become a revolution in home building & in the way we think about the construction of a home. One of the newest ways of thinking about “green homes” is the idea of thinking about a home as a system unto itself… That is that in altering or changing one aspect of a home it’s impossible not to affect other parts of the system. This systems is comprised of five, sometimes 6 distinct systems if there is a fireplace(s).

There are some really exciting things happening in the world of “green Homes.” People are discovering new ways to drastically reduce their monthly energy bills on an ongoing basis. There is more. This is all part of a move by home owners & real estate professionals to show that there is an alternative to our reliance on forms of energy that are both detrimental to our environment & non-renewable. Eventually we will all have to consider these new ways of supplying power to our homes as we’re leaving a trail of devastation in our wake in a ecological sense. And so… So far so good. What kind of planet are we leaving behind for the next generations? One that is devoid of clean water & organic foods? One that is getting hotter every summer & colder every winter? One that is so polluted that we can not ever hope to clean the air that we breathe? It is not an attractive prospect & it will be our children that have to deal with the results.

Branden Schroeder is a Realtor serving the Maryland real estate market. For lots more info on Maryland real estate contact Branden or visit on line at http://www.marylandhomesandproperty.com