How Can We Help Save The Earth?
Posted October 15, 2007 in Lifestyle, News
Today is Blog Action Day, and I’m thrilled Freelance Folder is one of the 15,500 participating blogs (reaching over 12.5 million readers)!
There’s been a lot of talk about this in the “blogosphere” lately, and for good reasons. We’re all in this together, we all live on the same Earth. And it’s the only one we have…
I believe it’s not just about raising awareness, we’re already well aware of global warming and all, it’s about doing something. It has been said thousands of times, but I’ll say it again: there are things we can do!
Here Are Some Things You Should Know
A vast swath of the Pacific, twice the size of Texas, is full of a plastic stew that is entering the food chain. Scientists say these toxins are causing obesity, infertility…and worse. – BestLifeOnline
The Statistics Canada study concludes that paper has remained in demand across the business world, with paper consumption more than doubling in Canada between 1983 and 2003. “We (found) that the consumption of paper, for printing and writing, has increased significantly in the last two decades,” said Heidi Ertl, a Statistics Canada analyst. – Business Edge Canada 2006
Paper consumption more than doubled in Canada between 1983 and 2003 and the business world’s demand for paper is still going up, a Statistics Canada study concluded last year. – Working.com
the average desktop PC wastes nearly half the power delivered to it. Half! This wasted electricity unnecessarily increases the cost of powering a computer, and it also increases the emission of greenhouse gases. – Climate Savers Computing
The wasted power is expended as heat, which means that on top of the cost of running the computer, you may also be spending more on air conditioning to cool your home or office. – Climate Savers Computing
Ok, I could go on and on all day with references and studies, but you get the idea.
I wrote about paperless office concept some time ago, and yes, there are some really neat tools you can use to help make your home office paperless (or almost paperless).
But it’s not just about the tools. Sure getting rid of the printer, turning off the lights, or shutting down your computer before you go to bed will help…. Those are obvious, no-brainers.
On top of sending invoices as PDFs, subscribing to electronic billing, and driving my trusty Toyota Echo/Yaris to work (wait I don’t have to drive to go to work! I work from home!), what else do I do? Read on…
Plastic Bags? No Freakin’ Way!
Going shopping? Need new clothes or wanna buy that new book your friend told you about? You can carry that in your hands or put it in a back-pack. Or you could even bring re-usable bags with you!
There’s a company based in Montreal, Canada (where I live), called Omniplast, that makes re-usable, oxy-biodegradable bags. You can view their presentation and read more about it here (click “about us” and then click on the “oxy-biodegradable plastic” button at the bottom ).
Now, how nice is that? They do business in Canada and the United States. Maybe there’s a company like Omniplast where you live, why not ask the manager of that store where you bought those new clothes about biodegradable bags? You never know!
Posts/Articles Worth A Mention
Here are some post that are definitely worth reading. I will keep adding links to this list throughout the day, as people publish their posts (will maybe have to create a page just for that, or maybe the folks at Blog Action Day will? :) ).
- Collis at NorthXEast (how they created BlogActionDay) – Building Momentum: How Blog Action Day Got Going
- Cyan at FreelanceSwitch – 29 Simple Ways to Become a More Environmentally Friendly Freelancer (+ Help Us Donate $500 to Charity!)
- Samir Bharadwaj – The Environmental Movement and Why It’s Not Working (Samir should receive a Blog Action Day award for writing 9 posts about it! Way cool!)
- Shane from Zoomstart – Blog Action Day 2007: The Environment
- Dustin Wax at LifeHack – Blog Action Day: You the Consumer
- David Seah – Getting to Know My Environment
- Maki from DoshDosh – Top 20 Environmental Blogs You Can Read
- Yaro Starak – Blog Action Day: What If The Water Runs Out
- Ben at Instigator Blog – How Entrepreneurs Can Help Save the Environment
- Naomi Dunford from IttyBiz – Saving the Planet, One Home Business at a Time
- Devon Carlson at Ask The Career Counselor – Blog Action Day: Green Jobs Mean Growth and Great Potential
- Liz at Successful-Blog – Blog Action Day: Personal Environmental Action
- Ian Fernando – Blog Action Day: Exercise with Nature
- Adam from Monk At Work – Blog Action Day: Leave That Which Makes You Doubt…
- Travis at YoungGoGetter – 5 innovative environmental business ideas
- Shane from Shane&Peter – Save the World, Work from Home
- Edith Yeung – How You are Impacting the World (Blog Action Day)
- Alex Shalman – Environmental Wellness Principle
- Chris Garrett on New Media – Blog Action Day: Noticing the World Around Us
- Dan Sitter at Idea Sellers – Blog Action Day: Our Environment
- Tony D. Clark from Success From The Nest – 5 Reasons Why Home-Based Entrepreneurship is the Ultimate Eco-Friendly Gig
- Anja Merret – Five things I am doing for Blog Action Day – what are yours
- K. Stone from Life learning Today – The Coolest Green Habits to Adopt Today: Blog Action Day
- David Chen at Pronet Advertising – The Importance of Blog Action Day
- Peter from I Will Change Your Life – A Climate Of Change
- Dumb Little Man – Items you Never Thought to Recycle
- Dharmesh Shah from OnStartups – Diminishing Dead-Tree Media and 3 More Ways Bloggers Can Help Save The Planet
- Lodewijk from How To Be An Original – Help the earth: Reduce, Renew and Remove
- Brian Clark at Copyblogger – The Butterfly Effect and the Environment: How Tiny Actions Can Save the World
- Behance – Human Ideas: Adopt The Sky
- Char at Essential Keystrokes – 5 R’s For A Greener World
- Grad Money Matters – Get Rid of Unwanted Mail. It’s Bad for your Wallet and Bad for the Environment
- Jonathan Fields from Awake @ The Wheel – Blog Action Day
- Deb at Freelance Writing Gigs – In Honor of Blog Action Day: A few things you can do to make a difference
- Daniel from Daily Blog Tips – Environment Friendly Blogging: 5 Practical Tips
- Elizabeth from Cox Conserves (great site) – Cox Conserves
- Congrats to Al Gore – Nobel Peace Prize – I think this falls right along the lines of Blog Action Day
What Do YOU Do?
I would really like to know. What do you do to help save the environment? How does your office look like? Paper everywhere? Or everything is on your computer? Please share your own tips and tricks with us. Help us make the Earth a better place to live. We’re already aware things are bad, let’s do something about it. Writing about it just isn’t enough! What are you gonna do today to help?
Take care
Jon
*note: all of today’s earnings will go to a non-profit organization (not sure which one yet, so please feel free to give suggestions or recommend one that’s listed on BlogActionDay)
Related posts:
About the author: Jon Phillips is a full-time freelancer, designer and blogger, he loves WordPress and plays guitar in a heavy act. He's also the founder of Freelance Folder. Oh and he'd be pleased if you would follow him on Twitter. :)
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32 Comments
Jacob Share
October 15th, 2007 at 4:24 amGood article.
To answer your question, I actually try to follow many of these wisecracking tips:
http://jobmob.co.il/blog/the-obnoxious-guide-to-environmentally-safe-job-hunting/
Country Dawn
October 15th, 2007 at 11:08 amI have a whole list on my blog of the things we’re doing! ;)
http://countrydawn.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-action-day-one-more-way-to-be.html
Jon
October 15th, 2007 at 11:28 amThanks for the links folks, gotta lot of reading to do today :)
Beth Terry
October 15th, 2007 at 10:20 pmWhat do I do? I blog nearly every day about plastic and what we can do to reduce our reliance on it!
My blog is http://www.fakeplasticfish.com.
Feel free to drop by!
Jonathan
October 16th, 2007 at 2:32 pmJon
I know I’m a day late on this for BlogAction day, but I wanted to let you know that I’m working with a coalition to make sure Congress sends the president a strong energy bill with meaningful changes for our environment and planet. This legislation would be a monumental step toward stopping global warming. Please go to http://www.energybill2007.us and sign the petition.
Congress finally has a chance to pass meaningful energy legislation. The bill they are about to pass includes the best fuel economy standards ever (35 mpg by 2020) and a renewable electricity standard (15% by 2020) that guarantees the growth of renewable, clean energy. But there is a chance these two key advances won’t make it through to the final bill. This is our chance for real progress, don’t let Congress back down! Thanks!
AgentSully
October 20th, 2007 at 8:56 pmThanks for the link to my article!! Nice job on your contribution!
John
April 15th, 2008 at 8:42 pmJon, great name! Thanks for the extensive list of articles on the environment. I have been researching environmental issues a lot and it is truly sad what we throw away each day.
You would think the world would implode with all of the garbage we are throwing around on it.
Thanks again!
Stacey
April 28th, 2008 at 3:27 pmHey guys great website and articles!!! I have been searching some envermental issues and I found out that we trow away alot of things that is changing our earth. You guys helped me relise what is the truth and whats not!! Ohh ya for the eople reading this if you really do care then you wont use plastic bags. Ohh ya to the guy that made this website it’s great its just that you need more info!!!
Thanks agian! :)
Pete
May 26th, 2008 at 1:09 amIf everyone did something it really would make a difference
Jim
June 7th, 2008 at 3:20 pmThe trouble with these kind of campaigns is they are exploited by corporations, first it was the misuse of charities, now it’s ‘Green’ they all want to advertise how environmentally friendly they are, not because they care for the planet, but because of their love of the green backs.
Lexi
June 26th, 2008 at 6:55 pmHi I was just reading the “How Can We Help Save The Earth?” colomn that I found as a match searching for ways to help the enviornment. I think that this a great website that tells a lot about ways to help. Thanks for posting it!
Roger Thomas
November 1st, 2008 at 4:54 pmHi
My names Roger and I’m the director of Celtic Lion Ltd. You don’t know our names, but most people in the world know our work.
I was the advisor to the UK Government who via a UN Environment and Development report recommended climate change and Africa as central areas of policy, which became the agenda of the 2005 G8 in Scotland.
This was justified from the risk assessment that climate change was a greater threat than terrorism. Which after the Government’s Chief Scientist Sir David King gave global publicity, was used by world leaders, environmental organisations and even Al Gore to draw attention to the environmental imperative.
This was in fact nothing more than a damage limitation exercise. We had been shortlisted to run the Millennium Dome London in 2001 as a £50 billion per year global environmental management centre. Unfortunately the Government decided against the proposal and the private sector funding was lost.
We are now going to run a similar project from global small contributions. Hopefully second time lucky.
Roger
Celtic Lion Ltd
Nikki
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:43 amPlease i would love to have visitors to my blog ! Visit my blog!
Rachel Daugherty
May 7th, 2009 at 10:38 amHI
chey
October 6th, 2009 at 6:11 pmhi im cheyanne a 13 year old and im a mase with this im so sick of ppl thorwing garbag on the ground it crule !!!!! im hopeing when i get bigger to help save the earth MORE
Tor Jia Chyi
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:10 amHere are some ideas on how you can do your part to help save the earth!
* Recycle, recycle, and recycle. If we all do a small part, like turning the water off when we’re brushing our teeth or clean out a jar of jelly and keep loose change in it or just turning off the lights in rooms that no one is in or maybe ridding a bike to school/work and if you’re not a fan of biking, make a carpool with your friends! There are still more that a billion ways to save the planet, and if you want to see your own children grow up on this earth, just do a small part, just a tinny little part once every day and if everyone else does too, slowly but surly, we’ll save the planet!
* Preserve habitats! Stop bulldozing land for parking lots and shopping malls!
* Improved answer: 1. Plug in the water wen washing dishes. 2. Don’t let water run without you there. 3. Start a protest about saving the Earth. 4 turn out light when not being used.5. SPREAD THE WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By TAYLOR8399
I like the idea you’re trying to save the earth! Here are some tips!
Always turn off the water, or lights when you aren’t using it, if the water from the sink or the shower leaks, try to stop the leaks. Draw or write on both sides of paper and recycle it, recycle: plastic things, paper, smooth cardboard, & well that it…. there is more! Instead of taking the bus or car and wasting tons of gas, ride your bike and heal the earth! Stop cutting down trees! Cutting down trees is very terrible because: trees gives you oxygen, and oxygen is one of the reasons you’re reading this… Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to play outside once a day if it’s not raining, & love and enjoy the wonderful earth you live in! PS: If you want to help more, turn off the TV, and the computer when not in use! Also Reduce the amount of things that you use and reuse things like plastic bottles! Other tips are listed above.
Ubiracir B Miranda
March 20th, 2010 at 1:21 amThirteen Starships will rescue Earth.
If you would like to be cocksure that really we are not alone throughtout the wideness of this Universe that makes us so enchanted and fascinate, as well as do your share, so that this apparently irreversible process of destruction of our planet can be restrained, then visit this site and suggest it to the press as a whole, so that our planet can be rescued by a task force made up by thirteen Starships of extra-cosmic origin, rather than can be too late.
HTTP://oretornodesananda13.googlepages.com
Thank you so much for the attention to me granted.
bailey
June 13th, 2010 at 10:03 ami really liked this and even though im just 13, I can think of a lot of ways to help the earth
jack
November 4th, 2010 at 7:03 pmu guys have no life lol
Toilet Paper
December 15th, 2010 at 7:07 pmWhat we can start to do is use environment friendly products. Around the office: We can use compatible or recycle ink/toner cartridges, which gives the cartridges or inkjet shells a longer life span and helps slowdown our overfilled landfills. We can start using recycle toilet paper or mixed grade toilet paper. This is will help stop chopping down trees that are used to make paper products from wood chips (virgin material) . Most of the recycle products are half the cost of what you would pay for a name brand product and helps save our environment.
Genelia
April 13th, 2011 at 8:46 pmWow thanks for all that info!! I’m going to use some of your points in my essay. Thanks
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