HOW GREEN IS YOUR CAR?

Cars are one of the great mixed bags of our time. They are at once wonders of engineering and a threat to life on Earth. They create convenience and comfort and also snarled traffic and sprawling suburbs.

This week I found a practical Car Carbon Footprint Test that should make you think carefully about how green is your car.

• Perhaps the first question an environmentally conscious driver should ask, is whether they need to drive at all?


• Do you really need a green car, or could you simply walk or cycle to your destinations?
  
• If you need a green car purely to commute back and forth to work then is there a colleague who you could pool together with to share the expense – two people in one green car is far better than one person in a green car, and one in a fuel guzzling alternative.


• Don’t forget to look into other ways to reduce your environmental impact too – such as by lowering the weight of your vehicle and driving with due care and consideration.


• Doing your bit for the environment doesn’t stop when you hand over your money .


• KEEP DRIVING AND KEEP YOUR CAR GREEN!


• "Buy the car you need, not the car to impress the next-door neighbour" (JOHN ANDERSON)

Paper: Reduce, Recycle, and Ask “Why” Before you Print

• Keep files on computers and disks instead of placing printed copies in file cabinets.


• Review documents on screen and use "track changes" type tools when editing your work.


• Send an email instead of a paper letter at every opportunity.


• Buy recycled paper with a high percentage of post-consumer content and minimum bleaching.


• Print on both sides of each page when possible.


• Cut up misprinted material for notepaper or shred it to use as packing material.


• If you have the option to send or receive a brochure in digital format, take it.


• Use a personal sized dry erase board instead of using paper notepads.

CALCULATE YOUR FOOTPRINT!

Today I test my ecological footprint and the conclusion was that the amonut of the Earth's area needed every year to support my lifestyle is 2.4 hectares or 2400 squares meters, even if I don't have a car, a do not travel more then 1000 km away from my town and i eat a lot of vegetables.

Click here http://www.footprint-wwf.be/footprintpage.aspx?projectId=69&languageId=2 to calculate your footprint. In the end of the test, you will have some tips & tricks on how to reduce your consume and help our Planet to be a better place.

The Ecological Footprint Quiz estimates the area of land and ocean required to support your consumption of food, goods, services, housing, and energy and assimilate your wastes. Your ecological footprint is expressed in "global hectares" (gha) or "global acres" (ga), which are standardized units that take into account the differences in biological productivity of various ecosystems impacted by your consumption activities. Your footprint is broken down into four consumption categories: carbon (home energy use and transportation), food, housing, and goods and services. Your footprint is also broken down into four ecosystem types or biomes: cropland, pastureland, forestland, and marine fisheries.

Enjoy!

ECO SPOT: Learn about ecological hotspots around the world

The world is facing environmental disasters that could get worse unless we learn what causes them and clean up our act.

Click on hot spots to learn about current ecological issues threatening people and animals.

GREEN YOUR VALENTINE!

Valentines Day is just around the corner and even though the colors are generally red or pink, we propose you to make this Valentines green.

For your loved ones this Valentines Day may be a proof that you care about them by taking care about nature.

To help make Valentines some shade of green try some of these eco-friendly Valentine tips:

• Shop green: yes, go online instead of driving anywhere and choose online shops that are eco-friendly with sustainable business practices;


• Send cards made from recycled paper or e-cards;


• Choose organic and/or locally grown flowers;


• Make a donation to an environmental organization on behalf of the person;


• Buy the person a gift certificate for holistic therapies e.g. massage, naturopath, health spa;


• Arrange dinner at a local restaurant specializing in organic or locally grown food;


• Take a romantic walk in a park and admire the nature with your love.
  

These are just a few ideas to get you thinking, but as someone not known to be much of a romantic, I'm sure that you would have a stack of other great ideas; please add them below!

MAKE SURE YOUR TRASH DOESN'T END IN THE SAME PILE

Our traditional attitude to rubbish is to throw it in the bin and forget about it. We are producing increasing amounts of waste each year, which means we are using natural resources at a faster rate than ever and putting more strain on the environment's capacity to deal with our waste products.

We need to stop thinking of rubbish as a problem to be buried in landfill and start thinking of it as a resource to be used.

This is one of the reasons we've decided to make sure that the recyclable waste that we throw away gets at the right place. It all starts from YOUR regular trash-bin. Only by sorting waste before it's trashed we can make sure that the process is correctly started:

Two of the most easily recyclable materials are PAPER and PLASTICS. By having separate bins designated for each of these two materials you can make sure that rubbish doesn't end up in the same pile.

Did you know?

• paper accounts for 40% of all municipal waste
• each tonne of paper recycled saves 15 average sized trees.

Did you know?

• 25 plastic drink bottles can be used to make one fleece jacket.
• the average person throws away 135 carrier bags, most of these could be reused.

Have separate trash-bins installed and make sure you put up the additional signs nearby thus insuring that materials get properly recycled.

GREEN YOUR OFFICE! GREEN YOUR LIFE!

Resources wasted equals money lost. Whether that waste comes out of your own home or as excess heat in the office you are working in, it is an inefficiency, and where there are inefficiencies, there is surely room for improvement.

Reducing the amount of waste that we produce is the top of the waste hierarchy and its something we can all do in our everyday lives.

This is more important then reusing and recycling because by reducing our waste we cut down on the amount of waste that enters our homes or workplace in the first place.

This is why we are more than willing to share with you, several methods of lowering your consumption (click on the image to enlarge):

This list is never complete and you may feel free to add more methods to it and if you do please share them with us.