What You Can Do
You release greenhouse gases as a result of using energy to drive, using electricity to light and heat your home, and through other activities that support our quality of life like growing food, raising livestock and throwing away garbage. Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced through simple measures like changing light bulbs and properly inflating your tires.
Simple Changes in the Home
- Change 5 lights. Change a light, and you help change the world. Replace the conventional bulbs in your 5 most frequently used light fixtures with ENERGY STAR rated CFL or LED bulbs and you will help the environment while saving money on energy bills. If every household in the U.S. took this one simple action we would prevent more than 1 trillion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Look for ENERGY STAR labeled products. When buying new products, such as appliances for your home, get the features and performance you want AND help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Look for ENERGY STAR-qualified products in more than 40 product categories, including lighting, home electronics, heating and cooling equipment and appliances. Many utilities have rebates for upgrading to more efficient appliances, too.
- Use water efficiently. Everyone can save water through simple actions. Municipal water systems require a lot of energy to purify and distribute water to households, and saving water, especially hot water, can lower greenhouse gas emissions. Do not let the water run while shaving or brushing teeth. Do not use your toilet as a waste basket for toiletry items – water is wasted with each flush. And did you know a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water per day? Repair all toilet and faucet leaks right away. See EPA's WaterSense site for more water saving tips.
- Spread the Word. Tell family and friends that energy efficiency is good for their homes and good for the environment because it lowers greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Tell 5 people and together we can help our homes help us all.
- Drink tap water. Drink in the Tahoe lifestyle from your water tap, not from a plastic bottle. 40% of all bottled water comes from a city system anyway. And about 5 liters of fresh water is used to produce 1 liter of bottled water. Pitcher or faucet filters cost about $600 for 5 years. Bottled water services cost nearly $2,000 in that same time frame! Over 1.5 MILLION tons of plastic are used every year for bottled water. That's more than double the amount of trash from all of San Francisco!
- Why buy it to trash it? Don't purchase disposable products. Switch to reusable products for all of these: food and beverage containers; cups; plates; writing pens; razors; diapers; towels; napkins; shopping bags; lunch bags; water bottles; and coffee mugs. You will save money from not buying paper napkins, paper towels, plastic wrap, Ziplocs, trash bags, etc. You will also save trips to the trash bin - this is especially nice when the weather is cold and snowy - We hope!
Top 10 Reasons to Recycle
- Recycling saves trees.
- Recycling protects wildlife habitat and biodiversity.
- Recycling lowers the use of toxic chemicals.
- Recycling helps curb global warming.
- Recycling stems the flow of water pollution.
- Recycling reduces the need for landfills.
- Recycling reduces the need for incinerators.
- Recycling creates jobs and promotes economic development.
- Cities may profit by selling recyclables.
- Buying recycled products contributes to the demand for more recycled products.
How Your Recycling Makes a Difference
- Recycling 1 glass bottle saves enough energy to light a 15W bulb (like that CFL you replaced your regular bulb with) 24 hours.
- An aluminum can takes 500 years to decompose. A recycled can uses 95 % less energy, and it will be back on the shelf in about six weeks.
- 80% of plastic bottles sold end up in landfills.
- A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years of more to decompose - and even longer if it's in a landfill.
- 5 plastic water bottles can provide enough fiber to become 1 XL t-shirt , 1 sq. ft of carpet, or the fill for 1 ski jacket.
- 300 MILLION lbs of grocery bags become Trex decking each year (50% of all bags recycled).
- Recycling a 3-foot stack of paper saves 1 tree.
Some Things to Think About
- In a year, a typical North American car will add close to 5 tons of CO 2 into the atmosphere.
- The average number of barrels of oil consumed daily in the US is 17 million.
- Driving consumes 43% of those barrels of oil.
- If everyone on the planet consumed at the level of the average American, we'd need FOUR MORE planets worth of resources to support all 6 billion people.
- Packaging waste makes up1/2 of all US municipal solid waste by volume. More of your grocery bill pays for packaging than goes to the farmers who produce the food.