1 © learning zonexpress. 2 why get on the green fast track? safeguard natural resources cut...

1© Learning ZoneXpress

© Learning ZoneXpress


Why Get on the Green Fast Track?

• Safeguard natural resources

• Cut expenses, cut waste

• Improve your health

• Feel good about your contribution


Get Up to Green Speed

• Search the Internet

• Check through books

• Browse magazine articles

• Ask a semi-expert


Can You Speak the Language?

• Sustainability – a way to live in harmony with the environment

• Global warming – activities that cause the earth to heat up

• Renewable resources – an effort to protect water, food, timber and energy to use again and again.

• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – a plan to create less daily waste


Flip a Switch to Save Energy

• Turn off lights, electronics and appliances

• Replace regular light bulbs with CFLs

• CFLs use ¼ energy, last 15 times longer

• Turn heat down a few degrees

• Use fans instead of air conditioning.


Get Out of Hot Water

• Take a quick shower instead of bath

• Wash your clothes in cold water

• Dishwasher uses less hot water than hand washing

• Brush teeth then rinse


Gauge Your GasOil is not a renewable resource

• Carpool with friends

• Public transportation is a bargain

• Hop on your bike

• Rediscover your feet


Solve the Plastic Problem

• 500 billion plastic bags are used each year

• Family of four uses 15 bags per grocery trip

• Plastic bags kill hundreds of thousands of marine animals

• Bags made with petroleum substances and toxic chemicals

SolutionShop with reusable cloth bags


Drink to Your Environment

• 40 million plastic bottles discarded each day

• Bottle throwaways eyesore and waste

• Bottled water costs 10,000 timesmore than tap

Solutions

• Recycle plastic bottles

• Tap into tap water

• Carry a reusable bottle


Save a Tree

• Paper takes up one-half of landfill space

• Millions of trees cut for mail, paper products

• $1 of a $10 purchase goes topackaging

Solutions

Recycle all paper

Pass on books and magazines

Use less packaging

Opt out of junk mail atwww.dmachoice.org/mps


Visit a Landfill

• Nearly 60% of trash buried

• 3,500 landfills in United States

• 200 million tons of solid waste per year

• Costs around $40 a ton to dispose of waste


Weigh Your Waste

• Average person creates 4-5 pounds of daily garbage

• Save all your trash today

• Include garbage at home, school, in public

• Weigh the total at end of day


Give Biodegradabilitya Break

• Organisms break down - biodegrade - products to return to the earth

• Some biodegrade quickly, some never

Use a biodegradableproduct today

How Fast Items Biodegrade

• Banana peel – 7 days

• Paper – 5 months

• Cotton clothing – 5 months

• Nylon – 40 years

• Aluminum cans – 100 years

• Disposable diapers – 500 years

• Plastic bottles - never


Rev Up to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

• Reduce trash by using less

• Reuse items for a longer life

• Recycle discards for new products

Plan to Manage Waste

Check your community for recycle locations


Eliminate E-Waste

• What: computers, TVs, cameras, phones, batteries, music players

• Why: contain toxins – lead, mercury, nickel

• How: recycle or safe disposal

• Where: tech stores, local centers, www.earth911.org


Give Grooming the Green Light

• Consumer uses more than 15 personal care products per day

• Less than 1% of care products get safety check

• Choose safer personal care products

• Look at ingredients. Chemicals? Organic?


Go Green in Your Closet

• Recycle clothes with donations and exchanges

• Benefits come with chemicals

• Consider natural fibers – organic cotton, hemp, bamboo and corn


Eat Something Green Today

• Organic – USDA Label

• Not genetically modified

• 95% pesticide free

• No hormones

• All Natural – Mostly a slogan – Claims include:

• No preservatives

• No artificial flavors

• No food coloring

Farmers’ Markets – Local produce

• Fresh, seasonal

• Check for organic label


Consider Safety-First Cleaning

• Toxins in cleaners can harm people, and the environment

- nausea - headaches - rashes

- eye irritation

- difficulty breathing

- liver, kidney problems - cancer

• Try new green, non-toxic cleaners

• Create natural cleaners with baking soda, vinegar, salt


How Green Is Your Building?

• Building supplies often contain toxic chemicals

• Building industry starting to turn green

• Organic materials, natural woods and fresh air ventilation offered

• Check out organic paints


Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

What’s a carbon footprint?

• The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions you use

• Calculate home, energy, travel, shopping, food

• Calculators on Internet

• Go carbon neutral –

• Offset CO2 usage with charitable donations


Turn Someone Green

• Share your discoveries

• Explain reduce, reuse, recycle plan

• Personal experiences can guide others

• A good review for you


Good Job –Good Beginning

• List your changes

• Weigh your waste again

• Are you recycling?

• Give yourself a green star for a great green start

• Keep on living green


What Will You Doin 21 Days?

• Journal about your transition to a green life. Each day write a quick note about what you did to support the environment and remember to use recycled paper.


Review Questions

1. How many plastic bags are used every year?500 million? 50 billion? 500 billion?

500 billion.

2. What can you do at the grocery store to reduce waste?

Bring reusable cloth shopping bags.

3. How can you save energy in your home?

Turn off lights and appliances when not in use.

4. How much garbage does the average person create each day?

Four to five pounds.


Review Questions

5. What slogan tells you how to cut down on all the garbage you create?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

6. What is the number one substance people throw away?

Paper.

7. What are two common household ingredients you could use to make natural cleaners?

Baking soda and vinegar.

8. Clothing manufacturers are making fashions out of what two unusual plants?

Bamboo and corn.


• Go Green Around Your Home Video/DVD

• Global Warming Poster

• What to Do with Used Clothing Poster

• The Mechanics of Organic Food PowerPoint

• Organic Food Poster

More on Environmentalism FromLearning ZoneXpress


ResourcesBooks

• Better Basics for the Home: Simple Solutions for Less Toxic Living – Annie Berthold-Bond

• Conscious Style Home, Eco-Friendly living for the 21st Century – Danny Seo

• Creating A Healthy Household – LynnMarie Bower

• Green This! – Deirdre Imus

• It’s Easy Being Green, a Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living – Crissy Trask

• Naturally Clean, The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe and Healthy Non-Toxic Cleaning – Jeffrey Hollender, Geoff Davis, Meika Hollender, Reed Doyle

• Organic Housekeeping – Ellen Sandbeck

• Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day” – Grist Magazine

Internet Sites

•www.epa.gov

•www.earth911.org

•www.idealbite.com

•www.greenlivingtips.com

•www.thegreenguide.com

1 © learning zonexpress. 2 why get on the green fast track? safeguard natural resources cut...

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