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Go Greeen in 2008!
Sydney Vergis Special to The Enterprise Published: December 23, 2007 The "Ecology Now!" movement of the 1970s called attention to declining natural resources and energy inefficiency by invoking the American flag with their iconic posters. This spirit has continued forward. In this era of global warming, melting snow caps, and habitat loss, state and local policy is starting to make a drastic shift toward exploring new ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage improvements in technology that could help shepherd us into a greener future. Meanwhile, the dearth of information that is available to the individual regarding reducing one's personal ecological footprint can be overwhelming. In the face of the approaching the energy-consuming winter months, I would like to offer a few "green" tips that have the potential to make a significant positive contribution toward slowing global warming. * Office climate "control": Climate un-control appears to be a widespread issue throughout American offices. Everyone complains about having to dress for work in layers every day of the year. Whether it's 110 degrees in the shade or cold and rainy, many offices are even colder inside with constant air conditioning blowing throughout the year. Individual space heaters, combating the frigid office environment, are a nauseatingly quintessential example of inefficiency. In my office, we were physically unable to control the office temperature ourselves. The solution: Take action by researching who makes the decisions for your office climate control system. My office temperature was set by a firm in Arizona. By maintaining communication with my new out-of-state friends, my co-workers and I were able to create a more energy-friendly (and comfortable!) office temperature. Bonus: Give your boss the gift of lower energy bills. * Plastic water bottles: Excluding transportation, the production of plastic water bottles uses 1.5 million barrels of oil per year. The solution: Our City Council has opted to end the purchase of bottled water for city events. Other than toting around a hefty Nalgene, what are the options for hydration? Reusable water bottles made out of corn! The Corntainer Corp. (www.corntainercorp.com) makes a reusable water bottle (filter included) that looks exactly like a plastic, disposable, water bottle. The main differences are that Corntainers are made out of cornstarch, compost within three months, and the chlorine filter can be reused up to 90 times. Bonus: Your compost worms will love it! * Clothing and landscaping options: In this era of cheap, disposable goods, how can we obtain the items we need for everyday living, in a conscientious way? The solution: Try domestically grown bamboo! Clothing, sheets, bike frames, garden stakes, construction material — bamboo is rapidly taking its place in the ecology forefront as a reasonably priced, sustainable material for everyday consumables. Additionally, using bamboo as a landscaping feature can act as a carbon sink and produces 35 percent more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees. Make sure to buy the local stuff (not shipped from China). Bonus: Even those with brown thumbs can quickly have their own bamboo stand in a corner of the back yard. * Reducing personal contribution to the waste stream: According to Javelin Strategy and Research, if everyone in the United States paid bills online, we'd take 1.6 billion tons of trash out of the existing waste stream per year. The solution: Pay bills online to reduce paper consumption from bill statements, checks and envelopes. Are you wary of automatic deductions from your checking account? Many banks are now offering integrated bill pay services that easily allow you to pay bills at your own discretion. Bonus: Save money on stamps. * Carbon offsetting: Information regarding buying carbon offsets and their actual impact on the environment is confusing at best. On-the-ground actions in the local community can have a tangible, real impact on not only carbon offsetting, but overall quality of life. The solution: Support your local tree organizations. Work with local groups such as TREE Davis (http://www.treedavis.org), the Davis Tree Commission and our urban forest manager to maintain those beautiful city trees in your front yard that provide cool shade, carbon absorption and aesthetic utility. E-mail the good people at info@treedavis.org to find out when the next local tree plantings will take place. Join in, reduce your carbon footprint and make Davis an even more enjoyable place to live. Small, but cumulatively significant, decisions can be made every day to move our community, nation and world toward a better future. During these colder months, and during each following season, let's continue to make season-specific changes to contribute to a "greener" Davis by making decisions that will reduce our personal carbon footprint. — Sydney Vergis is a member of the Davis Tree Commission. She holds bachelor's degrees in economics and environmental policy analysis and planning from UC Davis.
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