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With the problem of global warming worsening more people have shown their concern. Combating global warming, fortunately, has now become a priority. Means are being formulated to prevent this problem from developing. Now that people are more aware of the problem and believing that it is really happening. Individuals with a common goal form a group so it will be easier for them to act and inform other people of the problem with global warming. Even collaborations are made among organizations so more work can be done in a shorter period of time.

A lot has been done and more are being done as a contribution to the further prevention of global warning. One in particular is what California is doing. It has led the United States through its renewable energy policies in diminishing greenhouse gas emissions. They also have a law minimizing tailpipe emissions from vehicles. The move was commended by environmentalists as a step toward fighting global climate change. Another state is also doing its part. In Fairfax County, Virginia, Two new fire stations were partly built with recycled materials and made use of clean energy sources. Here, 90 hybrid vehicles are operational and five percent of its electricity coming from wind power are acquired by the county government. Thousands and thousands of acres of land were also purchased for conservation. They are also planning to replace, with less polluting vehicles, their fleet of 3,600 police, fire and other vehicles. The use of the county’s wind power will be doubled to 10 percent in five years. Hundreds of buildings including schools will be replaced or will be made into a more environmentally friendly place.

Global warming isn’t just the fault of big corporations. We as individuals have also contributed to the environments plight. Ecologically harmful products are being produced by these companies to meet our demands and needs. One way of helping is with knowledge. We have to know what those things are that may be harmful to the environment so we will stop using them. There are certain chemicals that we can a void like chlorine and phosphate. These are found in many laundry detergents and contributes to water pollution. Always keep air conditioners and refrigerators well maintained as they can leak toxic and very harmful materials. The use of recycled paper and products made from ecologically managed forest is very helpful. Recycling your trash, separating the cans, glass and papers can also be very important. The simple planting of trees in your property is not only to enhance the appearance of your place but trees help control carbon dioxides in the air, and dispose toxins in your soil.

The issue on global warming has been popularly debated over the years. This has even been a part of the school curriculum and subject to research by scholars. But despite it being a world wide concern and a popular dilemma to deal with, opinions or even facts refuting its authenticity has taken its toll.

Writers James Glassman and Alan Caruba spoke of the predicament that shaking the world with fear and the coming danger of Global warming has just become a put-up job. Caruba stated Dr. F. Singer made a statement that the scientific consensus regarding the climate change report is pure fiction. In fact since the 1940s, the supposed to be a 35-year long cooling trend did not actually have much warming that took place in the past 25 years, according to global data expressed through weather satellites. It was eventually discovered that information regarding the warmest times of the earth during the 20th century occurred in the last 100 years has been merely based by flawed publications.

Claims on these issues came from United Nation created organizations which are politically organized, weakening their claims on issues that truly matters. Facts may become exaggerated, creating information from engineered presentation making the general public believe other than what credible climatologists or meteorologists declare.

There isn’t a noted credible computer model which can genuinely predict the future phenomenon in shorter number of days. It explains the fact that hurricanes, tornadoes, or even super typhoons, are quite difficult to track. Other times blizzards and other catastrophes maybe quite unpredictable- they turn out much worse or a little better from projections and initial predictions. Reliance on such weak calculations on global warming may do more harm than good, giving the general public deceptive expectations. Nevertheless, it may appear just a mere prank.

According to Glassman on the other hand, the claim of certainty on things to come has practically become a hoax in itself. Not only is it dangerous bringing wrong impressions to people, but making the global warming theory as the basis for extreme policy mandates may create a global depression instead.

Facts may be presented regarding global environmental issues, but fallacies on information take place when extremists steal the limelight. It may not be wrong to be responsible or to take in mind possible occurrences in the future but creating a massive panic on how things will become is beyond reproach.

pimg height=183 src=http://l.yimg.com/a/feeds/us/grn/green_ecogeek/incandescent.jpg width=468 //ppWith all the new developments in a href=http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2683/74/CFL/a, a href=http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2520/74/LED/a and a href=http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2045/74/HID/a technology and the fact that a href=http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2212/74/countries are lining up to ban them/a, it’s seemed certain that incandescents are on a death march. But wait! What if traditional bulbs could be made just as efficient as CFLs and keep their cheap price tag?/ppThat’s what scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered is possible and, yes, it involves lasers. A team of researchers have come up with a process that makes a 100-watt bulb consume less energy than a 60-watt bulb by creating nano- and micro-scale structures on the tungsten filament. The structures make the tungsten more effective at radiating light and the bulb much more efficient./ppThe structures are made on the filament by an ultra-intense femto-second laser pulse that lasts only quadrillionths of a second. The power of that minute burst of laser is equivalent to the entire grid of North America, yet the laser can be powered by a wall outlet, meaning implementing these lasers into manufacturing should be a simple task./ppThe process can be used not only to make the light brighter, but to also change the hue of the light by manipulating those nano-structures. If this process is commercialized, all those who want the efficiency of CFLs, but hate the color and price could finally have their perfect bulb.br /br /
via a href=http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3385University of Rochester/a/p

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The sudden abnormal change of climate is keeping the attention of the media and even the political grounds at a constant pace. This phenomenon called global warming is described as the sudden increase above the average temperature of the planet’s surface air. But there have been some glitches in the studies leading to the Kyoto Protocol, which in turn, created the idea of the global warming fraud.

Generally, the global warming has ill effects to the balance of nature like the sudden increase of sea level, extreme harshness of weather situations and may even affect the amount and pattern of rainfall. These abnormal complications in nature may lead to the extinction of the species and gradual glacier melting. But the misrepresented facts behind the growing global warming fraud has doubled because of the vague scientific definitions about the precise degree of the climate change that may pose threat in the future and how these changes will differ from every region in the globe. There has been an ongoing exchange of arguments in the political and public arena about the precise measures and actions to be taken to counter act the or in any way reverse the future global warming. While some scholars propose to simply deal and adapt to the consequences of the phenomenon, the governments from different countries have bonded and signed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. This all the more created the malice behind global warming fraud because the war against the radical green has put into light the little attention the present environmentalist efforts actually contribute to the welfare of the environment itself. This simply concludes that the hysteria about the global warming effect is purely a political movement pushed by those who have self-seeking motives to manipulate the economic control of the world, to influence development and seek redistribution of the world’s wealth in general.

Global warming fraud is an example of an organized assault to the American people and the US economy. School for example have started to teach students about recycling; freon were stopped from manufacturing; the benefits of pesticides and similar stuff that keeps us safe from healthy are in the brink of being eliminated from the market. In general, everyone is being pressured to stick together in a single mold all because of one politicized lie that blinds us from the truth.

The case of global warming fraud over the issue becomes more apparent as scientists fail to provide concrete evidence that the world is truly warming up higher than the average temperature. In fact, a research conducted through the US satellites and the same balloon measurements has revealed that the temperature is actually cooling slightly and according to the pacing of Mother Nature.

pThere’s no single answer to the fuel of the future, at least certainly not at this time. Part of the solution lies in reclaiming waste streams that now mostly end up in landfills. Some of these — like diapers — we don’t even want to think about, but it’s about time we did. And scientists are on the case, given the strange-but-true examples cited here./ppa href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/cellulosic-ethanol-47020701Cellulosic ethanol/a (made from sugar cane, wood waste or sweet sorghum) is probably the wave of the future, but here are some other ways we can — and probably will — make fuel from bio-materials./pp /ph2The really fast chocolate car/h2div class=image style=float:left;padding-right:8px;img alt=chocolate bio-racer height=175 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/daily_green_driving/daily_green_driving-865607790-1244570258.jpg?ymSaDZBDkfJFgjFl width=300/br /em(Photo: Courtesy of University of Warwick)/embr /br //divpIs it possible to run a car on chocolate? Well, maybe not wholly on chocolate. /ppYour Hershey bar won’t get you home in an emergency, but a team from the University of Warwick in Britain a href=http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/an-eco-racecar-that-runs-on-chocolate/has built and is track-testing a Formula 3 race car/a, running on 30% biodiesel derived from chocolate waste. /ppThat’s not all; the steering wheel is partly made of carrots, and the mirrors and aerodynamic front wing are formed with potato starch and flax fiber./ppAccording to James Meredith, who heads the project at Warwick, Anything with a fat in it can be turned into diesel, and that’s what we’ve managed to do. The chocolate is waste from bad batches at Cadbury’s in nearby Birmingham. The researchers have managed to keep their fingers out of the chocolate vats. It’s waste, so I assume it’s no good to eat, Meredith said./pp /pp /ph2The coffee grounds car/h2div class=image style=float:right;padding-left:8px;img alt=coffee grounds height=212 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/daily_green_driving/daily_green_driving-295690305-1244570258.jpg?ymSaDZBDnyV3A_ts width=300/br /em(Photo: Raychel Deppe / iStockPhoto)/embr /br //divpCoffee grinds are an unwanted waste product that fills up landfills and takes a long time to biodegrade. In Europe, however, household food scraps are considered a fuel source. /ppIn Germany and Switzerland, for example, a company collects and then ferments those scraps, producing both a natural gas fuel and compost. So could we actually power cars on biodiesel from coffee grounds? It’s a distinct possibility./ppYou know how coffee can sometimes look (and taste) slightly oily? That’s because it contains 10 to 15% of usable oil that can be refined into a biofuel. A study says a href=http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/01/20/coffee-biofuel.htmlused cappuccino scraps can offset our imported oil/a — as much as 340 million gallons a year from the world’s 15 billion pounds of annual coffee production. /ppIt’s a simple two-step process, says Susanta Mohapatra, a University of Nevada, Reno, researcher who is a co-author of the study. Her team raided Starbucks to find the feedstock for the coffee fuel. We can definitely make a big impact on our environment with fuel made out of nature, she said./pp /pp /ph2The used diaper potential /h2pIt was bad enough when scientists figured out how to reclaim paper pulp from used disposable diapers, but they’re also saying they can make diesel fuel from them using a pyrolysis process. /ppA Canadian company called AMEC a href=http://www.thestar.com/article/271380is in the process of building a pilot plant in Quebec/a that will process the plastics, resins, fibers, and poop into a predictable mix of gas, oil, and char. /ppNow adult waste would work just as well, but we don’t collect it in handy sealed containers as we do baby waste. The great advantage, says AMEC, is that the raw material is not contaminated with anything else — it’s a rich, if aromatic, source of fuel. /ppThe company hopes to take in 180 million diapers a year — a quarter of Quebec’s output — to produce 11 million liters of diesel. Considering that diapers can take 100 years to decompose in a landfill, turning them into domestically produced fuel seems a good alternative./pp /pp /ph2Sawdust, wood chips, nuts?/h2div class=image style=float:right;padding-left:8px;img alt=sawdust height=235 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/daily_green_driving/daily_green_driving-435105567-1244570259.jpg?ymTaDZBDFDISEGeT width=300/br /em(Photo: Max Blain / iStockPhoto)/embr /br //divpYes, we will soon be able to make gasoline — and diesel and jet fuel, too — a href=http://asiacleantech.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/japan-makes-biodiesel-fuel-from-grass-wood-chips/from everything from wood chips and sawdust to switchgrass/a. /ppCompanies around the country are doing this on an experimental basis, using a variety of methods, but the embryonic technology got a huge boost when the Obama administration a href=http://www.ngfa.org/print_this_article.cfm?story_id=http://www.ngfa.org/cache/story_40F817F4C646CA5B0760D7619F514936.htmlrevised the biofuel standards earlier this month/a to include a billion gallons of diesel fuel from biomass by 2022./ppBiomass gasoline won’t be much, if any, cleaner out of the tailpipe than current fuel, but when the lifecycle carbon reductions from growing the feedstock is taken into account, it’s a big winner./ppa href=http://www.allpowerlabs.org/ target=_blankAll Power Labs/a in Berkeley, California, is competing for the illustrious a href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/automotive-x-prize-contestants-461208Auto X Prize/a with a car that runs on wood chips. Specifically, we’re making carbon-negative, open-source fuel from basically garbage, says team member Tom Price. /ppThe process itself isn’t new: During World War II, when gasoline was unobtainable in Europe, there were more than a million cars using gasification technology — turning coal and wood chips into gas for internal-combustion engines. /ppPrice envisions using waste walnut shells, which normally release the potent greenhouse gas methane. We can crack the hydrogen out to run an Accord, Price says, then put the leftovers on the ground to grow more walnuts, which suck more CO2 out of the atmosphere, and the cycle continues./pp /pp /ph2Styrofoam cups in your tank?/h2div class=image style=float:left;padding-right:8px;img alt=styrofoam cup height=300 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/daily_green_driving/daily_green_driving-429054399-1244570259.jpg?ymTaDZBDCF7gWT6q width=203/br /em(Photo: Ochelly)/embr /br //divpAccording to Robert Malloy of the University of Massachusetts, a href=http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17066-plastic-cups-could-boost-auto-performance.html target=_blankused polystyrene coffee cups will make a great fuel component/a. Polystyrene (used to make disposable foam plates and cups) is very lightweight but also bulky, so it’s difficult and expensive to send out for recycling. /ppBut it could make a very effective fuel additive, a href=http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ef801110j target=_blanksays an Iowa State study last April/a. This study demonstrated that polystyrene-biodiesel blends could be successfully used in diesel engines with minor modifications to the fuel system and appropriate adjustments to engine operating conditions./ppAccording to Song-Charng Kong, a co-author of the Iowa study, polystyrene melts quickly in biodiesel, and fuel that is as much as five percent coffee cups does quite well. /ppAt higher concentrations (they tried up to 20%) it gets too thick. Right now emissions are a problem, but they’re working on it./pp /pp /ph2Turkeys: Lots of guts, plenty of glory/h2div class=image style=float:right;padding-left:8px;img alt=turkey height=300 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/daily_green_driving/daily_green_driving-245716730-1244570259.jpg?ymTaDZBDCSkOKB.k width=250/br /em(Photo: John Cairns / iStockPhoto)/embr /br //divpAmericans consume an estimated 45 million turkeys on Thanksgiving, raising the impolite question: What happens to all the turkey guts? /ppA bunch of entrepreneurs in Carthage, Missouri, not only asked that question, they answered it, too, by a href=http://www.emagazine.com/view/?2921opening a plant that could process turkey waste/a (including feathers, using up everything but the gobble) into a fuel oil that could be processed into diesel, gasoline, or jet fuel. /ppThe process, known as thermo-depolymerization (TDP), is well known, and it works, The turkeys’ private parts break down under very high heat and pressure, yielding natural gas, fuel oil and minerals. The company says it could also produce light crude from hog and chicken waste — or onion byproducts and Parmesan cheese rinds, for that matter./ppThe big problem, however, is that the plant stinks, and it’s close to a residential area, prompting withering complaints. The company, Changing World Technologies, may seek greener pastures./pp /pp /ph2Cow power: High-octane gas/h2div class=image style=float:left;padding-right:8px;img alt=cow height=225 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/daily_green_driving/daily_green_driving-258042391-1244570258.jpg?ymTaDZBDmEaDKbLH width=300/br /em(Photo: Gloria Dawson / The Daily Green)/embr /br //divpWow, according to the United Nations, the livestock industry (including the growing of all the cattle feed, the transportation to market, and energy for factory-farm operations) is responsible for 18% of global warming emissions — more than transportation worldwide./ppAnd it will get worse: Current projections show meat production more than doubling to 469 million tons in 2050. /ppOne of the main culprits is methane, a global warming gas that is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The world has 1.5 billion cows, and they produce methane out of both ends (belching more than flatulence). An estimated two thirds of the planet’s ammonia comes from cows, too. In New Zealand, livestock accounts for 34% of greenhouse gas emissions./ppPartly because they’re eating grain instead of the grass nature intended, cows can produce 50 to 130 gallons of methane every day. Suppose we could use that as a fuel, since methane burns very well. Eureka! /ppDairy farms such as Blue Spruce Farm in Vermont a href=http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3510src=are putting their cow waste in anaerobic (no oxygen) digesters for three weeks/a, producing methane, and then burning it in generators to produce electricity. This cow power is being sold to a nearby college, and it can also be fed back into the grid. The process also generates useful fertilizer./pbr /pstrongMore from The Daily Green/strong/pullia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/micro-cars-mpg-460409?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdgThe Hottest New Cars Prove Small Is Beautiful/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/fuel-efficient-cars-47102201?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdgThe 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars of 2009/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/save-gas-47031702?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdg10 Simple Ways to Save Gas/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/electric-bikes-460209?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdgElectric Bikes: The Fun, Green Way to Get Around/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/recycling-symbols-plastics-460321?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdgWhat Do Recycling Symbols Mean?/a/li/ulpemReprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc/em/p

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pemRocky Mountain Institute (RMI) has been advocating the entry of fuel-efficient cars
into the market for years, for security and economic reasons as well as
environmental. On May 19, 2009, President Obama announced a historic agreement
to help America break its addiction to oil. The centerpiece of that
announcement was a a href=http://green.yahoo.com/blog/daily_green_news/68/obama-accelerates-car-efficiency-and-emission-standards.htmlnew 35.5-mpg CAFE standard for 2016/a. This is a pivotal time
to envision innovative transportation solutions as we work to rebuild the
domestic auto industry./em/pbr /div class=image style=float: right; padding-left: 8pxpimg alt=Toyota height=200 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/amorylovins/amorylovins-986794886-1244762577.jpg?ymRXyZBD6E7VUSec width=359 /br /emThe Toyota 1/X: A prototype for a highly efficient,br /lightweight hybrid vehicle. (Photo: Toyota)/embr /br //p/divpOne of the barriers to American adoption of fuel-efficient vehicles is the
common-yet-misleading line of logic that fuel efficiency equates to smaller,
less safe cars. /ppThis misperception is often fed by the media headlines, including an April 14, 2009, emNew York Times/em story, Study Says Small-Car Buyers Sacrifice Safety for Economy and a May 22, 2009, Wall Street Journal piece, titled Light Cars Are Dangerous Cars./ppYet the relationship is not that simple. What is left out of this quick-and-easy
debate is the role of engineering design. Sure, based purely upon a typical
vehicle’s design, geometry, and occupant position, it’s true that larger — but
not necessarily emheavier/em — vehicles can offer considerable safety advantages to passengers within./ppRocky Mountain Institute’s survey of
existing studies indicates that lightweight vehicles can be as safe, or even
safer than, the cars on the road today through the use of stronger, lighter
materials when engineering design is focused on crash safety. Additionally,
lightweight cars have great advantages when it comes to fuel-efficiency. /ppDesigning for passive safety on par
with current NHTSA five-star ratings demands not only using lightweight
materials, but also new vehicle geometries and components that can act as
energy-absorbing crumple zones. Indeed, a lighter vehicle can achieve the
performance of a conventionally designed vehicle, but because it can do so with
a smaller engine, there is more room in the engine compartment for crush space and,
ultimately, a better crumple zone design. /ppThere is another aspect of safety
to consider: the safety of the people emoutside/em
the car. A lightweight vehicle will be less emaggressive/em
(less likely to injure the occupants of another vehicle, bicyclists, or
pedestrians during a collision). For objects moving at a given speed, less mass
reduces the energy that an object brings into a collision. Thus, a lightweight
fleet (traveling at the same speeds) can statistically reduce the overall
number of traffic deaths compared to a conventional (heavy) fleet./ppRMI continues to encourage manufacturers to
design and build efficient, lightweight cars — and to support legislation that helps focus
our automakers on priorities that benefit us as a society.a href=#ftn1[1]/a We
hate to see the benefit that comes from fuel efficiency thwarted by
misconceptions about safety trade-offs. Both fuel efficiency and safety can be
achieved, and both are good for the health of the country in more ways than just
safety on the road. /ppRMI continues to do more research
on this topic and is seeking partners to work with. Preliminary results of a
recent RMI study are expected to be released in July. For additional information, please visit a href=http://www.rmi.org/www.rmi.org/a. /pbr /pemThe
authors are all employees of Rocky Mountain Institute, where Mike Simpson is a
transportation analyst, Kristine Chan-Lizardo is Interim Director of the
Mobility and Vehicle Efficiency Team (MOVE), Cory Lowe is a public relations
manager, and Cameron M. Burns is Senior Editor./em/pbr clear=all /hr align=left size=1 width=33% /pa name=ftn1 title=ftn1/a[1] As part of
our research on vehicle lightweighting, RMI reviewed all the existing studies
and commentary about the relationship between size, safety, and weight,
including reports published by the National Academy of Sciences and the
National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, and the Insurance Institute
for Highway Safety (IIHS). Many reports link size and weight as being
responsible for safety reductions, while the most recent studies separate the
two, and find size alone to blame. /ppIn a
January 2007 article, IIHS stated a way to improve fuel economy and maintain
vehicle crashworthiness is to use lighter materials that reduce vehicle weight
but not size. IIHS also noted … some weight reduction, especially among very
heavy vehicles, could improve total safety by lowering the risk to other people
on the road./ppThe fact is that today, there are not many examples of
vehicles that have been designed to be both lightweight and large. This is changing as
overseas automakers, and hopefully our domestic automakers as well, explore
designs and materials that areem both/em fuel-efficient and safe. /p

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div class=image style=float: left; padding-right: 8pximg alt=Bike rider / iStockPhoto height=200 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/greenpicks__1/greenpicks-291683670-1236441866.jpg?ymL8C6ADj8lVNmxR width=300 //divpThousands of bike riders are shedding their clothes throughout the a href=http://wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/index.php?title=Category:Northern_hemisphere_ride_locationsNorthern Hemisphere/a on June 13, 2009. Their goal is to get us all to stop and think about the negative effects
that cars (and the pollution they create) have on people and the
planet. /ppThe list of cities participating in a href=http://wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/index.php?title=Main_PageWorld Naked Bike Ride/a is long: New
York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, London, Mexico City, and
many more. This year’s event officially kicked off on March 7 in the a href=http://wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/index.php?title=Category:Southern_hemisphere_ride_locationsSouthern Hemisphere/a./ppIt’s certainly a powerful way to make a point,
but what does it feel like to ride nude? According to past riders:Just like it does with clothes, but a bit cooler. And, apparently,
it’s not any more uncomfortable than riding with clothes on. See more a href=http://wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/index.php?title=Frequently_asked_questions#What_does_it_feel_like_to_ride_nude.3Fanswers/a to other popular questions./ppOne
big question, though, is whether it’s legal. The answer: In most places
riding your bike naked is against the law. However, only one arrest has ever
been made at one of these events (in 2005, the year of the first naked bike ride).
Some bikers use body paint and other creative ideas to cover up, and
others choose to ride with a minimal amount of clothing./ppAnything goes, even the choice of wheels (within reason). The a href=http://wiki.worldnakedbikeride.org/index.php?title=Endorsementsorganizers/a
say any alternative body-powered transportation is welcome:
skateboards, rollerskates, and more. In fact, several events have had
people riding on unicycles, chopper bikes, and rickshaws./ppWant
to embrace the message of alternative forms of transportation and fuel,
but aren’t up for something as wacky as taking your clothes off in
public?/pullia href=http://www.bikeroute.com/CarFree.phpBike/a (with your clothes on, of course) or walk instead of driving whenever you can. Find out how a href=http://www.walkscore.com/walkable/a your town is./li/ulpWhile the organizers of the protest want to promote a href=http://www.wikihow.com/Live-Without-a-Carlife without cars/a (and likely wouldn’t approve of any suggestions that involve the use of oil), anything you can do to a href=http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/89/buddy-up-in-the-car.htmlcut back on driving/a will help the planet. Some suggestions:/pulliTake the bus, subway, or train. Find out about nearby a href=http://www.publictransportation.org/public transportation/a options and calculate potential money savings./liliCarpool when you can. Use the Internet to connect with potential car-mates. Start with a href=http://zimride.com/home.phpZimRide/a, a href=http://www.goloco.org/greetings/guestGoLoco/a, Facebook, or find links to regional options at this a href=http://www.rideshare-directory.com/rideshare/a directory./liliEven just bundling your errands instead of making separate trips to the store or even shopping online can help. /li/ulpOr how about this? Next time you grab your car keys, picture thousands of naked bikers, and ask yourself if there’s an a href=http://green.yahoo.com/living-green/commuting.htmlalternative/a./p

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div class=image style=float:right;padding-left:8px;img alt=airplane height=300 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/daily_green_news/daily_green_news-912261259-1244674784.jpg?ymh7cZBDfP63uvbh width=230//divpFlying the friendly skies has never been particularly earth-friendly, although new a href=http://www.greenopia.com/USA/airline_search.aspx?category=AirlineListpage=0input=Name%20or%20productsubcategory=None target=_blankairline rankings from Greenopia/a help make a step in a greener direction. /ppWith some estimates showing air travel to account for 11% of greenhouse gas emissions, some say that true greenies worth their salt will either abstain or limit using this mode of transportation as much as possible. /ppHowever, for those of us that simply must fly for either business or the occasional pleasure trip, there’s Greenopia’s newly released guide, which ranks the top 10 commercial airlines operating domestic flights across America according to their efforts to reduce environmental harm. /ppAccording to the guide, strongVirgin/strong, strongContinental/strong, and strongHorizon/strong are the top three airlines making an effort to reduce their drag on the earth. Both Virgin and Continental have fairly new fleets, which tend to be more fuel-efficient, and have completed flights using biofuels. They also offer carbon-offset services, and Virgin even serves fair-trade coffee./ppYou may not have heard of Horizon, but maybe you should. It has one of the most comprehensive recycling programs in the industry and incorporates some green business design in its offices. Popular airlines a href=http://www.greenopia.com/USA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=7input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankDelta/a and a href=http://www.greenopia.com/USA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=8input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankAmerican/a came in at seventh and eighth respectively, largely due to their older, less fuel-efficient fleets./ppThe rankings were calculated using an extensive list of criteria including fleet age, fuel consumption practices, carbon offsets, green building design, recycling programs, and organic, local, and sustainable food items available on flights. /ppIt’s a dilemma, says Greenopia founder and CEO Gay Browne. People are going to travel. Whatever method they chose will impact the planet. Our readers want to know how to get to their destination with the smallest environmental footprint, especially if they are boarding a jumbo jet. We appreciate those airlines like Virgin and Continental that are taking great strides to green their passenger miles./ppCheck out a href=http://www.greenopia.com/USA/airline_search.aspx?category=AirlineListpage=0input=Name%20or%20productsubcategory=None target=_blankGreenopia’s complete airline listings/a. The top 10 are below:/pullia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=1input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankVirgin America/a/lilia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=2input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankContinental/a/lilia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=3input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankHorizon/a/lilia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=4input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankJetBlue/a/lilia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=5input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankSouthwest/a/lilia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=6input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankNorthwest/a/lilia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=7input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankDelta/a/lilia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=8input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankAmerican/a/lilia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=9input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankUnited/a/lilia href=http://www.greenopia.com/LA/airline_listing.aspx?ID=10input=Name+or+productListpage=0 target=_blankUS Airways/a/li/ulpemThe Daily Green’s Community News section is a forum for our audience to get the word out about issues that matter to them, enlist support, get help and advice, celebrate successes or share humor. The best submissions are personal (why I started this venture) short and to the point (400 words or so) and written in a style that speaks directly to the audience as peers (not like an ad or press release). Email submissions to a href=mailto:news@thedailygreen.comnews@thedailygreen.com/a and include community news in the subject line. Photos are also welcome, provided the submitter has rights to publish the image. Be sure to include credit and caption information./em/ppemSubmissions to The Daily Green are subject to our a href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/privacy target=_newPrivacy and Terms of Use policies/a./em/ppstrongMore from The Daily Green/strong/pullia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/endangered-vacations-47060902?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdg10 Endangered Vacations/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/greenest-oil-companies-460409?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdgRanking the 10 Greenest Oil Companies/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/electric-bikes-460209?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdgCool Electric Bikes/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/natural-swimming-pools-460908?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdg23 Gorgeous Natural Swimming Pools/a/lilia href=http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/fuel-efficient-cars-47102201?link=reldom=yah_greensrc=syncon=artmag=tdgThe 10 Most Fuel-Efficient Cars of 2009/a/li/ulpReprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc/p

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pimg height=183 src=http://l.yimg.com/a/feeds/us/grn/green_ecogeek/windhighway.gif width=468 //ppThere is a lot of potential energy to be gathered from the high plains of the upper Midwest United States. A look at the United States Department of Energy’s a href=http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/wind_maps.asp50-Meter Wind Resource Map/a shows much of the Dakotas and Nebraska to have desirable wind power resource potential. Big ranches and open land areas offer lots of wind power potential, but there is far less demand for it there than there is in load centers like Minneapolis and Chicago, further to the east./ppJust as with offshore power, the question of power generation is only one of the problems that needs to be addressed. Getting the power from where it is generated to where it is needed is also part of making the new system useful. To this end, a new network of extra high-voltage (765 kV) transmission lines, called the a href=http://www.thegreenpowerexpress.com/index.phpGreen Power Express/a is under development. It will cross portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois with 3000 miles of transmission lines to be able to provide 12,000 megawatts of power from new wind farms in the high wind areas of the upper Midwest./ppThe infrastructure to get the power from where it can be harnessed to where it is needed is part of the current administration’s energy policy./pblockquoteThe Green Power Express is consistent with the vision outlined by President Obama in his national energy agenda. President Obama specifically mentioned his desire to get wind power from North Dakota to population centers, like Chicago. The Green Power Express will allow this goal to be met./blockquotepDevelopment of wind power in this region needs both the wind farms which will harvest the wind to produce electricity and the grid infrastructure to be able to bring the power to the load centers where it is needed./ppThis is still a project very much in progress, and development and construction are going to take years before this system comes on line. The Green Power Express won’t be completed until 2020 (at the earliest), depending on regulatory processes and approvals and construction timetables. But, once it is connected and in place, this grid segment and the associated wind farms will be able to provide enough power from clean sources to replace seven to nine 600 MW coal plants or nine to eleven million automobiles, with a corresponding reduction of 34 million metric tons of carbon emissions./ppvia: a href=http://nawindpower.comNorth American Windpower/a/p

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div class=image style=float:right;padding-left:8px;img alt=Ceiling Fan / iStockPhoto height=200 src=http://a323.yahoofs.com/ymg/the_conscious_consumer/the_conscious_consumer-881393139-1244676205.jpg?ymtRdZBDPwiNOLDH width=300//divpIt’s true that rising temperatures often translate into higher energy bills. But, you don’t have to break the bank to stay cool this summer. There are plenty of easy things you can do to keep your energy costs down without sacrificing your comfort. /ppHere are some ideas to get you started:/pbr /h2Choose the right size room air-conditioning unit/h2pHow much cooling capacity you’ll need (measured in British thermal units, or BTUs, per minute) is determined by the square footage you’re looking to cool. Bigger is not necessarily better. /ppIf a unit is too big for the room it’s trying to cool, it won’t perform as efficiently (and cost more money to run) as one that’s just the right size for the space. You’ll also sacrifice comfort since an oversized unit will cool a room quickly, but leave behind some of the humidity. The result: Cool, but clammy air./ppHere are links for more info on: a href=http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=roomac.pr_properly_sizedFiguring out what size unit you need/a, a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12420installing and maintaining/a room air-conditioners to maximize your savings, and a href=http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=roomac.pr_room_acbuying efficient models/a. /ppOne quick tip: Don’t place lamps or televisions near your unit. Why not? Your thermostat will sense heat from the appliances and run longer than it needs to./pbr /h2Control your thermostat/h2pa href=http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/14/how-to-program-your-thermostat.htmlSet it at 78 degrees/a when you’re at home and raise it even higher when you’re out or sleeping. The Department of Energy gives this basic guideline: The smaller the difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be. /pbr /h2Use fans/h2pFans create a wind chill effect, which makes you feel cooler. a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12355Ceiling fans/a are particularly effective. They circulate the air in the room to create a draft and can help you save money even if you use air-conditioning. You can raise your thermostat by about 4 degrees without reducing your comfort level if you use a ceiling fan, according to the DOE./ppA few simple rules of thumb: Turn off fans when you leave the room because they’re cooling you and not the room. If you own a ceiling fan, set it to a href=http://www.ehow.com/how_2140488_set-ceiling-fan-direction-summer.htmlrun counter-clockwise in the summer/a so it will direct air downward and create a breeze. If you are shopping for one, buy an a href=http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=ceiling_fans.pr_ceiling_fansenergy-efficient model/a./pbr /h2Close your curtains during the hottest part of the day/h2pThere are many different kinds of a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/windows_doors_skylights/index.cfm/mytopic=13500window treatments/a you can use to reduce solar heat gain in the summer. a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/windows_doors_skylights/index.cfm/mytopic=13510Window awnings/a, for example, can reduce heat gain by up to 65% for south facing windows, and even more for those facing west. /ppIf you live in a climate where it cools at night, turn off your AC a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12354and open the windows/a while you’re sleeping to let the cool air in. /pbr /h2Use heat-generating appliances sparingly/h2pAvoid using the oven on hot days — use the microwave, cook on the stove, or grill outside.
Close your lights during the day. Air-dry your laundry. a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/space_heating_cooling/index.cfm/mytopic=12353Get more tips on avoiding heat build-up/a in your home./pbr /h2Keep the cold air inside/h2pUse a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11270caulk/a, spray foam, and/or a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11280weatherstripping/a to stop the air you’re paying to cool from seeping out. Learn how to a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11250find leaks/a. /ppFeeling slightly more ambitious? You’ll get a lot of bang for your buck if you a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11350add insulation/a to your home. Start with your a href=http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/insulation_airsealing/index.cfm/mytopic=11390attic/a./pbr /pemEnvironmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green’s users. Send Lori a a href=http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/green/forms/consciousconsumerblog.htmlquestion or suggestion/a for potential use in a future column. Her book,/em Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life emis available on a href=http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Green%2C%20Greener%2C%20Greenest%3A%20A%20Practical%20Guide%20to%20Making%20Eco-Smart%20Choices%20a%20Part%20of%20Your%20Life:3005209514;_ylt=AsLkIJyzfMD4G3Gl2OYYt_gbFt0A?clink=dmps/lori_bongiorno/ctx=mid:1,pid:3005209514,pdid:1,pos:1,spc:14489115,date:20081009,srch:kw,x:Yahoo! Shopping/a and a href=http://www.amazon.com/Green-Greener-Greenest-Practical-Eco-Smart/dp/0399534032/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1228865081sr=8-1Amazon.com/a./em/p

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