- How you can make a Difference -
- We don't inherit the Earth from our parents,
We barrow it from our children -
Below are some Ideas on how to make our planet a better place!
Get Active
Talk with your friends, your teachers and your parents. Ask Questions and 
find Answers
Get to be an expert! Know what you're talking about by finding out more. It's not much use trying to change something if you don't understand what it's all about!
Learning about the environment is very important. There are many good books that will help you learn. To get started, ask a teacher or a librarian for some suggestions. You also can look at the Links throughout this site to find other internet resources with information about the environment and climate change.
Get together with like-minded people to change lifestyles so that everyone uses much less fossil fuel energy. You could also write to your local politicians telling them that you're worried about climate change and why. Show what you and your friends are doing at home or at school.
And again talk with your family and friends, share your gifts and talents with others and let them know what you've learned about climate change.
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Turn the heating down in winter. If you're cold, wear more clothes! Turn the air conditioning down in summer or use a fan.
Heat and cool smartly, simple steps like cleaning air filters regularly and having your heating and cooling equipment tuned annually by a licensed contractor can save energy and increase comfort at home, and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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Do It Yourself Home Improvements
Sealing air leaks and adding more insulation to your home is a great do-it-yourself project.
The biggest leaks are usually found in the attic and basement.
Seal and insulate any ducts in attics and crawlspaces to improve the efficiency of your home. By taking these steps, you can eliminate drafts, keep your home more comfortable year round, save energy that would otherwise be wasted, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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Solar energy is free: see if you can get your parents and friends interested in free solar energy, that's energy from the sun. You can get much of your hot water and heating from the sun and even generate electricity. And it's exciting building all these things.
Change a light bulb, and you help change the world!!!
Replace the conventional bulbs in your most frequently used light fixtures with bulbs that have the ENERGY STAR 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 greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 10 million cars.
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find out more about Fluorescent Light Bulbs...........
Look for ENERGY STAR qualified 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 50 product categories, including lighting, home electronics, heating and cooling equipment and appliances...... Follow Orbie to
learn how to cut cost
with ENERGY STAR products
Use Renewable Fuels
Both E85 and biodiesel are renewable fuels that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from your vehicle. E85 is a fuel blend containing 85% ethanol that can be used in certain vehicles called Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFVs). FFVs can be fueled with E85 or with traditional gasoline. There are approximately 6 million FFVs on the road today.
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Get a Ride with Orbie to find the nearest Alternative Fueling Station
If you own a diesel vehicle, consider filling up with a biodiesel blend such as B5, a fuel blend containing 5% biodiesel. Biodiesel is a renewable fuel made from agricultural resources such as vegetable oils.
What's your Energy IQ? How Smart are you about Energy Consumption?
Click on Orbie to take the National Geographic Energy Quiz
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If your family has a car, get them to use it less. Walk to the shops. If you need to travel further than you can walk, ride a bike, use 
a bus, metro or train if you can.
Some people use less energy by carpooling. For example, .........four people can ride together instead of driving four cars to work.
.If you need to take a car,.get your parents to change their driving habits and their Car
Cars guzzle fuel, but they use much less if people drive them gently and keep below speed limits. Big SUVs make about six times their own weight in CO2 each year. A small efficient car covering the same distance not only uses much less fuel; it makes two thirds less CO2.
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Take a Ride with Orbie to learn about Factors that affect your Miles Per Gallon
Many factors affect the fuel economy of your car. To improve fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, go easy on the brakes and gas pedal, avoid hard accelerations, reduce time spent idling and unload unnecessary items in your trunk to reduce weight.
...................... Click on Orbie for more tips on saving money and improving your gas milage
.........Tune your ride
A well-maintained car is more fuel-efficient, produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions, is more reliable, and is safer! Keep your car well tuned, follow the manufacturer's maintenance schedule, and use the recommended grade of motor oil. Also check and replace your vehicle's air filter regularly.
........Check your Tires
Check your tire pressure regularly. Under-Inflation increases tire wear, reduces your fuel economy by up to 3% and leads to higher greenhouse gas emissions and releases of air pollutants. If you don't know the correct tire pressure for your vehicle, you can find it listed on the door to the glove compartment or on the driver's-side door.
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.....Remember your three Rs!
Reduce: the most important. If you don't buy so much stuff in the first place, then you don't need to reuse or recycle it.
Reuse: whatever you can (like plastic supermarket bags). If you can't reuse something,
Recycle!
Recycle cans, bottles, plastic bags, and newspapers. When you recycle, you send less trash to the landfill and you help save natural resources, like trees, oil, and elements such as aluminum.
Did you know that you can help the environment if you buy recyclable products instead of non-recyclable ones? Look for the recycle mark - three arrows that make a circle - on the package. Recyclable products are usually made out of things that already have been used. It usually takes less energy to make recycled products than to make new ones. The less energy we use, the better.
If there is a recycling program in your community, recycle your newspapers, beverage containers, paper and other goods. Use products in containers that can be recycled and items that can be repaired or reused. In addition, support recycling markets by buying products made from recycled materials. Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling in your home helps conserve energy and reduces pollution and greenhouse gases from resource extraction, manufacturing, and disposal.
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Leaving lights, heating, air conditioning, computers, TVs and stuff on when you don't need them wastes a lot of energy. Turning them off saves money too!
Many things, like computers, TVs, stereos, and VCRs, have special labels on
them. The label says "Energy" and has a picture of a star. Products with the ENERGY STAR label are made to save energy. Buying products with ENERGY STAR labels will help protect the environment.
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with ENERGY STAR products
.....Shut the Door!!! If it's warm in one room and cold in another
................................. The door helps keep the heat in.
Minimum standards for energy efficiency in new buildings were updated recently in a series of countries. Such measures can include requirements for walls and roofs that limit heat loss.
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Planting trees is a great way to reduce greenhouse gases. Planting trees and practicing sustainable forestry helps slow the growth of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the air.
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The value of forests for preventing global climate change and preserving the earth's biodiversity is long term and their rewards apply to everyone.
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What is your Carbon Footprint?
The world demands more energy each day. With supply increasingly being challenged by demand, it's time we all took action. Each of us needs to rethink what we're doing and how much we're using. The tools below will help us learn more about the impact we have on our planet and find ways to use less energy. Select the following Carbon / Ecological Footprint Calculators to learn more about how every person can make a difference.
The Energy Generator - The Energy Generator is a tool that demonstrates that energy saved is energy found. Developed with the Alliance to Save Energy, the Energy Generator suggests several easy ways one can save energy in his or her daily lives. The tool then converts that saved energy and expresses it in easily understood equivalents. For example, a movie lover could offset the amount of energy it takes to watch 26 DVDs by simply carpooling to work one day.
The Nature Conservancy's Carbon footprint calculator - Measure your impact on our climate. This carbon footprint calculator estimates how many tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases your choices create each year. This Carbon Calculator compares totals by State as well as World Average.
National Geographic - Preserve our Planet - For more than 120 years, National Geographic has been committed to preserving our planet. At this very moment, there are hundreds of National Geographic scientists and explorers around the globe making a difference in the conservation of the world’s extraordinary habitats and species. Together with them, explore and discover these threatened places and animals...because the more we all know about the world, the more we can do to help preserve it.
The Kids Ecological Footprint Quiz - Follow Bobbie Bigfoot as you measure your Ecological Footprint to view the amount of nature needed to support your choices.
Zerofootprint Kids Calculator - is a customizable tool to calculate your footprint in terms of land, water and carbon impacts. This calculator compares your results with countries' averages from around the world.
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