Redwood City Cool Campaign - Recently Updated Pages

Challenge: Fly Less

BethRWC — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:26:40 CDT

If you fly frequently, the miles add up quickly. Buying a new gas-electric hybrid car may reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 6,431 pounds a year, but making just one round-trip flight from New York to San Francisco will wipe those savings away. Flying is different from driving, though. We don't expect you to go out and buy yourself a fuel-efficient plane anytime soon.

What You Should Know

The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently suggested that, at high altitudes, aerosols in jet engine exhaust deplete ozone in the stratosphere, and thus warm the Earth at two to four times the rate of ground-level CO2.
Each year 679 million Americans fly a total of 79 billion miles--that's 120 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted each year.
In 2007, a record-breaking 25.8 million passengers rode Amtrak, our nation's interstate railway company, and the numbers keep growing.
If 100,000 people took the high-speed Acela train from New York to Boston instead of flying, they would collectively prevent 7 million pounds of CO2 from being emitted.

Easy Things You Can Do

Catch a Greyhound instead. Try to plan your travels ahead so that you can give yourself time to take a bus--the cheapest and least polluting way to travel long distances. Almost all today's intercity buses have reclining seats and show movies while you ride. Check out Greyhound, the nation's largest interstate bus line, to see if you can make your next trip by bus.

Take the train instead. Faster than the bus and at least twice as energy-efficient as plane travel, intercity trains are becoming more and more popular. With spacious sleeper cars and sit-down dining cars, traveling by train is romantic and affordable, even if it does take a bit longer. Check out Amtrak's routes when planning your next trip.

Ride the fast train. Bullet or high-speed trains have been zipping across Europe and Japan at speeds of 200 miles per hour for the last decade. Currently, the only operational high-speed rail line in the U.S. is the Acela, which runs between Boston, New York, and Washington. But be informed: The California High Speed Rail Authority is currently studying a San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento to Los Angeles and San Diego line! See a cool video about their plan. Or read a recent LA Times (April 2007) article about how this exciting plan is facing new obstacles from our "green" Governor.

Consider driving. If time permits and you have more than three people in the car with you, go for the long haul and drive. You'll emit less carbon dioxide than you would by flying, no matter how long or short your flight is. And you'll have more flexibility once you get to your destination. If four people ride in the car, it's typically less polluting than taking a train, but if three people are in the car, it's better to take the train. Also, do some math and see if renting a car that gets excellent fuel efficiency (such as a gas-electric hybrid) would be cheaper than taking your own car.

If you must fly...buy carbon offsets to compensate for the global warming emissions your flight will cause. This is a growing trend and many airlines--particularly European ones such as British Airways and SAS, who got into the game early--are eager to help customers ease their consciences about flying by offering offset services. If you're planning a flight, check with your airline for carbon offset affiliations they may offer. Read more about legitimate, verifiable offset programs for plan travel here.

Challenge: Buy A More Fuel Efficient Car

BethRWC — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:23:20 CDT

Perhaps the single most important thing you can do to fight global warming is to replace your current car with a fuel-efficient one. Obviously, not everyone has the money to buy a new car this year. But when you do, we want you to remember this challenge. Why? Because buying a gasoline-powered car that gets excellent fuel efficiency or, better yet, an alternative-fuel car that runs on a renewable fuel does more than help prevent global warming and save you gas money. It also lessens our dependence on foreign oil imports, reduces air pollution and smog; reduces the chances of oil spills; and, perhaps most important, sends a message to car manufacturers that Americans want cars that don't harm the environment.

What You Should Know

Because trucks are traditionally heavier and bigger than passenger cars, they do not have to meet fuel-efficiency standards as strict as those of lighter passenger cars. Unfortunately, SUV's are classified as light-duty trucks (even though they are now being used as passenger cars), which is why our government allows them to have such horrible fuel efficiency.
Even though fossil fuels are burned both in your car's engine and at power plants, your car's tailpipe pollution is more dangerous to your health than power plant pollution because of its proximity--you breathe the fumes in every time you're near a vehicle.
If car manufacturers doubled the fuel efficiency of SUV's from the current average of 16 to 32 miles per gallon, every new SUV would save 70 tons of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

Easy Things You Can Do

Get the most fuel efficient car you can afford. This is the most important factor to consider when buying your next car, in terms of saving money and the planet. It's plain and simple: The more gas your car uses, the more CO2 it emits and the more you will contribute to global warming. The solution then is to buy the car that gets the best fuel efficiency and fits your needs. While our government lags behind other countries in setting planet-friendly fuel efficiency standards, strive for a new car with at least 35mpg if you can. Visit www.greenercars.org for more information.

Don't be tricked by diesel. Cars that run on diesel fuel usually get better fuel efficiency than gasoline-powered cars, but don't think you're helping the environment by buying a diesel-fueled car! Diesel exhaust is 10 times more carcinogenic and has many more lung-clogging particles in it than gasoline exhaust. However, biodiesel cars and the newer California certified diesel fuels offer much cleaner alternatives so if you are interested in a diesel car consider the newer models or be sure to use biodiesel in your older diesel car. See http://www.biodiesel.org for more information.

Lighter is better. A heavier car needs more gas than a lighter car, so to cut down on your carbon dioxide emissions and save gas money, buy the lightest car you can. Some people think a heavier car is safer; however, air bags, seat belts, and a safe structural design all increase your chances of survival much more than additional weight does. Also, advances in lightweight aluminum technology has produced cars that, in some cases, are 40% lighter yet have HIGHER rigidity and crash worthiness than the bodies ofsimilar cars made of steel.

Buy a hybrid. Hybrid vehicles currently get the best fuel efficiency of any gasoline-powered cars on the market. That's because they're not JUST powered by gas--they're also powered by electricity. A hybrid vehicle combines the internal combustion engine of a gasoline-powered car with an electric motor to produce incredible fuel efficiency and less tailpipe pollution. The hybrid car's battery recharges itself once the engine is running. And because hybrids get twice the fuel efficiency of regular cars you'll need to fill up only half as many times as you would with a regular car. And compared with your typical car, a hybrid reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 50% and tailpipe pollution by 80%, and it will save you at least $3,000 in gas costs over the life of the car!

Go one better, buy a plug-in hybrid. Plug-in Electric Hybrids (PHEVs) are widely expected to become available in 2009. PHEVs are not only cleaner, cheaper to operate, and domestically-powered if using "flexible-fuels" but they can achieve up to 100+ mpg! Learn more from CalCars, who have been championing PHEVs for many years. Several new companies are working on plug-in add-on kits for Priuses. Hymotion and OEMtek are a two examples; both are currently taking orders.

Buy an electric car. Electricity is considered an alternative fuel because it releases no emissions when used to power a car. However, since fossil fueled electrical power plants are part of our electrical power mix, electric cars are not completely emission-free. Still, even taking into account the fossil fuels burned at the power plant, electric vehicles emit 67% less CO2 than do gasoline-powered cars. Plus they bring tailpipe emissions down to zero. Also, electric motors are three times more efficient than gasoline ones, which is why owning an electric car is 40% less expensive than owning a gasoline-powered car.

Buy a compressed natural gas car (CNG). A CNG powered car is currently the cleanest fossil fueled car you can buy. That is why many cities and transit districts have CNG vehicles in their fleets. While CNGs are clean burning and much less carbon intensive than gasoline, they are not yet readily available to the public. To learn more about CNG cars, visit this 2007 Natural Gas Vehicles Available article.

Challenge: Let Someone Else Drive

BethRWC — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:57:50 CDT

There are many good alternatives to driving yourself everywhere you need to go. Why not try public transportation or carpooling? These alternatives are cheaper overall, produce much less or no greenhouse gases and you might find that you enjoy them in unexpected ways as well.

What You Should Know

Carpooling to work with one other person instead of driving by yourself halves the greenhouse gas emissions that would have been produced by driving separately, cuts the costs of gas and parking, and saves wear and tear on your car.

If just 500 people took public transportation to work one day a week instead of driving, they would prevent approximately 300 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted each year.
Commuting by public transit will save you thousands of dollars a year. Commuting into a city by car costs from $1,050 (San Jose) to $4,020 (San Francisco) a year for a permanent parking space, plus an additional $1,350 (SJ) to $2,610 (SF) or so in gasoline costs plus wear and tear on your car. By contrast, taking a commuter train costs roughly $1,272 (SJ) to $1,830 (SF) a year, while commuting on the bus or lightrail costs only $674 (SJ) to $1,536 (SF) a year.* All in all, commuting to San Jose by public transportation can save you $2,268 a year and commuting to San Francisco can save you $5,049 per year!

Easy Things You Can Do

Take public transportation more often. One full city bus means about 40 fewer cars on the road. The environmental benefits of public transportation are enormous, but there are personal benefits too: you won't have to pay for gasoline or parking, you won't have to drive in traffic jams, and you can read, get work done, listen to music, or even sleep during your commute. If you don't currently take public transportation, try replacing one or two car trips a week with trips using the bus or train. You can always add more commutes later!

Check out http://www.511.org or http://www.commute.org to learn how to get from point A to point B without having to drive yourself.
BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) quickplanner
Caltrain schedules for train service between San Francisco and Gilroy
VTA and SamTrans schedules for local bus service and light rail options

Combine biking with public transit. Whether for your daily commute or a casual outing, you can travel to places beyond the reach of public transportation if you take your bike along. Both trains and buses allow bikes to be either brought on board or provides storage for them. For more information, visit http://bicycling.511.org/transit.htm

Carpool. Find a colleague who lives in your area to share a ride with a few times a week, or a close neighbor heading to a similar part of town. Carpooling is fun, fast (the Carpool Lane is a joy on a crowded highway), saves you gas and parking money, time, and most important, takes CO2-emitting cars off the roads. Carpooling isn't just for commuters, either. You can carpool with other parents to take your kids to school, carpool with friends to go out to dinner, and more. If you can't find people you to know to carpool with, try a ride matching service: http://rideshare.511.org/ridematch/.

Carshare. Carsharing allows you to enjoy the benefits of having your own car without having to foot the whole bill. For a monthly fee you can reserve a car, van, or SUV for four hours or four days, pick it up at a convenient location, drive it, and return it when you're done. If you currently own a car but drive fewer than 7,500 miles a year, joining a car-sharing network will save you money. Carsharing is catching on around the nation, which is great news: People who switch from owning their own cars to joining a car-sharing network usually reduce their total car-driving time by 50%. Talk about a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions!

Zipcar - Cars available in the South Bay/Peninsula area
CityShare - Cars available in the San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley areas

Source: You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!) 51 Easy Ways by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., and Kelly Turner
*Based on 5-day per week commutes, 25 mpg (national avg), $3.75/gallon, distances calculated from Palo Alto (34 mi.round-trip to SJ, 66 mi round-trip to SF), Caltrain Monthly pass fares, VTA and SamTrans (Express) monthly pass fares.

June Challenges: Transportation

BethRWC — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:10:40 CDT

Unlike other challenges, the ones relating to transportation are the most important for you to tackle, because modifying your transportation habits will have the largest impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Here's why:

Each gallon of gas spent to propel the average car produces 19.564 lbs of CO2, which amounts to approximately one pound of CO2 per mile.

Let Someone Else Drive

How many ways can you avoid consuming fuel just to move yourself around each week?

Use Person Power

One-quarter of all automobile trips in the United States are less than one mile long.
Read more >>

Drive Smarter

Your car is responsible for emitting as much carbon dioxide a year as your entire house. So, improving your car's fuel efficiency is the single best thing you can do to prevent global warming.
Read more >>

Buy A More Fuel Efficient Car

Minivans, SUV's, and pickup trucks now make up 51% of all U.S. vehicles. These vehicles get an average of 16 miles per gallon of gas, compared with a typical passenger car's fuel efficiency of 23 miles per gallon.
Read more >>

Drive Less

Unless a store is one mile away or less, it's more energy-efficient to buy things on-line and have them delivered by truck than to drive to the store yourself.
Read more >>

Fly Less

The single worst thing you can do to contribute to global warming is fly on a plane. Airplane travel is responsible for roughly 2 to 3 percent of the world's global warming emissions, even though only a small fraction of people fly.
Read more >>

Challenge: Drive Less

BethRWC — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:23:46 CDT

For too many of us, there is great discomfort in thinking about how addicted we are to our cars. We don't think twice before driving to pick something up at a store that's only three blocks away. We romanticize driving with thoughts of long Sunday drives and adventurous cross-country road trips. But we're seriously damaging our health and our planet's health with this troublesome habit: tailpipe emissions have been proven to cause cancer, and carbon dioxide emissions have been proven to cause global warming.

One of the easiest ways to reduce car emissions is to change our mind-set about driving; to make driving our last choice of transportation, not our automatic first. And the first step in achieving this new mind-set is to reorganize our lives so we don't need to drive as much, or as far.

What You Should Know

Studies have shown that telecommuters who work from home are happier and at least 30% more productive in their jobs than their co-workers are back at the office.
As of 2007, there were 44 million Americans telecommuting, using email, instant messaging and video conferencing to stay in touch with the office.
Buying a gift for someone on-line and having it shipped via ground transport directly to the recipient saves more energy than any other type of on-line purchase.
The most important decision you can make after you decide to do your shopping on-line is how to ship your purchases. Even though planes and trucks emit much more carbon dioxide than cars do, because they carry hundreds to thousands of packages at a time, they end up being more energy-efficient than you would be driving to and from the mall. This table compares the amount of gasoline used per item with different purchasing and shipping methods:

Mode of Travel	Amount of Gas Used Per Item
Driving 20 miles round trip to a mall	1 gallon
Shipping 1,000 miles via air freight	0.166 gallon
Shipping 1,000 miles via truck	0.100 gallon

Doing multiple errands in one trip will save you gas because you'll be driving fewer miles, but you'll save even more gas if each errand takes 20 minutes or less. That's because a warm engine is much more energy-efficient than a cold engine.
If just 20,000 people worked at home one day a week instead of driving to the office, they would prevent at least 15,000 TONS of carbon dioxide from being emitted each year. Plus, they would help to reduce rush-hour traffic.

Easy Things You Can Do

Shop close to home. By shopping at local stores and eating at nearby restaurants, you'll cut down on the amount of driving you do and by shopping at local businesses, you'll be supporting your local economy! Of course if they are close enough to your home, don't drive at all.

Create an "Errand Day." Postpone errands until you can combine two or more into one multi-stop trip. Then, try not to retrace your route and, if you can, park your car at one stop and walk to your other errands. Besides saving time and gasoline, you'll also reduce wear and tear on your car.

Shop on-line and choose slow shipping. Even though the products you order on-line are delivered to you via large, carbon-dioxide-emitting trucks (or trains or planes), it's still 40% more energy-efficient to buy products on-line and have them shipped via air freight rather than drive to the store yourself--and 90% more efficient to have them shipped via truck. Try to plan to choose the slowest method of shipping, which saves the most energy. Note, however, that shopping on-line does not stimulate the local economy. So try to achieve a balance--support the stores closest to you and shop on-line for everything else.

Bank and pay bills on-line. Conducting your financial affairs on-line saves energy because less paper and ink need to be manufactured for paper statements and less mail needs to be delivered to you by big trucks.

Telecommute more often. Ask your boss if telecommuting even one day a week is an option. Thanks to the advent of e-mail and video conferencing, communicating with your office and clients while you work at home is no longer an issue.

Move closer to where you work. The next time you're planning to move, try to move closer to your workplace. You'll be much happier with your commute, and the Earth will be much happier with you. Also, consider moving to a more compact community so your car trips will be shorter and your family will be able to walk or bike to school, the grocery store, or even to the movies.

Drive your most fuel-efficient car. If you own two cars, always take the one that gets better fuel efficiency.

Challenge: Drive Smater

BethRWC — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:21:54 CDT

A typical lightweight vehicle in the U.S. emits 12,000 pounds of CO2 a year and 54 tons over its lifetime--and there are 130 million lightweight vehicles in the United States. Gasoline and diesel-burning automobiles are the second largest single source of CO2 emissions in the U.S.

One important way for you to help solve this problem is change HOW you drive your car.

What You Should Know

Gasoline is made from oil. The U.S. currently imports 54% of its oil and two-thirds of the oil we use each day goes to transportation. By taking better care of your car and thereby improving its fuel efficiency, you will personally help reduce our country's dependence on foreign oil imports.
The world's population has doubled in the last 50 years, but the number of cars on the planet has grown tenfold.
A tune-up will improve your car's fuel efficiency by about 15%. If your car is in really poor shape, a tune-up could improve its fuel efficiency by up to 50%.
According to the Department of Transportation, one in four U.S. passenger cars have at least one substantially underinflated tire.
If you always drive smoothly on the highway instead of accelerating and braking rapidly, you could save up to $210 a year in reduced gas consumption.
In addition to carbon dioxide, cars emit other pollutants, such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide, which damage our crops and drinking water and cause smog, acid rain, respiratory problems, birth defects, and cancer.

Easy Things You Can Do

Keep your car tuned. A car that runs well uses less gas. Every month check to see if your radiator or anything else is leaking, if there's enough coolant in the radiator overflow bottle, if the battery terminals and air filters are clean, and if the drive belts are tight. You can check these things while you're filling up at the gas station. Refer to your owner's manual to learn how to do any of these things. Also, be sure to use the exact type of motor oil your owner's manual calls for, but never high-octane fuel unless your owner's manual specifically calls for it.

Every spring and fall, have a mechanic perform a basic tune-up and be sure to change your oil every 5,000 miles--the improvement in fuel efficiency will more than make up for the cost. Last, be aware of how often you head to the gas pump. If you notice you're suddenly filling up more often than usual, it probably means something is wrong with your car.

Inflate properly. Keeping your tires properly inflated can reduce your gasoline consumption by 6% which could save you $40 per year in gas cost, and will reduce the chance you'll have a blowout. Because tires lose pressure each month and with every 10°F drop in temperature, you should check that your tires are at the maximum recommended pressure--including the spare--once a month. Buy a two-dollar pressure tester at your hardware store, keep it in the glove box, and check your tires while you're filling up.

Don't idle. Letting your car idle for just 20 seconds burns more gasoline (and therefore emits more carbon dioxide) than turning your car off and on again does! Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, idling can actually harm your car, since it causes gasoline to condense on and damage your cylinder walls and spark plugs. So, if you're ever going to be parked for more than 20 seconds, turn your engine off. The wear and tear on your ignition will cost you an average of only $10 a year, which will be repaid many times over by gas savings.

Keep it smooth. The more smoothly you drive, the less gas your car will use. Accelerating or braking rapidly when you're traveling at highway speeds can worsen your fuel efficiency by 33%! It's simple: The less you floor it and slam on the brakes, the less CO2 will be emitted. For longer trips, use cruise control.
Slow down. You can reduce your car's fuel consumption by 15% simply by driving 55 mph instead of 65. That's because every car's fuel efficiency starts to plummet after 60 miles per hour. Plan ahead so you have plenty of time to get to your destination--then slow down, relax, and turn on some good tunes.

Put ethanol--or other biofuels--in your car today! Gasoline is dirty. Diesel is dirtier. But there are cleaner, less polluting fuels out there that you should know about because, chances are, they will soon replace gasoline as we know it. Ethanol is the most widely used alternative fuel. Because it is made from corn it's renewable (unlike fossil fuels). Furthermore, because it's made from a plant, ethanol has no net carbon dioxide emissions, since the corn soaks up as much carbon dioxide when it's growing as the ethanol emits when it's burned in a car's engine. Most cars today can run on gasoline that has been blended with a little bit of ethanol, making it a slightly cleaner fuel. This blend, called E10, has become more widely available across the nation--check your owner's manual to see if your car can run on E10.

Use the air conditioner only when you're going over 40 miles per hour (otherwise open the windows).

Challenge: Use Person Power

BethRWC — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:20:56 CDT

By choosing to ride our bicycles and walk instead of driving in our cars everywhere we need to go, we can lower our dependence on foreign oil imports, get some exercise, reduce stress, contribute positively to the economy, have a minimal impact on the natural landscape, and have more opportunities to socialize with others than driving often allows.

What You Should Know

There are numerous and significant advantages to walking or biking instead of driving, which include:

Reduces air pollution and noise pollution
Reduces water pollution by preventing oil, antifreeze, and brake fluid from dripping from our cars and getting washed into our waterways where they pollute our drinking water and poison our fish and wildlife.
Are lifelong forms of exercise that are not only free but also easy on your joints and help relieve stress. Plus bicycling burns approximately 400 calories per hour, walking burns 200-300 calories per hour.
Saves on parking, bridge tolls, and car maintenance, in addition to gas, and on insurance, registration and licenses (if you go completely without a car)

Easy Things You Can Do

Go for a walk. Walking is the cleanest mode of transportation you can use. It's not only completely pollution-free it's also good for your health, and it doesn't cost a dime. If the weather is nice and the trip is under a mile, walk, don't drive!

Ride your bike for nearby errands. Forty percent of all automobile trips in the U.S. are two miles or less in length--perfect for a bike ride! Outfit your bike with a sturdy large cargo basket to make errands easier and go. Biking reduces stress and allows kids and seniors to be more mobile too. Note: don't forget to wear a helmet: While it's safer to bike than drive a car, the majority of those who die in biking accidents weren't wearing helmets.

Commute by bike. Can you bike to work? Over five million Americans do! You'll get a workout, skip traffic jams and parking spot battles and save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in gas and parking costs if you can make it a regular habit. Even biking to work one day a week will reduce your commuting costs by 20%.

If biking to work seems too daunting, why not combine biking with public transportation to reach your destination? Most trains and buses have exterior (buses) or interior (light rail) bike racks and CalTrain has designated BikeCars as well. For more information, visit:http://bicycling.511.org.
May is Bike To Work Month and May 17th is Bike to Work/School Day, so get in gear and get on your bike!

Travel electrically. If your biking commute is strenuous and you want to avoid breaking into a heavy sweat, try an electric version. A rechargeable electric bike is one type of lightweight electric vehicle (LEV) that is like a regular bike but with a small battery-powered motor to give extra power for hills or heavy loads. They emit 99.5 less CO2 than gas-fueled cars and batteries can be charged overnight. Electric scooters and one-person electric cars are also becoming increasingly popular with commuters. They do use more electricity than electric bikes do, but they also emit much less CO2 than cars. Try www.electric-bikes.com/lev.htm for more information.

Results

BethRWC — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:50:15 CDT

You’ll receive a “1-Minute Survey” each month to complete

Surveys are anonymous
Measurable CO2 and KWH reductions can be counted
Results for the community as a whole will be tallied and posted here.

February 2008 Results

March 2008 Results

Take April Survey

April 2008 Results

BethRWC — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:48:20 CDT

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

March 2008 Results

BethRWC — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:47:35 CDT

Redwood City Cool Campaign results based on our March survey are in. Twenty-seven (27) members of our 85 member email distribution group completed a survey. Thanks! The graph below represents how many of those surveyed were "Already Doing" each Challenge, how many completed each Challenge since joining the Redwood City Cool Community Campaign (Did It!), and how many are still plotting how to get started (Not Yet).

The RWC Hot Water actions saved 24016 Lbs of C02 or 12 tons This is equivalent to 961 trees or taking 2.2 cars of the road

Did you participate in Earth Hour on March 29th? Please tell us how you participated.

Oops . . . Forgot! We were actually having a dinner party.
Yes, we turned off our lights. However, I still used my treadmill which I do almost every evening at that time.
I went hiking in the dark with friends so as not to be tempted by anything.
The UU Fellowship of RWC had a film showing already planned for that night. But after the film we, we held the subsequent discussion by candlelight.
Yes, neighbors met in the backyard.
Yes. Told others on my email lists about it. Turned our lights out and asked kids (older) to also do this.
No
No, though I was aware of it. I thought Google’s “blackout” was very effective in spreading the word.
Turned off lights for one hour.
Due to a situation that is personal, I was not thinking about this program; however, we keep lights out and only use a night light lamp when watching TV. I have cur my TV time down and so has my husband. I might watch a movie and then end it! I do so many things for conservation now that it is difficult to improve upon them.
No.
No.
Yes, I requested that candlelight be used at the dinner party my wife and I were attending.

no
Yes, we turned off all lights in the house except one.
Yes!
Yes – several households in our neighborhood coordinated. We all shut down everything we could at our own homes and gathered for an hour to share wine and stories by candlelight while kids played in the yard at dusk. It was good fun.
Almost, no heat, lights or computer on in the house . . . just the TV.
No

Do you have suggestions about what else the Redwood City Cool Campaign can do to help you make changes in your energy habits?

Schedule a regular time each week to turn off all lights,, etc.
Doing a great job already!

Can we investigate if the city can do a bulk purchase for Solar?
When is the city going to have shuttle buses to down town Redwood City. How about a installing an electric light rail that runs down Jefferson and Woodside Road to the Train Station. When is the city going to install Solar on City Facilities. When is the city going to pass a Green Building policy?
Not at this time.
Products reviews (or links to-) and lists of retailers or manufacturers would be helpful to help choose among big things like water heaters, as well as small ones like bulbs (I've had terrible luck with some!). Thanks!
Beth, I'd very much like to talk to you about finding spots for community gardens here in the Redwood City area. We have about 20 people from the UU Fellowship who would like to participate in community gardening, but we're in need of sites. Any help we could get from the city in finding some unused space would be appreciated. A lot!
Carol

More ideas for those who live in apartments or have limited resources to make major changes. Current items are too much focused on homeowners with financial resources to make substantial changes.
All questions such as 1-4 should have an "N/A" choice. I have no pool or spa so none of the responses made any sense. Apartment owners could not answer many questions because they have no power to make those changes. It is frustrating to complete a poll that does not reflect your situation.
Hang clothes on the line, especially heavy items like jeans and jackets, etc. It is so easy...get good, sturdy hangers that don't kink the shoulders when drying, but hang shirts, pants, and towels, etc. If someone is sooooooooooo busy they can't hang small items (or have a convenient place), just dry the small items like sox, face and kitchen cloths. A rod in the house works well also and the clothes dry faster than one realizes. Try half of what they launder now and then try more. It saves so much on energy and energy costs!! Don't try to load the diswasher with pots/pans...too much space is taken. Do those separate in the sink (as most of the time they have to be partially hand-washed) and fill the dishwasher full with dishes, etc. Pans need more help anyway, so why bother trying not to wash them by hand!!!??? Drip systems in the yard, left-over food in the soil, rather than using the disposal. I put nothing down the disposal as it goes down the sewer...big load! After recycling all that is possible, we have less than one grocery bag for a week of three adults! It makes for a great compost pile and the worms love it and aereate the soil. (I hope I spelled it right!) Don't flush the toilet when you urinate-especially children. We have a 1/2 flush of the new toilets of 1.6 gallons. We don't flush unless it is necessary! It saves so much water. Certainly, use common sense if it is "very" yellow. We have done this for decades and taught our children not to flush it down unless it was brown. They still have the habit, even though they are all grown. That's enough for now! Thanks for what you are doing to help our earth.
NO
Great job!
Make solar panels more affordable to homeowners and rental property landlords.
Challanges like Walk not Drive to see how many times we can walk to do nearby errands, to a park, to downtown for dining and entertainment..re-think, slow down, and adjust our time durning the day/evening to accomodate this. Or a Streamline that Rout challange to bulk a week's errands and events together by day and by locatation/direction for maximum effciency which will support no drive days.
email energy saving tips from time to time

May Challenges: Your Consumer Footprint

BethRWC — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:30:39 CDT

The theme of this month's challenges is to reduce the CO2 emissions related to the things we buy and use.

More than any other month of the Cool Campaign, May gives us pause. From 1950 to 2000, Americans consumed as much food and material goods as all the generations of Americans before them. If everyone in the world lived the way the average American does, we would need four more planet Earths to provide all the necessary materials and energy. We know that we should explore new ways to reduce our consumption habits; so why do we consume so much?

For an entertaining look at why our culture has become so deeply consumer-oriented, take a look at the Story of Stuff video, at the right.

Here are some powerful things you can do

Buy Locally Produced Food

The average meal travels 1,200 miles by truck, ship, and/or plane to reach

your dining room table. All that transportation emits CO2 into the environment,

that can be reduced by buying food produced closer to home.

Buy Organic Food

Organic food isn't just better for you, organic farming preserves the millions of microorganisms that live in the soil and naturally keep it rich year after year.
Chemical pesticides used to kill off "bad" pests, also kill these vital microorganisms which results in a massive release of CO2 into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

Read more >>

Eat Less Meat

It turns out that the average American does more to reduce global warming emissions by going vegetarian than by switching to a Prius.

Reduce

The typical American creates 4.6 pounds of garbage per day, or 1,700 pounds of garbage per year--that's double what it was thirty years ago.
Read more >>

Reuse

From 1950 to 2000, Americans consumed as much food and material goods as all the generations of Americans before them.

Recycle

In the time it takes you to read this sentence, Americans will buy, use and throw away 1,245 tons of raw materials. Read me >>

Compost

Over two-thirds of the total waste produced in the United States is compostable, yet we still send 30 million tons of leaves and grass clippings to landfills every year.

Read me>>

Get started with composting by ordering your discounted backyard composting or worm bin from Recycle Works.

Buy Less

For many Americans, shopping is a form of recreation. But one with great cost if its for stuff we don't need, wastes precious resources and generates CO2 to produce, transport, and dispose of.
Read more >>

Challenge: Reduce

BethRWC — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:29:31 CDT

During the past 35 years, the amount of waste each person creates has almost doubled from 2.7 to 4.4 pounds per day. California sends 40 million tons annually to landfills. Right now, Americans recycle about 30% of their garbage. Experts say that this country can do better--that, in fact, most garbage can be recycled.

What You Should Know

Most garbage is buried, and the rest, about 15%, is burned. Garbage is buried in landfills, giant holes lined with plastic or clay. After garbage trucks dump trash into the landfill, the garbage is smashed flat with a bulldozer and covered with soil.

Landfills take up lots of space--space that could be used for parks, homes, businesses...or left as wilderness for people and animals to enjoy. Many landfills are already full, soon there will be a need for even more space to fill with garbage.
Landfills can leak. Decomposing waste creates a toxic liquid called "leachate." Special linings are required under landfills to block leachate from contaminating groundwater, but even the best-built landfill has the potential for leaks.

Easy Things You Can Do

Shrink your garbage: Make it a goal to throw less away and see what happens. You'll begin to notice how much of your garbage is packaging, or food that could be put to better use in a compost bin, or paper or other items that can be recycled. Pay attention to how large and how many bags of trash you throw out each week, and you might become inspired to find new ways to reduce what you use.

Precycle. Always think about how much packaging you'll have to throw away before you select what you're going to buy. It takes energy to make that packaging, and it takes more energy to cart it away as extra garbage. Also, most of that plastic packaging is made from one of the most important energy sources--oil. By buying food and other products with less packaging or recyclable packaging, you can reduce needless carbon dioxide production by up to 230 pounds per year. Watch out for companies that purposefully add packaging to catch your eye. When faced with two equal products, always choose the one with less packaging.

Buy in bulk. Buy large quantities of things--especially nonperishable goods such as shampoo, toilet paper, or peanut butter--whenever possible. Bulk items use less packaging, which means less energy is needed to manufacture them. Buying in bulk is also much cheaper. For example, individually wrapped servings of oatmeal cost more than three times as much as the same amount of oatmeal from a large container. To make things less cumbersome, save the smaller shampoo bottle (or other container) you have now, buy a bulk size to store in the cupboard, and keep refilling your smaller bottle.

Use rechargeable batteries. Substitute them for batteries you use in everything from toothbrushes to flashlights, cell-phones to children's toys.

Stop the junk mail you receive and then throw away.

To eliminate unsolicited catalogs from your life visit the popular free web service at CatalogChoice , or call the 800 number of specific catalog companies and ask to be taken off their mailing list.
Return junk mail stamped "Address correction requested" by writing "Refused. Return to sender." on the envelope.
To be taken off of national mailing lists, contact the Mail Preference Service. Or check out web sites such aswww.DirectMail.com/Junk_Mail or StoptheJunkMail.com. Both the GreenDimes and 41pounds web sites charge a small fee to remove you from mailing lists but will also then monitor and keep you from being added back onto them.
Sign up to have your monthly bills e-mailed to you so you can pay them on-line. You'll save paper and stamp money.

Use less paper. Saving paper is the best thing you can do to conserve energy in your home office, since it takes so much energy to manufacture paper and transport it to stores, and then to your house. Some specific things to do:

Use recycled paper.

Print out only final copies (not drafts)
Print and copy on both sides of the paper when possible, and print on the back sides of scrap paper when you can.

Use voice mail, email and electronic faxes instead of paper letters and faxes whenever possible. Don't use fax cover sheets.

Direct companies to bill you and/or allow you to pay your bills via e-mail and direct deposit.

Carry your next purchase in your hands or your own bag instead of using the shopping bags the store offers.

Source: 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth (PG&E)

Monthly Challenges

BethRWC — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:24:00 CDT

The primary goal of the Redwood City Cool Campaign is to help you learn how to reduce your CO2 emissions. Review the current month's Challenges, link below, and select at least one--or many, or all-- to incorporate into your lifestyle.

January 2008
Your first Challenge is to learn more about the Redwood City Cool Campaign. Contact the Campaign organizer, Beth Ross at bross@redwoodcity.org. Beth will send you an invitation to a Campaign Kick-off meeting at Redwood City Hall in February. At the meeting you will meet other participants, learn more about the program and complete a pledge to make just ONE change during the campaign.

February Challenges
Winter Heat and Light

March Challenges
Water

April Challenges
Home Appliances

May Challenges
Your Consumer Footprint

Copyright Ellen M. Wilkinson 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

Challenge: Compost

BethRWC — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:40:59 CDT

Composting is nature's way of recycling. It occurs when microorganisms break down (decompose) organic material such as grass, leaves, or food and turns it into rich soil. The best thing about composting is that it keeps organic material out of landfills, where lack of oxygen prevents it from decomposing and allows fermentation to occur. Fermentation releases methane gas, a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide!

What You Should Know

There are around 2,350 landfills in the U.S. If every American composted his or her organic garbage this year, we would reduce the national waste stream by the size of 460 landfills.
Composting can save money. If you currently pay for garbage disposal according to the amount of trash you throw out, composting can help you reduce your annual trash bill by at least 25%
Composting also lowers greenhouse gas emissions because it reduces the amount of garbage that needs to be transported (by gasoline-powered trucks) to a landfill: Fewer trips and lighter loads require less fuel.
If you spread the fertile soil that composting produces--called humus--onto your garden or lawn, it will work just like trees do to soak up and store carbon dioxide that's in the air, plus it's great for your plants.
Organic materials rotting without oxygen in landfills account for almost 40% of man-made methane emissions in the U.S. Composting in your backyard, where there's plenty of oxygen, however, produces no methane emissions.

Easy Things You Can Do

Start a compost pile! Once you get the hang of it, you'll be amazed at how easy composting is. Here's a simple checklist to help you get started:

The Spot. Pick a location for your compost pile that's convenient (not too far from your kitchen). If it's too far away, you won't use it!
The Pile (or Bin). Choose a partially shaded, level spot either to start your compost pile or to place your composting bin (available at hardware stores). A simple pile will compost just as well as a bin, although you may want to put a small fence around your pile to keep the wind from blowing it. Check to see if your city requires the use of a bin. You can order a discounted bin at Recycle Works. (San Mateo County residents only).
The Stuff. There are two types of composting materials: greens and browns. The microorganisms that do the decomposing need green, nitrogen-rich materials in order to grow and brown, carbon-rich materials for energy. The key to a good compost pile is always to use both green and brown materials, ideally in a one-part green to three-parts-brown ratio. If you use only brown materials, your pile will take a very long time to decompose. If you use only green materials, your pile will attract flies and animals and give off a foul odor.
The key to having a compost pile that doesn't give off an odor is oxygen. There are two kinds of microorganisms that break down organic material: those that need oxygen and those that don't. The ones that need oxygen don't smell, which is why mixing up your compost pile every two months or so (which aerates it with oxygen) is so important. If you don't mix your pile and it's too wet and compacted, the organisms that don't need oxygen will take over and a different kind of decomposition, called fermentation, will occur, giving off a foul odor and releasing methane.
The How. To begin a compost pile, simply pile up any materials listed in the Include column. Don't let the pile get bigger than three cubic feet (start a second pile if you have to). When adding kitchen scraps, dig a hole in the compost pile, drop them in, and cover them up to keep pests away. Every two months or so, go out and turn or mix your pile with a shovel to give it some oxygen. Besides that, there's nothing you have to do. Just let it sit there!
The Results. After six months you will start to find finished compost (or humus) at the bottom of the pile, ready to use on your lawn, garden, and houseplants. Collect the humus from the bottom of the pile and work it into your garden soil or use it as a top-dressing.

Rake those leaves. When the leaves fall in autumn, you'll find yourself stuck with more brown materials than you can handle. One solution is to create an all-brown compost pile next to your actual compost pile, that will just take a long time to decompose. Another solution is to mow the leaves back into your lawn or mulch them.
Leave it a-lawn. Think putting your grass clippings into a compost pile is easy? Leaving them on your lawn is even easier, and can save you money.
Compost in your community. Creating a compost pile in your backyard is just one way to compost. Many cities have community compost centers where you can drop off your food scraps and yard trimmings. In that case, you can freeze your food scraps in a container until you have a chance to drop them off.

Source: You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!) 51 Easy Ways, by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., or Kelly Turner

Challenge: Buy Less

BethRWC — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:40:58 CDT

Energy is needed to collect, process, manufacture, and ship everything you buy. In today's world, that means fossil fuels burning and emitting carbon dioxide. So what's the single best way you can help reduce those carbon dioxide emissions? It's simple: buy less.

What You Should Know

Seven out of 10 women rank shopping as the number-one way to cheer themselves up. Imagine how much carbon dioxide emission would be prevented if they called a close friend instead.

If everyone in the world lived the way the average American does, we would need four more planet Earths to provide all the necessary materials and energy.

Easy Things You Can Do

Become a minimalist. Americans get to choose from 200 types of breakfast cereals and over 5,000 styles of shoes, while many people in this world can't even afford a loaf of bread. Take stock of what you have and conduct a thorough examination of what you need. Next, go through your house today and donate or recycle everything you don't really need--then leave it that way! Stop reflexive, impulse purchases and develop new criteria to base your decisions on buying new stuff: Do I really need it? Can I make do with what I already have? Can I borrow it from a friend instead? Stores respond to the demands of their customers: The less we fill our closets and cupboards with things, the less our factories will burn fossil fuels to manufacture those things.

Buy quality items over cheap, disposable ones. Save up so you can buy quality goods instead of cheaper products that will wear out and need to be replaced sooner. You'll end up saving money (and energy) in the long run. This is especially true for furniture and major appliances.

Use up your food. Every few months (or weeks depending on your current shopping habits), skip your weekly grocery trip and spend the week cooking what's buried in your fridge and cupboards. If you find something good, you just saved money and energy. If you find something that's gone bad, isn't it better that you found it sooner rather than later? To really get a fresh sense of perspective about how much westerners have compared to others, check out these images from the book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel.

Find new ways to use less. There are a million ways to use less stuff: get a library card instead of buying books, buy fewer toys and do more arts and crafts projects with your kids, or simply make a vow to use a bag at a store only if you can't carry the item in your hands or put it in your purse. Make coffee at home and pour it into a travel mug to take with you to work instead of visiting your local coffee shop. You don't need to be a creative genius--just step back and look at how much stuff you use and buy. Then ask yourself, Do I really need that much?

Source: 51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!) by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., and Kelly Turner

Challenge: Recycle

BethRWC — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:36:48 CDT

Recycling means making something old into something new again. But does recycling really make a difference? The answer is a resounding yes!

It's true that hauling recyclables to a plant, cleaning them, melting them down, and remolding them into new products takes energy. But recycling takes far less energy than hauling all that garbage to faraway landfills and then using new raw materials from the Earth to manufacture brand-new products. Besides conserving energy and natural resources, recycling reduces the amount of landfill space needed--which means more room for parks and forests. It also reduces water pollution by stopping the chemicals in our garbage from seeping into the underground freshwater supply. And it creates five times as many jobs as landfilling does. So, first reduce, them reuse, then recycle, recycle, recycle!

What You Should Know

Americans throw away 40,000 plastic bottles and 50,000 plastic bags every minute.
Contrary to popular belief, recycling does not use more energy than manufacturing a brand-new product. Making recycled paper uses 55%-75% less energy than making virgin paper, making things out of recycled plastic uses 60%-75% less energy, and making products out of recycled aluminum uses 95% less energy!
For every soda can you recycle, you'll prevent 1 pound of carbon dioxide from being emitted. If you recycle your newspaper every day, you'll prevent 100 pounds of CO2 from being emitted each year.
In the last 30 years, the U.S. recycling rate has quadrupled, but the amount of trash we send to landfills has actually gone up--by 33%! So while we're recycling more than ever, we're also throwing away more than ever.
Americans use 187,000 tons of paper every day. For every ton of office paper we recycle, we prevent 17 trees from being cut down.
Each year 200 million gallons of used motor oil are dumped on the ground, sent to landfills (after being thrown in the garbage), or poured down the drain by Americans--that's enough oil to fill 120 Exxon Valdezes! By contrast, if we recycled all that used oil, we would be able to import 1.3 million fewer barrels of oil a day.
With all the steel and tin cans Americans use in one day, you could build a steel pipe from Los Angeles to New York and back.

Easy Things You Can Do

Recycle the usual. That means all of your paper (newspapers, cardboard, paperboard used for cereal and other dry food boxes, magazines, juice boxes, milk cartons, grocery bags, etc.), glass (bottles and jars of any color glass), steel and aluminum (soda, beer, and soup cans and their caps or lids), and plastic (jugs and bottles, some bags). Get multiple smaller garbage cans to make separating your recyclables easier. And don't forget to add paper recycling bins to your home office and other rooms where paperwork is done.

Recycle the not-so-usual. Put your used motor oil into a clean milk jug, label it, and take it to your nearest oil change or auto parts store to be recycled. Give your old car tires to the store where you buy your new ones, and make sure they recycle them. Try to donate any wood you have or look up a local tree removal service and ask if they'll take it. Collect disposable batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs (which contain mercury), oil-based paint, and expired medications (that's right, never dump medicines down the toilet or sink!) to your local household hazardous waste collection center. It's very important to keep all of these items from leaking hazardous chemicals into our landfills and leaching toxins into our groundwater. You can store these things in your closet or basement and simply make one trip every six months.

Recycle your coolant. Did you know that chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) not only eat away at the ozone layer, but they're also potent greenhouse gases that cause global warming? Leaky home and car air conditioners (which contain CFC's in their coolant fluid) make up the largest single source of CFC's in the U.S. That's because a typical car air conditioner leaks the equivalent of 200 pounds of carbon dioxide every year.

Ask your service person to check for leaks and to capture and recycle the coolant when you have your car tuned-up or your home air conditioner serviced.
By law, before throwing any appliance away that contains CFC's or coolants (refrigerators, air conditioners, etc.) you must have a professional capture and recyclethe toxic coolant. If the appliance is still in working condition, donate it. If not, call your Sanitation Department for help.

Recycle the big stuff. Steel can be remelted an infinite number times without degrading its quality, which is why the automobile recycling industry is doing so well ($8.2 billion in annual sales and producing enough recycled steel to manufacture 95% of all new cars). Donate your old car to a charity or sell it to a scrapyard.

When you're getting a new roof, find a local recycling center that handles construction debris for help. Nine million tons of asphalt roofing shingles are dumped into our nation's landfills each year, costing us $400 million in disposal costs. It's a waste, because these shingles can be recycled into road asphalt or new roofing shingles.

Identify your community recycling centers, and use them. Your community probably already provides a weekly curbside collection of recyclables or has designated drop-off or buyback centers. Ask what can be recycled, how, when, and if there are any rules and try to recycle everything they accept. If your community doesn't have a recycling program, ask that they start one!

Source: You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!) 51 Easy Ways, by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., and Kelly Turner

Challenge: Reuse

BethRWC — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:38:38 CDT

Reuse means using an item over again in its existing form without major changes to it. Since the materials can be reused, they don't end up in landfills or need to be treated to prevent pollution.

Reusing products when possible is even better than recycling, because the items do not need to be reprocessed before they can be used again. You can provide products for others to reuse, and you can reuse other people's products (think antique stores!).

What You Should Know

A typical household uses about 700 paper grocery bags in two years--that's equivalent to all the wood in a 20-year-old tree. Meanwhile, one canvas grocery bag lasts approximately five years.
More than 10 billion plastic water bottles are discarded each year, and nine out of ten of them end up as garbageclogging our landfills, or as litter despoiling our walking paths and roadways.
Each day Americans drink 45 million cups of coffee or tea in disposable cups. If every coffee-drinking Americanswitched to using a reusable thermos, they would prevent seven million pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted every day, thanks to the energy saved from not having to manufacture and recycle or dispose of in a landfill all those paper cups.
Americans throw away 570 disposable diapers every second.

Easy Things You Can Do

Use cloth bags. Paper or plastic? Neither! Invest in some durable cloth bags and reuse them. After each shopping trip, return them to your trunk, then train yourself to remember, before entering a shop, to simply grab them and go. And if you forget to bring your bags into the store, try this: place your purchased items back into the cart, loose, then load them directly into your cloth bags once you reach your car. It's easy!

Use a thermos and a reusable water bottle. Spend a couple of bucks on a thermos and tell your favorite coffee shop to fill 'er up for your morning caffeine fix (you'll save ten cents and the waste of a paper cup). Similarly, buy a reusable water bottle and fill up from your tap instead of buying bottled water. But don't stop there: buy a liter of soda and fill up your thermos every day instead of going through four aluminum cans, or make a pitcher of juice and fill up your thermos instead of throwing away six juice boxes.

Buy reusable goods. Buy rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones, a $20 reusable camera instead of a disposable one, and an ink refilling kit instead of a disposable printer cartridge. Some other examples of reusable goods are reusable metal coffee filters, razors with refillable blades, and refillable pens and pencils. In general, never buy anything that says "disposable."

Get crazy about cloth. Work on cutting back on paper products wherever you can. Invest in some pretty cloth napkins and try to use them a few nights a week, at least, instead of paper napkins. Use handkerchiefs instead of facial tissues, and resort to rags instead of paper towels for wiping up spills. And if you have a baby in diapers, consider this: Eighteen billion disposable diapers are dumped into U.S. landfills each year, and each one takes up to 500 years to decompose. For the sake of future generations, switch to reusable, washable cloth diapers (or forego the diaper debate altogether and try the new flushable gDiaper).

Give "green" gifts. Save and reuse as many boxes, bows, ribbons, tyrofoam packing peanuts, and tissue and wrapping paper as you can (unwrap slowly so you don't wrinkle it!). Invest in colorful cloth gift bags--or make your own--that are easier to reuse than boxes with wrapping paper.

Become Mr. or Ms. Fix-It. When something breaks, don't immediately throw it away. First, see if you can fix it yourself--for example, you can easily repair most scratches on Cd's with a rag and some toothpaste. If that doesn't work, research other inexpensive methods or perhaps a refinishing kit. Decide whether to have a professional fix it, which is sometimes cheaper than buying a new one.

Donate. Gently worn items, from furniture to appliances, clothing to books and toys can often be passed along for others to enjoy. Worthy organizations abound that will be happy to receive your donations: Goodwill, the Salvation Army, Parca, local shelters, churches, are just a few places available to you. Freecycle is another great option to give your donated items a second (or third) life, plus you can find free things you need there as well. But note, unlike Goodwill, et. al, Freecycle does not provide tax breaks for the items you donate.

Reuse, reuse, reuse!

Source: 30 Simple Energy Things You Can Do To Save The Earth (PG&E), and 51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!) by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D. and Kelly Turner

Challenge: Eat Less Meat

BethRWC — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:32:37 CDT

What You Should Know

In December 2006, the United Nations published a report on livestock and the environment with a stunning conclusion: "The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global." It turns out that raising animals for food is a primary cause of land degradation, air pollution, water shortage, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, and not least of all, global warming.

Last year researchers at the University of Chicago took the Prius down a peg when they turned their attention to another gas guzzling consumer purchase. They noted that feeding animals for meat, dairy, and egg production requires growing some ten times as much crops as we'd need if we just ate pasta primavera, faux chicken nuggets, and other plant foods. On top of that, we have to transport the animals to slaughterhouses, slaughter them, refrigerate their carcasses, and distribute their flesh all across the country. Producing a calorie of meat protein means burning more than ten times as much fossil fuels--and spewing more than ten times as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide--as does a calorie of plant protein. The researchers found that, when it's all added up, the average American does more to reduce global warming emissions by going vegetarian than by switching to a Prius. According to the UN report, it gets even worse when we include the vast quantities of land needed to give us our steak and pork chops. Animal agriculture takes up an incredible 70% of all agricultural land, and 30% of the total land surface of the planet.

As if that isn't bad enough, the real kicker comes when looking at gases besides carbon dioxide--gases like methane and nitrous oxide, enormously effective greenhouse gases with 23 and 296 times the warming power of carbon dioxide, respectively. If carbon dioxide is responsible for about one-half of human-related greenhouse gas warming since the industrial revolution, methane and nitrous oxide are responsible for another one-third. These super-strong gases come primarily from farmed animals' digestive processes, and from their manure. In fact, while animal agriculture accounts for 9% of our carbon dioxide emissions, it emits 37% of our methane, and a whopping 65% of our nitrous oxide. It's a little hard to take in when thinking of a small chick hatching from her fragile egg. How can an animal, so seemingly insignificant against the vastness of the earth, give off so much greenhouse gas as to change the global climate? The answer is in their sheer numbers. The United States alone slaughters more than 10 billion land animals every year, all to sustain a meat-ravenous culture that can barely conceive of a time not long ago when "a chicken in every pot" was considered a luxury.

Source: Excerpted from Kathy Freston's "Vegetariansm is the new Prius" (Jan 2007)

Easy Things You Can Do

Eat less meat. Cutting back on the amount of meat you eat doesn't mean you have to become a vegetarian. Start off slowly--try to cut out one or two meat meals a week every six months until you're down to only two meat meals a week, preferably eating fish or chicken instead of livestock. On a high protein diet? By all means, stick with it! Simply get your protein from the dozens of protein sources that aren't beef, such as beans, nuts, and tofu. Besides helping prevent global warming, you'll be helping your body: Eating less meat has been proven to reduce the risk of heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, and colon cancer.

Source: You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!) 51 Easy Ways by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., and Kelly Turner

Challenge: Buy Organic Food

BethRWC — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:19:26 CDT

The Environmental Protection Agency reports that two-thirds of American farmers spray one billion pounds of pesticides onto our food crops each year.

What You Should Know

There is twice as much carbon in the earth's fertile soil as there is carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The carbon in the soil is stored by millions of microorganisms that live in the soil and naturally keep it rich year after year. Organic farmers make use of this naturally rich soil to produce the food we put on our tables.

But too many farmers today use chemical pesticides to grow crops bigger and faster instead of naturally controlling the pests. As a result, the billions of microorganisms that live in the soil and keep it full of nutrients die off. When they die, they release their stored carbon into the atmosphere, where it turns into carbon dioxide. Eventually, their bodies rot and release methane, a global warming gas that is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide.Furthermore, after these organisms die, they can no longer keep the soil naturally fertile, so farmers are forced to use chemical fertilizers year after year in order to grow their crops.
After most pesticides are sprayed onto a crop, they remain active (which means they continue to release toxic vapors) for up to one year.

Organically grown food has been scientifically proven to contain more nutrients than the same food grown by conventional farming methods (i.e., using pesticides). Organic food contains, on average, 30% more magnesium, 27% more vitamin C, and 21% more iron than pesticide-grown food. More important, you're guaranteed that organic food has 100% fewer pesticides and toxic chemicals than conventionally grown food does.

Easy Things You Can Do

Buy organically grown food. Organic food is healthier for you, but eating it is also healthier for the planet. In doing so, you'll support farmers and companies that grow their food organically, which means without the use of any chemical pesticides, fertilizers, or hormones, and in a sustainable manner (i.e., using crop rotation). A good way to start buying organic food is to switch to an organic variety of just one thing you eat frequently, such as carrots, coffee, or chicken. Thanks to its recent popularity, organic food is becoming more widely available and cost competitive every day.

Know which organic foods are the most important to buy for your health, especially when your selection is limited. To help you identify the best and worst produce, get to know the Environmental Working Group's 4th edition of the popular Shopper's Guide to Pesticides in Produce, available from the organization's website at http://www.foodnews.org/, to help you minimize your chemical exposure in the produce aisle. It features the 12 fruits and veggies with the most and least pesticides so you'll know which ones to buy organic, and which conventionally-grown ones are okay when organic isn't available. The guide is based on an extensive study of 43 produce items, this is the full list:

The Full List: 43 Fruits & Veggies

RANK	FRUIT OR VEGGIE	SCORE
1 (worst)	Peaches	100 (highest pesticide load)
2	Apples	89
3	Sweet Bell Peppers	86
4	Celery	85
5	Nectarines	84
6	Strawberries	82
7	Cherries	75
8	Pears	65
9	Grapes - Imported	65
10	Spinach	60
11	Lettuce	59
12	Potatoes	58
13	Carrots	57
14	Green Beans	53
15	Hot Peppers	53
16	Cucumbers	52
17	Raspberries	47
18	Plums	45
19	Grapes - Domestic	43
20	Oranges	42
21	Grapefruit	40
22	Tangerine	38
23	Mushrooms	37
24	Cantaloupe	34
25	Honeydew Melon	31
26	Tomatoes	30
27	Sweet Potatoes	30
28	Watermelon	28
29	Winter Squash	27
30	Cauliflower	27
31	Blueberries	24
32	Papaya	21
33	Broccoli	18
34	Cabbage	17
35	Bananas	16
36	Kiwi	14
37	Sweet peas - frozen	11
38	Asparagus	11
39	Mango	9
40	Pineapples	7
41	Sweet Corn - frozen	2
42	Avocado	1
43 (best)	Onions	1 (lowest pesticide load)

Note: We ranked a total of 43 different fruits and vegetables but grapes are listed twice because we looked at both domestic and imported samples.

Source: Environmental Working Group,and 51 Easy Ways You can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!) by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., and Kelly Turner

Challenge: Buy Locally Produced Food

BethRWC — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:12:42 CDT

The average meal travels 1,200 miles by truck, ship, and/or plane to reach your dining room table. If, once a month, 100,000 people bought their weekly produce at a local farmers' market instead of at a grocery store, they would collectively prevent more than 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted thanks to reduced transportation of the food.

What You Should Know

Most fruit and vegetable varieties sold in supermarkets are chosen for their ability to withstand industrial harvesting equipment and extended travel, not taste. This results in little variety in the plants grown.
Fruits and vegetables shipped from distant states and countries can spend as many as seven to fourteen days in transit before they arrive in the supermarket.
Local food is fresher and tastes better than food shipped long distances from other states or countries. Local farmers can offer produce varieties bred for taste and freshness rather than for shipping and long shelf life.
Local food doesn't have to travel far. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions and packing materials.
Buying local food keeps your dollars circulating in your community and also helps to make farming more profitable and selling farmland for development less attractive.

Easy Things You Can Do

Five Good Reasons to Eat locally Grown Food - When you buy locally grown produce or locally butchered meat, the benefits are endless.

You help prevent global warming because your food doesn't travel across the country (or the global!) in order to reach your kitchen table.
You support your local economy.
Locally grown produce is fresher, better tasting, and more nutritious than transported produce (Nutritional value starts to decline as soon as food is picked or harvested).
Locally grown produce is often cheaper and has less packaging.
By buying locally grown food, you promote your region's self-reliance and avoid supporting huge farming corporations that put their own profits over the environment.

What you can do!

Shop at Farmers' Markets in Redwood Ctiy and ask your grocery store manager to set up a special section for locally grown foods.

The Redwood City Kiwanis Farmers' Market operates in Downtown Redwood City from April - November, on Saturdays from 8 AM-noon.
Kaiser Permanente medical facility at 1150 Veterans Blvd. operates year round on Wednesdays from 10 AM - 2PM
You can find information about other farmers' markets in the area by visiting the following website http://www.cafarmersmarkets.com/findMarkets
The San Mateo County Farm Bureau Harvest Guide is also an excellent resource for local food.

Eat in season. There's a reason why strawberries taste so good in June and cost a fortune in January. Although financially you may be able to buy fruits out of season, it's better that you don't for the environment's sake. If you eat cantaloupe in January, it was most likely shipped by air, train, and truck from South America, or Florida. When you eat it in July, however, it was probably driven in from a neighboring county. Here's a basic guide of what to eat during each season (this will vary by climate):

A Guide to Eating With the Seasons

	Spring	Summer	Fall	Winter
Fruits	Blueberries	Bananas	Apples	Clementines
	Cantaloupe	Oranges	Asian pears	Grapefruit
	Cherries	Peaches	Coconuts	Grapes (Red)
	Pineapples	Plums	Cranberries	Kiwi Fruit
	Raspberries	Tomatoes	Grapes	Passion Fruit
	Strawberries	Watermelons	Tangerines
Vegetables	Asparagus	Corn	Avocados	Chicory
	Carrots	Cucumbers	Beets	Kale
	Onions	Green Beans	Broccoli	Radishes
	Peas	Peppers	Cauliflower	Snow Peas
	Spinach	Summer Squash	Leeks	Sweet Potatoes
				Winter Squash

Formore detailed information, visit the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture's (CUESA) website that offers a calendar of when fruits and nuts and vegetables are in season.

Sources: http://www.foodroutes.org/, and 51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!) by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., and Kelly Turner