veggie day

Green Tip of the Week
Reduce your meat intake

• Omitting meat just once a week reduces your risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
• Start by omitting meat from one or two meals per week, maybe working up to one per day. Find some simple recipes for healthy, protein-packed meat-free meals here (recipes at bottom).
• Try to eat less beef, pork, and lamb, as these have a higher carbon footprint per pound than their meat counterparts (chicken, fish, etc).
• Click here for Tips for Responsible Carnivores.

Did you know?

• Animals are fed antibiotics such as arsenic to prevent disease spread in overcrowded factory farms. These antibiotics are absorbed into the animal meat as well as excreted from their bodies, posing a threat to our health and the health of delicate ecosystems.
  Livestock is a major player in climate change, accounting for 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.(9)
• More than 2.9 million acres of rainforest were destroyed in the 2004-2005 crop season in order to grow crops used to feed factory farm animals. (2006 Greenpeace report "Eating Up the Amazon”) (10)
• Overfishing is becoming a serious problem for our oceans. The rate at which the Earth’s human population consumes fish is not sustainable; if we continue at this rate, there will not be seafood on our plates. Listen to an interesting NPR interview here.
• The world's cattle alone consume a quantity of food equal to the needs of 8.7 billion people — more than the entire human population on Earth.(11)
  
  BuckIsGreen.com Featured Article: How to shop for seafood

BYOB

• Green Tip of the Week
  BYOB: Bring Your Own Bags!
  
  · Bring them to the grocery store, or any store for that matter!
  · Invest in a few durable cloth bags, or make them yourself.
  · Reuse your plastic bags as trash can liners, pet waste bags, etc.

Did you know?

• The annual cost of plastic bags to US retailers alone is estimated at $4 billion. When retailers give away free bags, their costs are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
• Between 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed and discarded annually worldwide—more than a million per minute.
• Plastic bags aren’t biodegradable – it takes 1,000 years for one plastic bag to break down. They go through a process called photodegradation—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate both soil and water.
• Hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine mammals die every year after eating discarded plastic bags they mistake for food.
• About 8% to 10% of our total oil supply goes to making plastic (12 million barrels per year for just the U.S.).
  

plastic bottles

Green Tip of the Week
Choose tap water over bottled water whenever possible

· Invest in a safe, reusable water bottle. Metal (aluminum or steel) bottles work best, as they do not allow for the growth of mold or bacteria, and unlike their plastic counterparts, do not release harmful chemicals.
· Use a water filter at home if the taste of your tap water is not up to par.
· If you have to use bottled water, be sure to recycle the bottle.

Did you know?

• Switching to tap water can save you $250 per year. In 2008, Americans spent more than $11 billion on bottled water.
• Drinking bottled water boosts greenhouse gas emissions 46 times more than drinking water from the tap.
• An estimated 25 percent or more of bottled water is really just tap water in a bottle.
• Globally, 2.5 million plastic water bottles are thrown away every hour. In 2005, 2 million tons of plastic water bottles ended up in landfills – this is $1 billion worth of plastic.
• If you live in the US, click here to find your drinking water quality report.
  

weekly green tip

I publish these at work. Hope you find it useful.

Green Tip of the Week
Unplug your appliances and chargers when they are not in use

Cell phone Ipod Chargers Toaster Microwave* Hair Dryer Television* DVD/VHS Players* Computer*

Did you know?

• It is estimated that phantom appliances use an average of 1000 kWh per household annually, costing about $270 per year. This adds up to 113 billion kWh lost due to idle appliances in the U.S. each year, equivalent to the yearly output of 29 coal power plants.
• Turning off the un-used electronic devices in one average, American home would prevent over 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
  
  *Use power strips to turn off frequently used appliances.