One obvious way to help save water is to take shorter showers. But often times we don't realize how much time we're actually spending in the tub. Researchers have come up with a unique way to combat accidental long showers:  Sing a Beatles song.

According to Yahoo! News, "A British water company has urged customers to sing in the shower and recommends Beatles songs as they are short and so can help save water and cut energy bills." Thames Water claims that remaining in the shower just long enough to hum the tune of a short song (four minutes or less) would make an impressive impact on one's water usage.  The company's top recommendation is the Beatles' Love Me Do, which clocks in at just two minutes and 22 seconds.
  

Jayne Farrin, head of corporate communications for Thames Water, urges people to sing in the shower for their mental health, as well.  "It is well-documented that singing can have positive psychological effects, and that the act of singing releases endorphins, the brain's 'feel good' chemicals," Farrin said. "The results of our study show only 35% of Britons sing in the shower. We could all do with breaking into song more often. It’s got to be good for morale."

The Gap, Kraft, MillerCoors, Sara Lee, and Nestle -- chances are you recognize at least one of these companies.  In fact, you probably purchased an item from one of these organizations recently.

What do they have in common?  All of these corporations, according to EnvironmentalLeader.com, have been affected by the world's water woes.

Take the Gap, for example.  After the Texas droughts destroyed cotton crops, the clothing retailer "cut its profit forecast by 22 percent."  Other companies, like Kraft and Nestle, will have to raise product prices due to droughts in some locations and floods in others.

On rainy days like today in the Northeast, it's hard to imagine a drought-stricken world.  But what happens all over the globe affects us more than we know.  And as water consumption grows "over twice as quickly as the global population," it looks like the stresses will only get worse.

In late July, Long Island teacher Daniel Bobis traveled to Indonesia on a surfing vacation.  The high school teacher, according to the Surfrider Foundation Central Long Island Chapter, was also "head coach of the surf team, loving husband, surfer, musician, environmental activist, martial arts master, and friend to all."  But Bobis never returned from his Indonesian excursion; he was killed while surfing a 10-foot wave.

Bobis, a dedicated environmentalist, was a member of the Sludge Stoppers Task Force, "a group that advocates for clean beaches in Long Beach," reports SeattlePI.com.  That's why approximately a dozen people came together at the Laurelton Boulevard boardwalk in Long Beach, NY for an organized beach clean-up on Sunday.  Together, participants not only cleaned up Long Beach, but also commemorated Bobis' life and contribution to keeping Long Island beaches safe and sanitary.

The event was sponsored by the Surfrider Foundation's Central Long Island Chapter.  If you share Bobis' passion for keeping the coast clean and would like to celebrate his life, find your local chapter today and get involved today! 

Our world's population is increasing, and fast.  Did you know that by October 31, 2011, the global population could reach 7 billion?  That's according to the United Nations Populations Fund, and while it may seem exciting to know that the human population is advancing, growth does not come without challenges.

According to CNN, "A rising population puts enormous pressures on a planet already plunging into environmental catastrophe." Indeed, just last month the world "celebrated" Earth Overshoot Day -- a day that marks that we've used up an entire year's worth of environmental productivity.  As the human population continues to ascend rapidly, providing basic resources will become more and more difficult.

In what ways are we destroying the planet's resources?  Human beings cut down rainforests, deplete groundwater, and emit greenhouse gases, among other harmful activities.  As we continue to exhaust our natural resources, the planet will struggle to keep up.

CNN reports that our "economic challenges are equally huge."  And it's in the poorest and most fragile countries that populations are growing the fastest.  Some economies may not be able to keep pace, and those countries may be destined for crisis.

But it's important to focus on the fact that these are warnings, and "not an inevitable outcome."  When it comes down to it, the only sure-fire way to cope with human beings' rapid expansion is to empower people to improve their lives.  The future doesn't have to look so grim; we just have to see this milestone as a wake-up call.

Those who are passionate about everything 'green' know that LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which is a green building certification system that's used worldwide.  LEED-certified buildings or communities are built using energy-saving strategies.  You may not realize it, but many of the restaurants and food chains you visit on your lunch break are, in fact, LEED-certified.  According to Good Housekeeping's The Daily Green, the following restaurants "are some of the few who have successfully pursued LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council."

1.  Arby's
The fast-food chain has one LEED-certified building at the moment, located in Magnolia, Texas.

2.  McDonald's
Everyone's favorite golden arches boast two LEED-certified locations.  They're in Chicago, Illinois and Cary, North Carolina.

3.  Starbucks
The extremely popular coffee chain has a whopping nine LEED-certified stores, "making Starbucks the king of the green chain store," according to The Daily Green.

4.  Dunkin' Donuts
While its coffee gives Starbucks' some stiff competition, Dunkin' only has one LEED-certified location in St. Petersburg, Florida.

5.  Chipotle
Craving Mexican today? You can visit the Gurnee, Illinois branch of Chipotle guilt-free; it's achieved platinum LEED-certified green status.  Chipotle also has recently added two more green locations.

Throughout America, only "38 restaurants have received LEED certification," and, surprisingly, 40% of the certified dining locations are chains.  You can view The Daily Green's entire list here.

It's impossible to forget last year's BP oil spill disaster.  But have we learned nothing?  Last Wednesday, an oil container ship struck a reef in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty.  It's been leaking since, and is being called the country's "most significant maritime environmental disaster." 

According to the BBC, "350 tonnes of oil may have leaked from the 775ft (236m) Rena, which ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef off the port of Tauranga on Wednesday."  Stormy weather has prevented workers from pumping oil out of the ship, but what's worse is that, as weather conditions deteriorate, the ship may break up.  If the boat does fall apart, all 1,700 tons of fuel on-board will leak into the bay.

While authorities urged residents to stay off the beach, volunteers have created their own clean-up teams, according to Yahoo! News.  The teams are also rescuing animals; the Bay of Plenty is home to an array of wildlife, "including whales, dolphins, penguins, seals and rare sea birds."  Dead birds and fish are already collecting on New Zealand beaches.

Indeed, The Guardian reports that "conservationists have warned of an impending wildlife 'tragedy'" as a result of the spill, "with populations of penguins, whales, seals and seabirds set to be hardest hit."  Over 300 Defense Force personnel have been dispatched in response to the spill, as well as specialists from the UK, the Netherlands and Australia.  Hopefully, the clean-up will be fast, and endangered animal species, such as the New Zealand dotterel, a shorebird, can survive.

The world is watching as Londoners make the city's long-awaited Blackfriars Bridge project finally come to fruition.  The eco-initiative, which will be managed by Solar Century, will incorporate over 4,000 solar panels onto the Blackfriars Railway Bridge, located over the River Thames.  It's expected to provide approximately 900,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year.

According to CNN, that much electricity is enough to provide Blackfriars Railway Station "with half of its energy needs."  Additionally, the station's CO2 emissions are expected to drop by more than 500 tons.  The Guardian reports that the project is expected to be completed by 2012, and will be London's largest display of solar panels.

The new Blackfriars Rail Bridge, which is located "in the heart of London," will not only power the station and reduce carbon emissions, but it will also prove to people worldwide that clean energy is the way of the future.  "For people to see that solar power is working is a vital step towards a clean energy future," Derry Newman, a representative for Solar Century, told CNN.

Built in 1886, the railway bridge is part of the city's railroad history.  The solar-panel update will transform the bridge into "an iconic station for the city," said Lindsay Vamplew, project director for Blackfriars.  I'm excited to the effect the solar technology will have on the railroad station and its patrons.  Hopefully the rest of the world's cities will soon follow suit; I can think of a few bridges in New York that could surely utilize the same technology!

Most of us don't like thinking about our loved ones passing away.  But if you've ever had the conversation with your friends and family, I bet you've found that many individuals wish to be cremated once they've passed.  I've always wondered what people do with the ashes of their relatives and buddies who have deceased.

Did you know that there's an eco-friendly way to respect the dead? That's right -- Cool Green Magazine reports that the Poetree, which is a ceramic ring that features the deceased's details, can be filled with the deceased ashes.  Family members can take the urn home, along with a tree sapling inside of a biodegradable pot, and plant the tree inside of its ashes. 

According to the magazine, "After giving the boxwood tree some time to grow, the urn can then be planted outside, where the cork container can biodegrade, leaving only the ceramic ring as a marker and a living, growing tree to commemorate those who have passed on."  If you ask me, this is a beautiful way to honor the dead and turn death into something hopeful.

I recently read an article on Mother Nature Network (MMN)'s Web site that got me thinking.  The post pointed out the fact that as more stores pass out reusable bags, the more we as consumers accumulate.  Pretty soon, we're all going to have a collection of recyclable bags that go unused.

What happens to all those extra bags? According to MMN, these customized totes end up creating a big environmental problem of their own.  The truth of the matter is that the reusable totes are not currently being reused enough to have a significant impact.  "A nonwoven polypropylene bag, for example, would have to be used ... 11 times to make up for the negative effects of a plastic bag used one time," reports MMN. But people aren't using their free bags that much.

So how can we prevent reusable bags from becoming another form of waste?  MMN offers the following tips:

1.  If you've got enough totes, don't accept any more.  "Just like we politely decline the free paper or plastic bags at checkout, we need to start politely declining a free reusable bag that we know we’ll never use again," advises MMN.

2.  Only give out high quality promotional tote bags that will actually be used.  Motivators offers the best reusable totes, ensuring recipients will want to (and be able to) use them again and again.

3.  Encourage your representative to place a ban on disposable bags, such as paper and plastic bags, so that consumers begin to use their reusable bags instead.  This will help decrease the use of and dependency on plastic bags.

What will you do to help prevent a reusable bag surplus?

When you continue to withdraw money from your checking account that has a balance of $0, you overdraw.  Yesterday, the world's citizens began to overdraw from the planet's resources for the year, putting us into eco-debt.  Termed "Earth Overshoot Day," September 27 marked the day this year that we used up a whole year's worth of environmental productivity.  And, according to the Global Footprint Network, the day came earlier this year than ever before.

Discovery News reports that yesterday "the entire planet [went] into ecological debt."  We depend on our planet's resources for nutrition, fuel, shelter and more.  But, according to Discovery News, "since the 1970's humans have been using more resources than a single planet provides."  Based on how much humans currently use, we'd need 1.5 Earths to keep up our rates.

But we only have one Earth, and therefore are in-debt to our planet's eco systems.  In the U.S., we simply raise our debt ceiling when we need a bail-out; however, Discovery News warns that "Once the planet's resources are used up, we have no where else to go."  Those chilling words reiterate what we all already know to be true:  We're living beyond our means.

It's going to take a lot of work to balance out our debt.  You can help to reduce our consumption by calculating your own footprint; the less we each consume, the less debt we'll be in as a whole.