Earth Day, which will be celebrated on Wednesday, is a good time to look at the way electronics are using and wasting energy.

Among the culprits are devices that suck power while not in use. I'm not sure how they arrived at this figure, but the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that, "in the average home, 75 percent of the electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off."

The government advises unplugging devices or using a power strip to turn them off, but this is sometimes inconvenient as it will disable remote controls and, in some cases, require the device to go through a time-consuming start-up.

Some devices are designed to run 24 hours a day. Digital video recorders, for example, are always standing-by to record your programs. About 18 months ago, I put an energy meter on some of the devices in my home and discovered that my TiVo was using 30 watts 24/7 and a Motorola Comcast PVR I was using at the time was sucking 40 watts, regardless of whether it was recording a program.

Little power bricks also consume electricity even when nothing is connected to them, so it's a good idea to unplug items like cell phone chargers and iPod chargers when not in use.

Many people leave their personal computers on 24 hours a day. If the machine successfully goes into sleep mode, the power drain is relatively low. But it's not uncommon, especially for Windows systems, for the machine to run at full-throttle when it should be sleeping.

If you do leave your machine turned on - even while at lunch - try to configure it to go into sleep or "stand-by" mode after, say, 15 or 20 minutes of inactivity.

In theory, it will wake up as soon as you touch the keyboard or move the mouse. Unfortunately, Windows sleep mode doesn't always work properly. Sometimes it fails to go into standby. And if it does fall asleep, it sometimes fails to wake up properly. There are a variety of reasons for this, including some software that demands full power. But often the culprit is one or more device drivers or USB devices that either fails to let the machine sleep or interferes with its ability to wake up.

Screen saver software does not save energy. It's much better to turn off your monitor when you take a break. CO2 Saver, a free program for Windows XP and Vista, can help you manage your PC's sleep behavior.

In my limited experience as a beta tester, Windows 7 seems to do a better job at sleeping and waking than Vista or Windows XP, but this is machine and software dependent. So until we see widespread deployment, we won't know if Microsoft has solved the problem. Mac OS X seems to be less prone to insomnia or failing to wake up, but it's not exempt from these problems.

PCs with ultra-fast processors and display adapters tend to use more power than somewhat slower systems. In general, notebook PCs are considerably more energy efficient than desktops, partially because they're designed to run on batteries and also because they have built-in screens that are powered from the same power supply as the rest of the machine. All-in-one desktops are generally more eco-friendly than machines with an external monitor.

Even though it doesn't affect your own power meter, the electrical demands of Internet services also add up. Every time you do something online, a server somewhere might have to access a hard drive while routers throughout the Internet are using energy to transmit the data that you're sending and receiving. I'm not suggesting you cut back on Internet use - just be aware that it's not carbon free.

And speaking of carbon, a McAfee-commissioned report issued last week by ICF International found that 62 trillion pieces of spam sent in 2008 had the same environmental impact as 3.1 million passenger cars or 2.4 million U.S. homes. A single piece of junk e-mail adds 0.3 grams of carbon dioxide, which is like driving three feet.

The ICF report estimates that e-mail from the average business user accounts for 288 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, with 22 percent of that usage related to spam. More than half the energy wasted by spam results from users viewing and deleting it, according to the report.

The process of getting spam from one place to another involves multiple phases - all of which consume energy. First, there is the scraping of Web sites to harvest e-mail addresses, followed by code and copy writing to initiate the spam campaign. Next comes sending the messages via the Internet to an army of infected "zombie PCs," all of which use energy to receive and retransmit the messages. Then there is the impact on servers that store and send the spam, the routers and other Internet infrastructure, and, of course, the PCs that finally receive and display the junk mail.

Add to that the resources used to attempt to filter the spam and it's easy to understand the potential environmental impact. If every in-box had spam filters, according to the report, we could cut energy waste by 75 percent. But eliminating spam at the source would save even more.

Via: Stop Global Warming

Looking to shed a few pounds before the summer? Losing weight is not only great for your health -- it's also good for the environment.

The following suggestions will help reduce your waistline and your impact on the planet.

• Eat fresh fruits, vegetables, and other real foods. High amounts of salt, sugar, and other unhealthy ingredients can hide in packaged foods. In fact, some flavored yogurts can contain more sugar than ice cream, according to Dara O'Rourke at GoodGuide, a database that can help you find healthy and environment-friendly foods. Manufacturing, packaging, and transporting processed foods to the store typically requires a large amount of energy and resources.
  
• Stay away from high-fructose corn syrup. It can make you fat and is linked to diabetes. Massive amounts of fertilizers are used to grow corn, and these chemicals are eroding America's soil and polluting the Gulf of Mexico.
  
• Choose lean protein such as chicken, eggs, sustainable seafood, and legumes. It's not high in saturated fat and fills you up so you're not looking for your next meal too quickly. Red meat, in particular, takes a huge toll on the environment. Raising livestock is one of the most significant contributors to a long list of environmental problems from climate change to deforestation to water pollution.
  
• Replace high-calorie soft drinks with filtered tap water. Obviously, anything you can do to cut calories is a win for your body. How does it benefit the earth? Fewer resources are needed to make bottles and cans and ship them to stores. It also puts less pressure on landfills.
  
• Cook your own meals instead of eating out at restaurants. It's harder to control portions when you go out to eat, and you have no control over whether healthy ingredients are used to prepare your meal. Besides, restaurants end up wasting a lot of perfectly good food.
  
• Walk and bike more. Exercise is a major component of any healthy weight loss program. You'll burn more calories and less gas by leaving your car at home.
  
• Don't deprive yourself. Satisfy your sweet tooth with a little bit of fair-trade dark chocolate. Studies show that the antioxidants present in dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure. Fair-trade cocoa farmers are paid fair wages, which allows them to take good care of their land.  

Via:http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/65/diet-tips-that-save-the-planet.html

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Earth Day is a time to celebrate the gains we have made in protecting the environment, but also a time to reflect and ask, "How can we do more?". The Top 10 list below is a call to action and is meant to stimulate additional discussions about what we as individuals and communities can do to help protect our planet.

1. Educate Yourself.

The number one thing you can do is simply to educate yourself about the issues. You cannot act and you cannot call others to action until you understand the facts. So spend some time researching issues such as Global Warming, Recycling, Energy Consumption, etc...

2. Create Awareness.

Once you educate yourself, tell a friend, tell a co-worker, tell a family member or even tell a stranger! Creating awareness among others one person at a time is a wonderful way to spread the Green movement.

3. Recycle.

Recycling is one of the best ways to help the environment. Recycling reduces garbage in landfills, reduces carbon emissions by reducing manufacturing and transportation emissions and enables our Earth's natural resources to be more evenly distributed among the world's population.

4. Get involved in Politics.

We need our government to legislate change requiring businesses to engage in Green behavior as well as to fund the development of renewable energy. To this end, we need elected officials pushing the Green agenda. Vote for politicians who share the same Green values as you.

5. Drive Less.

6. Use Fuel Efficient Vehicles.

7. Use Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs).

8. Monitor the Temperature

9. Turn Them Off!

10. Water Conservation.

Imprinted Forget Me Not Planet Earth Ornament

Celebrate Earth Day this April 22nd by giving out these personalized handmade plantable paper to promote your business. Forget Me Not Planet Earth Ornaments with your company logo or message are perfect way to show you care about the environment while advertising your business. Each comes packaged in a crystal clear poly bag with a planting instruction card and your company name and message on the card.

For Earth Day we decided to ask seven sustainability superstars for advice on ways to help the planet -- beyond the usual (albeit important) maxims to switch to energy-efficient bulbs, buy organic and drive less. Here's what they had to say:

Earth Day -- April 22 -- each year marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, the birth of Mariah Carey, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina -- an incident not acknowledged for 18 years.

 It was into such a world that the very first Earth Day was born.

Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda. " "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."

At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.

Earth Day 1970 turned that all around.

On April 22, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his youthful staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.

Earth Day 1970 achieved a rare political alignment, enlisting support from Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts.

Sen. Nelson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the highest honor given to civilians in the United States -- for his role as Earth Day founder.

As 1990 approached, a group of environmental leaders asked Denis Hayes to organize another big campaign. This time, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issues on to the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

As the millennium approached, Hayes agreed to spearhead another campaign, this time focused on global warming and a push for clean energy. Earth Day 2000 combined the big-picture feistiness of the first Earth Day with the international grassroots activism of Earth Day 1990. For 2000, Earth Day had the Internet to help link activists around the world. By the time April 22 rolled around, 5,000 environmental groups around the world were on board, reaching out to hundreds of millions of people in a record 184 countries. Events varied: A talking drum chain traveled from village to village in Gabon, Africa, for example, while hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., USA.

Earth Day 2000 sent the message loud and clear that citizens the world 'round wanted quick and decisive action on clean energy.

Now, the fight for a clean environment continues. We invite you to be a part of this history and a part of Earth Day. Discover energy you didn't even know you had. Feel it rumble through the grass roots under your feet and the technology at your fingertips. Channel it into building a clean, healthy, diverse world for generations to come.

Learning to Do Historical Research: A Primer for Environmental Historians and Others

Via: Earth Day Network

The Problem

Many of our nation’s schools are in poor repair, making them a threat to our children’s health and ability to grow and learn. In 1995, the U.S. General Accounting Office reported that “While laws compel children to attend school, some school buildings may be unsafe or even harmful to children’s health.” The average age of U.S. public schools is 42 years old and over 60 percent of schools report at least one serious maintenance problem. More than half of these schools report at least one unsatisfactory environmental condition such as poor ventilation.

Tight school budgets mean that school buildings are cleaned less frequently, allowing dust and mold to build up — both trigger asthma and allergies. Poorly maintained ventilation systems may also contribute to poor air quality in older school buildings and poor health among students. When schools are cleaned, the chemicals used may be harmful to children’s development. The pesticides used on school grounds are more harmful to growing children than they are to adults and may be used at unsafe levels.

In addition, a substantial number of schools, particularly those in low income communities, are built on the cheapest land available — which may be near polluting industries or may have been contaminated by previous industrial uses.

Who Is Affected?

Children are more vulnerable than adults to toxins in their environments due to their smaller size, developing bodies and normal childhood behavior such as crawling, digging in dirt and putting objects in their mouths. Scientists are beginning to link rising levels of childhood asthma and increased rates of hyperactivity in children to exposure to pesticides, toxic chemicals and pollutants.

What You Can Do

Join with other parents to perform a “toxic audit” of your child’s school. Find out what types of chemicals are used in your child’s school, if the land it’s built on contains toxic chemicals, what sources of pollution are nearby, and what maintenance issues could be triggering asthma and allergies in students. There are a number of “healthy school” groups and coalitions that can provide toolkits and other information for your audit, such as the Healthy Schools Network and Tools for Healthy Schools.

Join with other parents in your state to fight for healthier schools. Many states have coalitions fighting for laws and funding to make public schools healthier for children. For example, California’s Healthy Schools Campaign successfully passed a law that requires California public schools to reduce their use of pesticides on school grounds. Search the Internet to find out if your state has a coalition fighting for healthier schools.

Find out where your local and state officials stand on healthy schools. Attend town meetings and ask them whether they support more funding for school maintenance and reduced use of toxic chemicals in schools. Register to vote and vote for the candidates who will work to clean up your schools.

Other Resources

To find out more about how toxic chemicals and other environmental hazards affect children, contact Physicians for Social Responsibility or the Center for Health, Environment and Justice’s “Childproofing Our Communities” project.

Via: Earth Day Network