Web Links & Actions
Things You Can Do for Health & Home
1. Sign Up for Cleaner, Renewable Energy.
If you do just one thing on this list, do this! Buying cleaner, renewable energy will help create a market for alternate energy sources and move us away from fossil fuel dependence. Use your buying power to make a difference! Here are two ways to get started:
http://www.exeloncorp.com/ourcompanies/ peco/pecores/peco_wind
If you live in Chester County and use PECO, sign up for wind power. It costs just over 2 cents more per kilowatt-hour, and you can buy it in 100-kilowatt-hour blocks and pay just $2.54 extra per month per block. If you do other things to reduce your electricity use-like use compact fluorescent bulbs, buy energy-efficient appliances, and simply become more conscientious about turning off your TV and lights when you leave the room-you'll save money even with the added cost of wind, and you'll produce much less pollution. And our children will benefit exponentially.
http://www.theenergy.coop/biodiesel.htm
http://www.amerigreenbio.com
You can sign up for 100% renewable energy at these websites, as well as others. And, if you use oil heat at home, you can buy biodiesel heating oil here, without changing a thing in your home. One of our moms uses it to heat her home, and all it took was a phone call!
2. "Pre"cycle!
When we go to Target, Sam's Club or the grocery store and buy those extra things we don't need, we're over-consuming at the expense of our children, because nearly everything we buy has a "fossil fuel cost." Manufacturers use petroleum to make plastics. Products of all kinds travel far and wide via airplanes and trucks to get to our stores, and we consume lots of gas driving to the store to buy them. Although Americans comprise just 5% of the world's population, we consume more than 30% of its resources. Each American uses 52% more energy than each Japanese citizen and more than 11 times more energy than the average Chinese citizen.
As Vicki Robin, author of the National best-seller Your Money or Your Life, says: When we break the "imagined link between consumption and fulfillment," we help preserve the life-giving natural resources that our children need to live in the future. As parents, we need to identify and fulfill our real needs without robbing our children of opportunity.
Our moms and "Mr. moms" are making efforts to keep our own consumption down by applying a simple 3-part test to every purchase we make: 1-Will this fulfill a real need or a passing desire? 2-Is it worth the time I spent driving to the store and the hours my family worked to buy this item? 3-Will I end up throwing it away? Even seemingly small things like making your child's next birthday party gift bag-free or completely gift-free (http://www.birthdayswithoutpressure.org) can make a difference and help your family return to what is really important. Read this website for more tips on how to downsize: http://www.onlineorganizing.com/NewslettersArticle.asp?newsletter=go&article=362
We're also reducing what we do need by buying in bulk and buying reusable and concentrated items, like juices and detergents. We try to reuse items like paper, by using both sides before we recycle them. Then, we recycle because recycling saves energy otherwise needed to make new products. If you recycle 50% of your glass, aluminum, plastic, cardboard and newspapers, for example, you'll save 2,400 pounds of CO2 a year. For recycling drop-off locations near you, visit this website and enter your zip code: http://www.dep.state.pa.us/wm_apps/RecyclingLocations
And, watch this 6-minute video to learn more about the role of recycling:
http://www.greenworks.tv/tvshow/ind_families/buy_recycled_a.htm
For more inspiration, visit: http://www.popco.org and click on "Toward a Solution to Overconsumption."
Please join us in practicing the 5 Rs of Precycling! The Five Rs of Precycling:
1 - Refuse what you don't need
2 - Reduce what you do need
3 - Reuse what you can't reduce
4 - Recycle what you can't reuse
5 - Rebuy (buy recycled) whenever possible
3. Buy Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs.
http://www.1000bulbs.com
We use 20% of all electricity for lighting, and we can cut this in half by replacing traditional incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. They cost more initially but save money over time because they last up to 10 times longer and use up to two-thirds less electricity than the incandescent bulbs we normally use around the house.* This is an important-not to mention easy and pain-free-step we can all take. The newest-generation of compact fluorescents come in many light spectrums and styles for all types of fixtures, including torpedoes and dimmables. We found this site to have lots of options. Click on "screw-in fluorescents" to view their offerings.
You can also find "natural daylight" compact fluorescents for reading and task work at sites like this: http://www.rewci.com/vercomfluorb.html.
Or, you can buy lots of good compact fluorescent bulbs at your local hardware and electrical stores.
* Source: Brown Lester R. Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble. NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006.
4. Buy Locally Grown Food.
http://www.foodroutes.org
Did you know that grapes grown in Chile travel more than 4,000 miles just to get to California? Did you know that even organic foods are saturated in fossil fuels because they are often transported to us from far away? With close to 20% of fossil fuels going into the growing, production/processing, preservation/packaging and transport of food, you can help secure your children's future simply by buying locally grown food (fruits/vegetables, meats, dairy, grains). And you'll be doing your children good, because locally grown food is often healthier, in part because nutritional values decline (often dramatically) with the passage of time after harvest. Many local farmers also use more sustainable farming practices that eliminate or reduce the amount of synthetic fertilizers, antibiotics, pesticides, herbicides, irradiation, artificial flavors, colors and preservatives that otherwise go into the food. Local farming also preserves open space. Take the pledge on this website to buy 10% of your food from local producers. And ask your market to carry more local foods.
During the harvest seasons, buy your food at local markets or community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms. If you live in Chester County, visit this site: http://dsf.chesco.org/agriculture/site/default.asp to locate farmers' markets and CSA farms near you. Just click on "Farm Markets" on the left column, then click on "Farm Market Guide" to download a map. At CSA farms, you buy a share for the season and pick up your bushel of fresh vegetables every week. CSAs often offer locally raised organic beef, eggs and dairy products, too, and they promote a strong sense of community while providing a great learning experience and open spaces for kids.
5. Get Rid of Junk Mail.
http://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist
Paper manufacturing is the fourth most energy-intensive industry, and according to ForestEthics (http://www.forestethics.org), retailers mail out 17 billion catalogs each year. That's 59 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. To make matters worse, 35% of all trash is paper, and landfill waste generates methane-a more potent climate-altering pollutant than CO2. So, do you really need all those catalogs? One of our moms piled hers up in the corner for just two weeks and counted 41! Join her in getting rid of yours by visiting the Direct Marketing Association's website and registering for their "Mail Preference Service." It's free by mail or costs $5 to register on-line.
Also, you can order a free Junk Mail Reduction Kit through the Southeastern Chester County Refuse Authority. Just click here: http://www.seccra.org/20030225junkmail.htm
Or, just tell your catalog retailers to take you off their lists by calling or visiting their customer service centers on-line and sending them an e-mail.
While you're at it, use cloth towels instead of paper towels. Use cloth napkins. And, urge Congress to create a "Do Not Junk" registry modeled after the wildly successful "Do Not Call" registry. This will make it even easier to eliminate unwanted, harmful junk mail. Go to the New American Dream website to register your support: http://www.newdream.org/Junkmail.
6. Buy Energy-Efficient Appliances, Televisions and Other Household Items.
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=find_a_product
The Environmental Protection Agency makes it easy to buy energy-efficient products. They're rated with the EPA "Energy Star" label and are listed here on this website. Look for this logo on the packages of your compact fluorescent bulbs, too. It will help ensure that the bulbs run efficiently.
7. Take Al Gore's 10 Steps To Reduce Fossil Fuel Use & Cut Your CO2 Pollution.
http://www.climatecrisis.net
Yes, this is Al Gore's site, and we've heard what the critics say. But, the truth is that the scientific content of his movie and book have universally received 100% approval ratings from experts and scientists. And he's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global climate change education. We don't care who you voted for in 2000 or how you feel about the man. Global climate change is not a political issue. It is a moral one. We urge you to see the movie and read the book An Inconvenient Truth. We urge you to visit this site and click "Take Action" to read about 10 very simple things you can do to reduce the amount of energy you use and the CO2 pollution you generate.
"What will you tell your children when, ten years from now, they ask: Why didn't you wake up sooner?"
- Vice President Al Gore, author, An Inconvenient Truth
8. Buy our Moms for the Future Reusable Grocery Bags!
Americans use more than 12 million barrels of oil each year just to produce plastic grocery bags. Moms for the Future will soon be offering reusable totes. Check back soon!
Actions You Can Take
1. Tell Your Elected Representatives What You Think!
http://ucsaction.org/ucsaction/home.html
The Union of Concerned Scientists can help you tell your representatives that they need to act now to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the threat to our children. Just click here and sign on to this group's important initiatives that focus on reducing US oil dependence, improving fuel economy standards, and fighting global warming.
2. Tell Automakers To Stop Hurting Our Children's Future and Start Turning a Profit Instead.
Increasing the fuel economy of light duty vehicles is the single most effective energy-saving policy the federal government could adopt, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Learn more about why CAFÉ standards are past due: http://www.aceee.org/energy/cafe.htm
Environmental Defense will help you tell automakers that they need to make cars and trucks (including SUVs) more fuel efficient. The only thing holding them back is short-term thinking. The US automakers keep fighting fuel efficiency standards, claiming this will reduce their profits. But guess what? The more fuel-efficient, foreign automakers (Toyota and Honda) are out-performing American automakers in profits by huge margins. Tell domestic automakers to help our children while helping themselves: http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/carbon_burden_cars2?source=actioncenter
3. Boycott Exxon/Mobil.
http://www.exxposeexxon.com/action
If you think it's stupid, radical or a waste of time to boycott a company, think again. In our society, our economic power has great influence when we pool resources. It's what Reverend James Lawson calls "slaying the monster" of greed.
Why take aim at Exxon/Mobil, and not other oil companies? With $36 billion in profits in 2005 alone (the highest on record for any U.S. company), Exxon Mobil is abusing its power to jeopardize our children's future. Unlike other oil companies, Exxon has long sponsored an expensive propaganda and lobbying campaign to deny the existence of human-induced global climate change and, thus, keep demand for oil (and their profits) on the rise. The Union of Concerned Scientists likens this to Big Tobacco's secret addition of addictive ingredients into cigarettes and their marketing to kids.
Exxon/Mobil is a large part of the reason we have not made progress to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, along with complicit government leaders. Use this site to petition Exxon's CEO, learn how to talk to your local Exxon station owner to put economic pressure on the company's leaders, and buy a bumper sticker proclaiming your position. And don't buy Exxon/Mobil gas!
Informational / Networking Links We Like
Whole Building Design Guide
http://www.wbdg.org/wbdg_approach.php
Buildings consume more than 40% of all the energy we use in America. This site helps us understand how we can promote "greener" construction so new school, community and other buildings will use less energy and rely more on cleaner, renewable energy sources. We found this site easier to understand than many.
ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability
http://www.iclei.org
ICLEI is an association of local governments and national and regional local government organizations that have made a commitment to sustainable development. They help local municipalities reduce energy use and CO2 emissions via its "Cities for Climate Protection" program. One of our moms is working with her local municipality, with the help of ICLEI, to reduce energy use and CO2 emissions on a community-wide level. Explore this site and use these tools to help your local government participate. And, e-mail the moms, and we'll tell you what we're learning from this process: info@momsforthefuture.org.
The Apollo Alliance
http://www.apolloalliance.org
We like this group, because they provide a message of optimism and hope framed around rejuvenating our nation's economy by treating clean energy as an economic and security mandate to rebuild America. The Apollo Alliance thinks our country needs to hope again, to dream again, to think big, and to meet our potential by tapping the optimism and can-do spirit that is embedded in our nation's history. We agree.
Pennsylvania Renewable Energy Festival: September 22-23
http://www.paenergyfest.com
This site informs and educates on renewable energy production, energy efficiency, and sustainable living through meetings, workshops, educational materials, and energy fairs.
Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia
http://sbnphiladelphia.org
Local businesspeople, professionals, entrepreneurs, investors, not-for-profit leaders, and government representatives who are committed to building a more socially, environmentally and financially sustainable local economy meet here. Join them!
Rate Your Car
http://www.greenercars.com
The first step to understanding how we can help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels is to know what we can do better. Did you know the Dodge Ram is the absolute worst vehicle you can drive in terms of fuel efficiency? It's worse than the Hummer. The Chevy Suburban isn't much better. Check out this site to see how you rate, then move on to our next links for some "fuel for thought."
Fuel for Thought
http://www.pbs.org/pov/borders/2004/air/index.html
Visit this site to learn about how people are using alternative fuels to make their cars go.
Green Car Congress
http://www.greencarcongress.com
This site provides information about the full spectrum of energy options, technologies, products, issues and policies related to sustainable transportation.
Hydrogen Hopes
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1506
Read this site to learn how and if hydrogen will replace fossil fuels.
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