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6:28:00 PM EDT
Reader Mail: Calculators, Concerts and Computers
Recently I've been getting mail from the general public, environmental groups and corporations. I wanted to share some of it with you and thank them for sending in the info. It's good to know what is going on around green issues.
Calculators: The Nature Conservancy has a new greenhouse gas emissions calculator. I just tried it and found it to be okay. It asks you for general information and approximations (Example: you could check whether you installed energy-efficient lighting "everywhere possible," "in some lights," or "not yet."). At the end, it gives you a specific amount for the emissions caused by you or your household -- and has links to things you can do to reduce them. Our emissions were higher than the U.S. average for a two-person household, although other calculators have use below average. I wonder how they get the specific emissions value from the general info I put in.
Concerts: One reader sent in a link to a site that is promoting "virtual" concerts that will be more environmentally friendly than the Live Earth concerts planned for this summer. The site seems to be something of a rip-off of the actual liveearth.org site. My take on the Live Earth concerts is that if they get more people to take action and donate money to help fight global warming and protect the planet in other ways, then they're a good thing. If they are just a day of music and hoopla with no followthrough, then they are just music and hoopla.
Whale Teeth: The Bad Guys blog at US News & World Report sent me this link about illegal smuggling of whale teeth. Looks like you should question the source of any etched whale tooth artifacts and make sure it's legit.
Green Building Rating Systems: A group in Portland, Ore., is pushing a rival to the popular LEED rating system for green buildings. They want a "Green Globes" system, similar to the one in Canada, to be available in addition to LEED for certifying green buildings in the states.
Recycling Computers: The "Free Geek" sent me a mail with a link to his list of 10 ways to recycle your computer equipment. I've written about this topic before -- it's worthwhile to recycle any computer stuff you can. It just takes a little bit of time to look into it.
Thoughts? Additional links? Post them here!
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Keep reading all of this crap, nobody will listen to reason but hope is coming soon. There is a solution already but people want more proof and it will be here soon.
5/21/07 12:25 PM
It's true, there are a ton of little decisions about what to include or not include that make the results come out differently. Lisa Moore, a climate scientists at Environmental Defense, wrote <A HREF="http://environmentaldefensebl
The bottom line is that even if the exact calculations can vary, calculators can help you understand that Americans in general create a LOT of global warming pollution, and which activities of yours you should pay more attention to.