Whatever Befalls the Earth

"Save the Earth! It's the only place with chocolate." -Seen on a Soy Milk container.

Just a few simple ways to conserve energy, save resources and save the earth so that everyone can have chocolate for a little while longer.

1. The average person in the U.S. walks less than 75 miles a year, according to a researcher at the University of California. I find that astonishing. Walk, bike or use an alternate mode of transportation! It's finally springtime and warm out in most places. Bike over to a friend's house instead of having your mom drive you. This has a double plus: you'll save gas AND get exercise at the same time! (Exercise is not that bad!)

2. Recycle, recycle, recycle! Paper, cans and cardboard! To see a list of some recyclable things, go to http://www.p2pays.org/dmrm/start.aspx. Some things may not be accepted in your community or you may have to take them to a certain store, so always check first.

3. Turn off your computer at night. I know this is annoying and I'm guilty of leaving my computer on at night too. But did you know that computers, left on all night, use up 5% of all the energy used in the U.S.? (Editor's Note: Fascinating!?? Where did you get this info?) Another option is for you to have your computer "hibernate". I believe that this is an option on most computers, but I'm not sure. Hibernating is where your computer stores all the information needed to come back to the exact screen where you were with all the programs open. It then shuts down with that information stored in its memory and doesn't take as long to start up again as after it shuts down.

4. Turn off lights when you leave the room. You are not in the room so you no longer need the light. If you really want to take this far, you could buy motion light sensors that sense when you leave the room and turn off the lights. They also sense when you come into the room and turn the lights back on.

I'll end this article with two quotes: