Al Gore: Go Greener in 5 Steps

[RedGlitter]

Five ways to go green from Al Gore

• Story Highlights
• Former Vice President Al Gore says easy things can help climate
• Using compact fluorescent lightbulbs, programmable thermostats
• Buying local, organic produce reduces energy use
• Look for Energy Star label on new appliances

(Oprah.com) -- You can become a part of the fight against global warming. Former Vice President Al Gore shares the five things you can buy now that will help solve the climate crisis -- and save you a few bucks! Plus, more of his easy going green tips!
Five things you can buy
1. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs
These energy-efficient bulbs cost less than $4 and are produced by major corporations like GE. If every household in America switched five regular light bulbs for five fluorescent bulbs, it would be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the highways for a full year.
2. Outdoor solar lighting
These yard or patio lights cost less than $20, and they don't burn any electricity or produce any CO2.
3. Programmable thermostats
Though these thermostats cost from $50 to $100, they can actually cut your heating and cooling costs. Set the setting so it's a little bit cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer when you're not in the house. A difference of 2 degrees can reduce a home's CO2 emissions by up to 9 percent over the course of a year.
4. Air filters
Changing the air filters in your heating and cooling systems regularly can knock 2 percent off of your CO2 output each year.
5. Electric water heater blanket
Water heaters use a lot of energy and generate a lot of CO2. A blanket costs less than $18 and can cut your home's CO2 emissions by almost 4½ percent.
Keep green in mind!
Gore says that when you're shopping for major home appliances, look for the Energy Star label. "This is a signal that you're getting an environmentally efficient appliance that's going to save you money at the same time," he says.
During a simple trip to the grocery store, you make hundreds of decisions that can have real environmental impacts. With just a few easy changes, you can make a positive difference in the world.
Instead of regular aluminum foil or plastic wrap, buy recycled aluminum foil. It uses just 1/20th of the energy needed to produce regular foil.
Look for items without extensive packaging. Most food packaging material uses some petroleum-based plastic. There are several ways to cut down on the energy and waste this produces. Look for minimally or unpackaged items instead. Experiment with bringing your own packaging or buying in bulk. Purchase brands that use bio-based instead of petroleum-based plastic. Recycle or reuse packaging materials you end up having to buy.
Bring a cloth bag to the grocery store instead of using its plastic bags. An estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. That's 1 million bags used per minute.
And, according to the EPA, more than 380 billion of those are discarded in the United States. Less than 1 percent of those are actually recycled. Instead, these bags will clog landfills, create litter, choke streams and harm marine wildlife, like whales, seals and sea turtles.
Buy local and organic. Buying seasonal, locally produced food helps in a number of ways. Most food travels 1,500 miles from "farm to fork." But buying local food drastically reduces the energy spent on food shipping. Local goods also tend to use minimal packaging, are fresher and come in more varieties.
The best place to track down local food is at your local farmers' markets or through the Community Supported Agriculture Department. Farmers who grow produce organically use less fossil fuel and release fewer greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Organic farming is better for the land, for the farmers and for the consumers.

[BTS]

HMMMMMM

Who has the mas green-er house?




House #1 A 20 room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house, all heated by gas. In one month this residence consumes more energy than ! the ave rage American household does in a year. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2400. In natural gas alone, this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not situated in a Northern or Midwestern "snow belt" area. It's in the South.



House #2 Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university. This house incorporates every "green" feature current home construction can provide. The house is 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on a high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds ; geothermal heat-pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer! The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas and it consumes one-quarter electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Surrounding flowers and shrubs native to the area enable the property to blend into the surrounding rural landscape.

~~~~~
HOUSE #1 is outside of Nashville , Tennessee ; it is the abode of the "environmentalist" Al Gore;

HOUSE #2 is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas ; it is the residence the of the President of the United States , George W. Bush.

An "inconvenient truth".

If Mr. Gore walked the walk and not the TALK we might start to listen

[YZGI]

[Bored_Wombat]

Originally Posted by BTS

HMMMMMM

Who has the mas green-er house?

Gore attracts ad-hominem attacks. Whatever the truth or falsehood of them, it doesn't in itself detract from the message.

[Sheryl]

Originally Posted by RedGlitter

!
Five things you can buy
1. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs
These energy-efficient bulbs cost less than $4 and are produced by major corporations like GE. If every household in America switched five regular light bulbs for five fluorescent bulbs, it would be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the highways for a full year.

They are in every socket in my house that one will fit.

2. Outdoor solar lighting
These yard or patio lights cost less than $20, and they don't burn any electricity or produce any CO2.

I don't have any outdoor lighting, except for my porchlight which is a flourescent. My backyard is light by a streetllght paid for by the city.


3. Programmable thermostats
Though these thermostats cost from $50 to $100, they can actually cut your heating and cooling costs. Set the setting so it's a little bit cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer when you're not in the house. A difference of 2 degrees can reduce a home's CO2 emissions by up to 9 percent over the course of a year.

have one of these. And it's set for 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Gas prices are outrageous!


4. Air filters
Changing the air filters in your heating and cooling systems regularly can knock 2 percent off of your CO2 output each year.

Ok I'm bad bout remembering to do this. Usually gets done every 3 months or so.


5. Electric water heater blanket
Water heaters use a lot of energy and generate a lot of CO2. A blanket costs less than $18 and can cut your home's CO2 emissions by almost 4½ percent.

Never heard of water heater blankets, but I don't like electric blankets.


Keep green in mind!
Gore says that when you're shopping for major home appliances, look for the Energy Star label. "This is a signal that you're getting an environmentally efficient appliance that's going to save you money at the same time," he says.
During a simple trip to the grocery store, you make hundreds of decisions that can have real environmental impacts. With just a few easy changes, you can make a positive difference in the world.
Instead of regular aluminum foil or plastic wrap, buy recycled aluminum foil. It uses just 1/20th of the energy needed to produce regular foil.
Look for items without extensive packaging. Most food packaging material uses some petroleum-based plastic. There are several ways to cut down on the energy and waste this produces. Look for minimally or unpackaged items instead. Experiment with bringing your own packaging or buying in bulk. Purchase brands that use bio-based instead of petroleum-based plastic. Recycle or reuse packaging materials you end up having to buy.
Bring a cloth bag to the grocery store instead of using its plastic bags. An estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year. That's 1 million bags used per minute.
And, according to the EPA, more than 380 billion of those are discarded in the United States. Less than 1 percent of those are actually recycled. Instead, these bags will clog landfills, create litter, choke streams and harm marine wildlife, like whales, seals and sea turtles.
Buy local and organic. Buying seasonal, locally produced food helps in a number of ways. Most food travels 1,500 miles from "farm to fork." But buying local food drastically reduces the energy spent on food shipping. Local goods also tend to use minimal packaging, are fresher and come in more varieties.
The best place to track down local food is at your local farmers' markets or through the Community Supported Agriculture Department. Farmers who grow produce organically use less fossil fuel and release fewer greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Organic farming is better for the land, for the farmers and for the consumers.

And I'm not even gonna touch the organic farming is best theory, because I think it's a bunch of hoopla! But I do agree for better produce, do shop at your local farmer's market, but not necessarily for organic.

[Bored_Wombat]

Originally Posted by Sheryl

And I'm not even gonna touch the organic farming is best theory, because I think it's a bunch of hoopla! But I do agree for better produce, do shop at your local farmer's market, but not necessarily for organic.

Organic sure tastes better.

[Sheryl]

If I were to hand you a ear of sweet corn, one supposedly organic, and the other grown conventional ways. I don't think you'd be able to tell the difference.

As for tomatoes and produce like that I'll agree, items from farmers market do taste better. And that's because the tomatoes in grocery stores are picked while still green, no flavor. A good tomato picked after being allowed to ripen, is always better.

[Snidely Whiplash]

Al who..? Is that the guy who has 4 mansions with year round heated swimming pools, one with a zinc mine on it that has dumped countless tons of pollutants into his streams, rivers and neighborhoods, the guy who fly's around in his private jets all the time, has his gourmet food flown in from around the world, has had his docu-fiction movie debunked by everyone, and has been taken to court in UK for it's falsehoods and lost his case, and held the biggest most energy intensive series of rock concerts(live earth) in history making himself and his private organization millions and millions of dollars to quote "make people aware of global warming"..? And he got a nobel peace prize for all this.. LOL ???????

I'm as "Green" as most, I recycle and conserve... But to take heed to Al Gore and his suggestions, or treat him as anything but an absurd mentally ill liberal quack..?

Not likely....

[spot]

In the Blue corner, ladies and gentlemen, we have Snidely Whiplash, five foot two, 96 pounds, ten previous engagements, no wins so far, and in the Red corner the Nobel Peace Prize committee, considerable weight and an internationally recognised track record.

"for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change", that's what they wrote.

Snidely, why do you bother? Who is the dilute acid drip meant to amuse? Trying to criticize a message by mocking anyone who presents it is self-defeating, people just watch and cringe.

[fuzzy butt]

I thought everybody did this ...It's the norm here to do all of that.

I don't know exactly what organic means because there are so many regulations to it. But I can tell you what I've done with my vege garden.

I don't do anything to it.

that's it .

If someone can tell me at what point plants needed help to grow I'd be most interested.

This year I havent even watered it at all. It's rained twice since I put the seeds in.
I'll give you a comparison photo of a store brought tomato and one of mine that I've never watered and only had two rain falls. We've eaten the ones I had in the fridge so you'll have to wait another week.

Last year I didn't water the corn much and the actual plants were stunted, what's interesting is that I still got huge full juicy corn cobs. This years corn is not even up to my hip and it's mature and as healthy as can be. And yes the cobs have begun . When it comes in, I'll buy a store bought cob and show the difference between the flesh of mine and the flesh of the store bought one, and the difference in how juicy they are.

RED everything that Gore has put down is normal for us, but I wouldn't recommend a blanket for those who get snow. But if you don't, use a nice soft blanket, it feels more luxurious than you could imagine.