“Going Green” with help from an 8th Grader
April 22, 2008
Earlier this month at the Ballentine-Dutch Fork Civic Association, I met a young lady from our community who gave wonderful presentation on what we can do in our own homes to help conserve energy and help the planet. Since today is Earth Day, I figured it was a great time to share.
Carly Basinger is an 8th Grade student at Dutch Fork Middle School and here’s some of the information she shared at that meeting.
***
By now, everyone knows about “going green”, so here are a few tips to add to your daily lives to become a greener household:
-Of course, change your lights to CFL’s (Compact Fluorescent Bulbs),they use about 75% less energy and last ten times as long.
-When you grocery shop use a canvas bag instead of new plastic bags every time, or take in your plastic bags to the recycling bins out front of most grocery stores. You can also use smaller bags for produce instead of the individual plastic baggies.
-Turn out your lights when you leave a room. This saves energy and also reduces heat (who wants more of that in SC summers?!)
-Unplug appliances you’re not using. You can use a power strip to unplug less-used appliances like reading lamps etc., and all you have to do is push a button!
-Avoid buying cases of bottled water. They use 57 million gallons of oil just to produce. Why not buy a reusable plastic water bottle for about the same price as a case and keep it forever?
-Recycle! In most of Richland County, they take recycling and trash on a certain day. Most places take plastic, corrugated cardboard, paper, tin, and aluminum. You may have to travel to another dump to recycle glass. If you have any questions, you can call (803)
929-6000 for more recycling information.
Making a few simple changes to our daily lives can really add up to help make the world a better place for future generations!
***
Comments
3 Responses to ““Going Green” with help from an 8th Grader”
Got something to say?
Rep Nathan,
I hate to argue with an 8th grader, but the CFLs have turned out to be actually less green than the old bulbs. Here is the EPA’s website dedicated to what to do if your CFL breaks.
Mercury spills do not “environmentally friendly” make, despite the noise coming from the left (which is so driven by the global warming scare as to ignore real environmental issues). Sad to me that they brainwash the kids with this in schools, but that’s what we get, I suppose.
JDG
Joshua - looks like the 8th grader and EPA are in the “right” - check out the EPA website and read the info for yourself….
http://energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf
just cut and paste this link into your browser and read the pdf of information about this subject for yourself.
We need 75% more energy to run that old fashion lightbulb which in our area is supplied by coal generated energy plants which account for 40% of the mercury ommissions in the US.
We NEED to start doing something about our enviroment and if you still think that this is some “made up” problem driven by politics you are NOT smarter then the 8th grader!
NWF
[…] feeling” hit me awhile back when a young lady spoke at the Ballentine Dutch Fork Civic Association but it soon passed before I took any […]