Earth911
Don’t know what to do with batteries, old appliances and household hazardous waste, call Earth 911. They have extensive information and resources on recycling. This site will help you to find places to recycle just about anything. Earth 911 also has a kids section with projects, book listings, crafts, etc
Planet Green Since 2000 Planet Green has been committed to providing an inkjet and laser cartridge recycling program combined with service and support for our participants. With your help we can make an impact by eliminating as much of these non-biodegradable plastics and metals in inkjet and laser cartridges from our landfills. In addition to our inkjet and laser cartridge recycling, we now accept cellular phones to our inkjet and laser cartridge recycling.
ENERGY
Energy Star Home Page Energy Stare is a joint DOE and EPA program to save energy and save money. Start with this homepage of Energy Star, the government backed program, which focuses on how to protect the environment for future generations. Energy Star helps businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficient Appliances and products that exceed federal energy efficiency standards are awarded the Energy Star by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy.
Explore product recommendations, home improvement, home building, buildings and plants, and partner resources. Read about the Energy Star Partner of the Year.
Energy Star Schools See the Energy Star program for K-12 schools. Top performing Energy Star labeled schools cost forty cents per square foot less to operate than the average performers. Find out more about how Energy Star partners with schools, what these schools are doing, and about Energy Star success stories including: Gresham Barlow School District 10 in Gresham, Oregon, which received the EPA’s prestigious Energy Star Partner of the Year, the School district of Philadelphia, and Alexandria city Public Schools, Virginia.
Energy Star Change A Light Campaign This site describes how to get involved with the Energy Star Change a Light, Change the World Campaign. In its eighth year, this campaign is a national call-to-action to encourage individuals to help change the world, one light one energy-saving step at a time. At the campaign’s heart is a simple but vital method of forming a community of inspired individuals across the nation, committing to help reduce the risks of global climate change and to save energy. The goal is to encourage at least 500,000 people to take the pledge in 2007.
Alliance To Save Energy Green School Program This is the Alliance to Save Energy’s Green School Program. The purpose of the program is to engage students in creating energy-saving activities in their schools, using hands-on, real-world projects. Through these efforts, students help free up more resources for education while strengthening academic learning. See how Green Schools have achieved reductions in energy use of 5 to 15% through basic changes in operations, maintenance and individual behavior.
Greenhouse Gas Protocol The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the most widely used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions. It represents a decade-long partnership between the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and is working with businesses, governments and environmental groups around the world to build a new generation of credible and effective programs for tackling climate change.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) ACEEE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting both economic prosperity and environmental protection. It fulfills its mission by: conduction technical and policy assessments; working collaboratively with businesses, public interest groups, and other organizations; organizing conferences; publishing books and educating consumers and businesses.
Consumer Federation Of America -- Green Consume Guide This site is a consumer’s guide to buying energy efficient products for the home. How to save money and save the environment is what this site is all about. It elaborates on how to buy Energy Star products and provides ten simple ways to cut home energy costs.
U.S. DOE Energy Effieciency and Renewable Energy This is the US Department of Energy Green Power Network, which provides news and information on green power markets and related activities. It provides timely information on green power providers, product offerings, consumer protection issues and policies affecting green power markets. It also includes a reference library of relevant papers, articles, and reports. The Green Power Network is operated and maintained by the National Renewable Energy Lab for the US Department of Energy.
Native Energy This energy company helps you build Native American, farmer-owned, community based renewable energy projects that create social, economic, and environmental benefit. Learn about traditional renewable energy credits and offsets from operating new projects. See impressive list of projects and prior successes in Native American wind farms and more.
CARBON CALCULATORS
Count Down Your Carbons Developed by Earth Day NY, they have created a way for people to join together and register the impact of their many individual actions in a public and meaningful way. You are not powerless and you are not alone. Together we can make a difference. The ten icons above represent individual actions that have real carbon reductions associated with them. In an effort to keep this calculator simple, they have used national averages and assumptions in the calculations. The results are not perfectly accurate but are meant to be representational. Very Comprehnsive!!!
The National Arbor Day Foundation Find out more about National Arbor Day, the last Friday of April each year. Many states observe Arbor Day on different dates according to their best tree-planting times. Learn about trees and tree planting. Be inspired to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. Join the 50 Million Tree pledge!
Fueleconomy.gov This site compares gas mileage, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, ratings and safety information for new and used cars and trucks. Find lowest gas prices and mileage tips. Find out more about: hybrid vehicles, alternative fuel vehicles, and more.
Green Car Group At the core of Green Car Group is its quarterly consumer magazine, Green Car Journal, and its longstanding monthly publication, the Green /Car Industry Newsletter. For 15 years, this industry newsletter has been read by decision-makers and key insiders at auto companies and suppliers, government regulators, industry leaders and the news media in many countries.
erideshare.com
For commuting or traveling, consider ride sharing to help save emissions. Use this Internet service to connect to others who are going where you are and reduce the transportation footprint. A forty-mile daily commute costs more than $2600 per year. Ridesharing with one other person saves you half. Also use the site to determine how to meet up with potential partners in advance.
FlexCar
This service allows you to reserve a car online or by phone and pick it up at a specified parking location, which is sometimes a public parking space or a parking garage depending on what is available and most convenient for you. It allows you to pick up your car hassle-free for as long or short of a time as you need it. Find out how to use your Flexcard to open the car, get the keys and drive off. It’s that simple and very affordable (standard rates start at $8 per hour and $63 per day).
Zip Car Learn how to use Zipcars, cars that live in your neighborhood and can be rented for just one hour of use or longer. Insurance and gas are included in the very reasonable rates. Use this site to compare to car rental agencies. Find out how a Zipcard makes a car available in your neighborhood by a wireless signal! Go to the designated parking place, hold your Zipcard to the windshield, the door will unlock and you’ve completed the rental process.
Pump ‘Em Up
Pump 'Em Up! is a fuel conservation call to the world to alert drivers to save fuel is in their tires! Pump 'Em Up! Was born in 2001 when nine-year old Savannah Walters -- concerned by proposals to drill for oil in the Arctic--learned that the U.S. could save as much oil as would be produced by the new drilling if drivers simply pumped up their car tires to proper inflation levels. In 1995 the US Energy Department said that under-inflated tires waste an estimated 4 million gallons of gas daily in America.
Social Investment Forum Use this guide to get up-to-date return and performance information on a range of socially and environmentally responsible investment options. Read about Screening, in which corporate securities in investment portfolios are based on social or environmental criteria. Identify profitable companies that are also concerned about social issues including environmental impact policies. Use online Directory.
Ceres This national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups works with companies and investors to address sustainability issue as global climate change. It has launched the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which is currently the international standard used by over 850 companies for corporate reporting on environmental, social and economic performance. Find out about other contributions, which have held numerous companies to tackle the financial challenges from global warming.
Earthtones This is the only communications company to donate 100% of its profits to environmental organization. They offer high-quality long distance phone service, wireless service and Internet access. They are completely owned and operated by non-profit groups. Check the site for the highly competitive pricing that they offer.
US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
This initiative was started in Seattle as a local effort to reduce global warming. It began after the federal government failed to address the climate disruptions agreed to by the Kyoto Protocol. US mayor have taken local actions consistent with this agreement including land-use policies, urban forest restoration projects and public information campaigns to reduce energy emissions.
Cool Cities Cool Cities have made a commitment to stopping global warming by signing the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement. Cool Cities campaigns help provide cities with innovative energy solutions that curb global warming. Check the site to see if you live in a Cool City and what it is doing and how you can help or get help.
Count Down Your Carbons Developed by Earth Day NY, they have created a way for people to join together and register the impact of their many individual actions in a public and meaningful way. You are not powerless and you are not alone. Together we can make a difference.
The League Of Conservation Voters The League of Conservation Voters maintains a scorecard about how the US government has performed in the areas of the environment and energy. The site also evaluates these efforts, which have been particularly disappointing in recent years.
Stop Global Warming Virtual March
This is a movement about change, as individuals, as a country, and as a global community. We are all contributors to global warming and we all need to be part of the solution. Join the 723,105 supporters of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, and become part of the movement to demand our leaders freeze and reduce carbon dioxide emissions now.
The Vote Solar Initiative
This non-profit has a mission of stopping global warming and increasing energy independence by bringing solar energy into the mainstream. They work with state and city governments to build sustainable solar markets, removing barriers and laying the necessary groundwork for a solar future. See the site for initiatives, resources, and how you can get involved.
The Natural Resources Defense Council This homepage of the Natural Resources Defense Council explains the background and mission of the country’s most effective environmental action organization (1.2 million members!). See the extensive online activities intended to help protect the planet’s wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things. Links to the page include the most extensive list of areas imaginable.
NRDC Reference/Links Main Page Use this A-Z resource guide, which includes summaries of environmental laws and treaties, a glossary of environmental terms, links and favorite websites. Extremely comprehensive and helpful!
NRDC’s Web Picks of the Week Each week the NRDC highlights their “Picks of the Week” selected on based on timeliness and appropriateness. A recent week, for example, included features on: “Earth Day”, “Getting Married in Green”, and “Global Warming Deniers”.
The First “Green” Oscars [Compiled by NRDC] For the first year ever, the Academy Awards ceremony selected supplies and services with a sensitivity toward reducing the threats we face from global warming, species extinction, deforestation, toxic waste, and hazardous chemicals in our water and food. With the guidance and assistance from the Natural Resources Defense Council they successfully made simple and often cost-effective changes to reduce the ecological footprint of the event.
NRDC Easy Guide To Paper Products Forests are being destroyed to make disposable paper products including toilet paper, facial tissues, and paper towels. This guide will help you to choose the paper manufacturers that use recycled content and clean manufacturing processes. Help stop this destruction by sending a message to paper companies that are the least sensitive to environmental needs.
http://www.nrdc.org/air/energy/genergy/easy.asp Free and easy energy-saving habits (unplug, sleep/hibernate for computers, temperature settings and more), simple household tools and gadgets, and how to save energy and money in the long-term.
http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/gsteps.asp
The biggest cause of global warming is the carbon dioxide released when fossil fuels like oil and coal are burned for energy. So when you save energy, you fight global warming (and save money, too). Read the steps you can take to help reduce global warming pollution.
http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/gsteps.asp
Read about 12 simple ways you can help clean up our water and stem the tide of polluted runoff. Everyday household activities are a major contributor to polluted runoff, which is among the most serious sources of water contamination. Help prevent lawn fertilizer, oil from driveways, paint and solvent residues, from washing into storm sewers or nearby lakes and rivers.
http://www.nrdc.org/health/kids/default.asp
Children are more vulnerable to environmental health threats than adults. Their systems are still developing and their small bodies receive proportionately greater exposures to chemical. Read about the worst threats to children’s health and what’s being done to minimize or eliminate them.
http://www.nrdc.org/buildinggreen/ The market for high performance homes and workplaces is soaring. Explore this website to find out how building green can boost your bottom line. Get tips for streamlining design and construction. Learn which strategies deliver the biggest paybacks. Discover ways to get your project noticed. In particular, read about LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™, the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings.
http://www/nrdc.org/cities/recycling/gnyc.asp Full recycling has returned to NYC! In 2002, facing a severe budget crisis, New York City stopped recycling plastic and glass, while continuing to collect paper and metal. But big savings failed to materialize, and now this earth-friendly practice is back in full force. The plastic recycling program resumed in July 2003 and glass recycling, as well as weekly pickups, started again on April 1, 2004. Confused? We'll clear things up... (click on downloadable Recycling Guide).
StopGlobalWarming.org
Be part of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March and join the 728,897 others who are part of the movement to demand that our leaders freeze and reduce carbon dioxide emissions now. Follow the list of action items that will help reduce global warming including using CFL’s, inflating your tires, and using recycled paper.
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_classroom.asp
Follow tips for stopping global warming that your class or school can do today. Throughout history, students have been the driving force in social change. Get students to sign up for the Virtual March, encourage students to write to their mayors about joining the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, make “An Inconvenient Truth” required viewing at your school.
An Inconvenient Truth
Read how to take action to calculate your personal impact on carbon dioxide production. Find out how you can change your habits while at home and on the move. Try to reduce the 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, which the average American generates each year from personal transportation, home energy use and from the energy used to produce all of the products and services we consume.
The Nature Conservancy
Conservation International works with partners in all sectors to better understand the impact of climate change on global biodiversity and to promote conservation as a strategy for mitigating global warming. Through its Center for Environmental Leadership in business, it engages businesses in this effort and offers cost-effective options for businesses to offset their emissions. Through their partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Madagascar’s Ministry of the Environment, Water, and Forests, they have helped to protect the largest remaining patches of rainforest on the island and prevented the release of tons of carbon dioxide.
Conservation International Conservation International works with partners in all sectors to better understand the impact of climate change on global biodiversity and to promote conservation as a strategy for mitigating global warming. Through its Center for Environmental Leadership in business, it engages businesses in this effort and offers cost-effective options for businesses to offset their emissions. Through their partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Madagascar’s Ministry of the Environment, Water, and Forests, they have helped to protect the largest remaining patches of rainforest on the island and prevented the release of tons of carbon dioxide.
Conservation International’s Top Ten List
Don’t miss Conservation International’s Top Ten List: New Year’s Resolutions to Protect the Earth (2007). This list includes: Using CFL’s, inflating your tires, weighing your ecological imprint, turning down the hot water heater, choosing your seafood wisely and more.
The Sierra Club ten steps that will help curb global warming Here are ten steps that will help curb global warming, save you money, and create a safer environment for the future. Make responsible choices with the products we use and buy with this list of Ten Things You Can do to Help Curb Global Warming. The list includes driving smart, writing your leaders to urge them to raise fuel economy standards, and supporting clean, renewable air.
http://www.sierraclub.org/globalwarming/gas_savers/ See this list from the Sierra Club of the 10 things you can do to save money at the pump. The list includes everything from driving smart, to packing light, consider sharing, and thinking about hybrids.
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Pump Your Tires Pump your tires to their recommended inflation rate. Why? When your tires are pumped properly, you save gas. This helps wildlife because the more gas we conserve as a country, the less likely we will drill in wildlife-rich places, such as the Arctic Refuge. Follow this advice and see more specifics on how conserving energy helps to conserve nature.
Carbon Footprint The premise is that climate change will only be addressed if each and every one of us takes responsible steps to reduce their carbon dioxide emission. See list of how to offset carbon footprints with a range of products and services that are categorized as Certified Carbon Credits and Voluntary Carbon Credits. More information on verification and how to buy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_offset Carbon offset is the process of reducing the net carbon emissions of an individual or organization, either by their own actions, or through arrangements with a carbon-offset provider. A carbon-offset service is one arranged with such a provider that achieves net reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through proxies who reduce their emissions or increase their absorption of greenhouse gases. Tree planting is currently the most common offset action.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint Carbon footprint is a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted through the combustion of fossil fuels; in the case of an organization, business or enterprise, as part of their everyday operations; in the case of an individual or household, as part of their daily lives; or a product or commodity in reaching market. A carbon footprint is often expressed as tons of carbon dioxide or tons of carbon emitted, usually on a yearly basis. There are many versions of calculators available for carbon foot printing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans in recent decades and its projected continuation. An increase in global temperatures can in turn cause other changes, including sea level rise and changes in the amount and pattern of precipitation. There may also be increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, though it is difficult to connect specific events to global warming. Other consequences may include changes in agricultural yields, glacier retreat, reduced summer streamflows, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease-carrying insects
