How the Internet Could End Up Saving the Planet

January 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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Although people don’t hear about it nearly as much as they used to — because of the struggling economy and upcoming election — global climate change is still a huge problem. In 2011 alone, the Earth experienced what the Washington Post called, “a series of record-busting extremes,” including severe droughts and a particularly painful tornado season. However, even though the public’s attention has been diverted, several unintended consequence of the Internet could save the world — or at least help.

Going Paperless:

  • Email: Even though many take it f   or granted, email should be listed as one of the greatest Green inventions of all time. Not only does it save paper, but it saves the gas that it would take to distribute the letter. The economy is in bad shape, but imagine how much worse it would be if people still had to send letters over land.
  • Bills: Many companies — such as insurance agencies — offer customers discounts for paying their bills online, which saves money, paper, and gas!
  • Books: Similarly, ebooks help reduce emissions — and paper dependence — still further. Although many people still love traditional books, the rise of ebooks could be a very good thing from a global point of view.

Bringing Down the House

  • Casinos: In 2008, Claude Alexander, a global climate change researcher, suggested shutting down all the casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City because it would lower the world’s carbon emissions, “several billion units per day,” citing the extreme amount of air conditioning, lights, and jet fuel that the casino industry requires. Four years later, even though Alexander clearly didn’t get his wish, the flourishing of online casinos — something that Alexander supported — has almost certainly helped the problem. Considering the thousands — even millions — of people who play online casino games, surely many of those who would have flown to a major gambling city to have their fun are now opting to stay at home.
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  • Retail: Again, shopping online helps cut down on carbon gas emissions as well. “Why?” you might say, “the packages still have to be delivered, so gas is still used.” That’s true. However, as I just spent my entire afternoon shopping for a specific thing, I can tell you: the gas used to deliver the object is much less than the gas used shopping around. Actually, even if you know exactly where to get what you want, the item still had to be shipped to the store — which is heated, cooled, and lit — and then you have to go get it, rather than having the object go straight from a warehouse to your home.

Not a Complete Solution

I am not saying that these things are going to solve global climate change on their own. Obviously, people still need to consciously work on reducing carbon emissions. But, it’s important to recognize the huge unintended benefits that the Internet has yielded.

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Filed Under: Earth

A Maintained Car Is a Greener Car

May 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Example of an air filter that has been around ...

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Not everyone can afford one of the new hybrids that the major car companies are selling, so the rest of us have to do our part to prevent global warning by taking care of the cars we do own. A maintained car is a greener car. It’s just that simple. Not only does a well maintained vehicle run better and last longer, but it gets better gas mileage. We all know that fossil fuels are a culprit in the warming of the earth. Here are a few tips to keep your car greener.

Regular Oil Changes - This is so simple and inexpensive. Make sure you get that oil changed every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. It keeps the engine parts running more smoothly, so the car doesn’t have to use as much gas to go.

Regular Tire Rotation - Good tires get better gas mileage. By rotating them with each oil change, you’ll be insuring that they wear evenly, and that they are kept properly inflated. This means they’ll last longer, and save you money, too.  Remember. Tires are made of petroleum products. Reduce the production by taking care of the ones you have on your car.

Minor Tune-ups - There are a few things you can do that are simple and inexpensive, and they’ll keep your car in better condition. Change the fuel filter regularly. Today’s gas can get dirty junk in the engine, and it’s the filter that catches that junk. Make sure it stays unclogged. Change the air filter, too. Good air flow means good gas mileage.

Finally, if you don’t have to drive then don’t. Use your legs whenever you can.

Filed Under: Earth, Eco-Friendly Tagged With: , ,

Green Your Business — IT Style

April 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Green is more than a color these days. Thanks to the eco-friendly initiatives of the last decade, green is a way of life — a way to approach thinking and behaving that reduces our negative impact on the environment.

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As such, the adjective “green” has been attached to a number of other industries to describe the push in those fields for greater earth-friendly approaches. That’s the case with Green IT— the term used to describe how companies can be more energy efficient.

Why Green IT Is Important

Nearly a full third of a typical company’s power consumption comes from their IT tasks. IT devices in this case encompass everything from internet routers to on-site servers to computer stations to printers and more. By increasing how energy efficient these devices are, and controlling the power-consuming tasks, allows companies to reduce both their costs and their carbon footprint.

The Green IT initiative has been so strong that analysts predict the niche consulting aimed at business IT will blossom into a five billion dollar industry by the end of 2013. Whether or not you invest in a consultant, there are several things you can do now to make your company’s IT greener.

Ways to Greenify Your IT

There are dozens of ways you can reduce your power consumption, but some are more effective — and more practical — than others. Here are some of the best approaches you can use.

Choose Green Web Hosting

Unless you are living under a rock, if you have a business, you have a web site. And if you have a website, you need web hosting. Rather than going with a conventional web host, why not choose one of the many, well-equipped green web hosting companies instead?

Web hosts go green in the various ways. They can power their web servers with renewable energy like wind or solar, or purchase renewable energy credits (RECs) from a renewable energy provider. Some green web hosts purchase carbon credits to offset carbon emissions, however this does not prevent carbon from being emitted in the first place.

Buy Energy Efficient Hardware

If you’re still using outdated hardware for any business task, you’re probably wasting both money and energy. Old CRT monitors are nefarious power hogs when compared to LCD, older servers are both sluggish and electrically inefficient, and older computer PSUs give you less juice for a higher power cost. Replace your older hardware with current, energy-efficient alternatives.

Additionally, while not strictly IT, you can expand this renovation to anything in your building that uses power — your lights, heating/cooling units, or even the fridge in your break room.

Send Employees Home — Permanently

A great portion of companies are offering work-from-home positions. Not only does this save the company hardware costs, but you don’t have to pay for power bills, on-premise workers’ compensation fees, and a slew of other items. Additionally, employees — especially those with young children — are often eager to take on the opportunity.

While once impractical, new video conferencing, desktop sharing, and even specialized telecommuting software have made this option ideal for any company that is involved in primarily computer-based tasks. Employees who do web based work – online marketers, tech support, web developers, don’t need to be in a physical location in order to do their jobs, so why not give them the option of location independence?

Location independence has great benefits for employees as well. They can save money and time commuting to and from work, which decreases their carbon footprint. And think about all the extra savings from not having to eat out or to invest in professional business attire. The virtual office is a win win for all.

Turn Going Green into a PR Opportunity

With cost and quality being equal, consumers, hands down, prefer to buy from socially responsible or eco friendly businesses. Consider communicating your sustainability efforts to your community. A great way to build an ongoing relationship with your customers is through blogging.

The good news about blogging is has very little startup cost, but yields enormous marketing and PR benefits. All you need is an inexpensive green web host, WordPress, and a professional green WordPress theme, like the free Green Stimulus theme, which you can download for free, and your going green business blog will be up and running in no time.

Author Bio:
Lorna Li manages the small business WordPress themes & solutions division for a CRM company in the Bay Area. She also writes about green business and green marketing. Follow Lorna on Twitter @lornali.

Filed Under: Earth, Eco-Friendly, Green Business & Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

Slacktivism: Save the Planet With Kars4Kids & Others

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Want to do good deeds for the planet but aren’t interested in doing a lot of work to make it happen? You’re not alone. In fact, there is an entire movement dedicated to the good of the planet that is made up of people just like you. Who knew that we would one day reach a point where even slackers could become powerful activists for the good of the planet?

Saving the planet though might take a little bit of work. It is an enormous task, after all. By comparison, the small deeds that you’ll need to do to help out seem rather pale and insignificant. Truth be told though, they matter a lot to the people you are helping out as well as to the planet.

Slacktivism in Action

One of the greatest things you can do for your slacktivism service or sacrifice is to help someone clean. Whether you are helping yourself, your neighbor, your favorite community organization, or even your church, the fact that you are helping clean is a great first step.

But, if you really want to make this work for the betterment of the planet you’re going to need to organize methods to either donate, recycle, or reuse as many of the items you’re cleaning as possible. Your organizational skills can go a long towards helping others in your community as well as communities far away.

Coordinate with groups that will help remove the items no longer wanted or needed by the person you’re cleaning for. There are many organizations like Goodwill, Kars4kids, and many others that will come and pick up the items being donated while also helping with all the forms that are needed to ensure the right person is able to receive tax breaks for the items that were donated.

Think about any kind of clothing, old cars, gaming laptops, dressers, school supplies… everything can be recycled.

When you’re the one coordinating all of this, you’re not only helping the person you’re cleaning for, your community as a whole, or the organization that you are donating the items to but also families in communities far away that will reap the rewards of your efforts. You don’t even need to leave your neighborhood to do all these good works either.

Benefiting the Planet

But how does the planet benefit from your slacktivism at times like this? For every item that is kept out of the landfill and used to create new jobs, new items, or even to be reused by new families, there is one less item of that size and bulk occupying real estate in a landfill. It is one less item that is being returned to the earth long before its time.

CONCLUSION

Can you imagine what a difference it would make for the sake of the world if every family was able to save one item each month from a landfill and share, give, or exchange it with another family instead? The best activism doesn’t start with drastic efforts done by one, but little bitty baby steps that are made by many. Slacktivism is an excellent example of that in action, or inaction as the case may be.

Filed Under: Earth Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Global Warming is Real

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Global Warming

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There is a lot of rhetoric that is being passed around these days about global warming and what it does, but the reality is that global warming does exist and some of the literature that is going around is a prime example of how things are getting confused.

First off there has been plenty of the doubters of global warming out there that have said the recent rash of cold weather is the reason of proof that his needed to prove that there is no global warming, but the truth of the matter is that there no evidence to the cold weather and that the effects of global warming are not true.

The effects of global warming as things that are happening over prolonged periods of time. This is the effects of average temperatures going up a degree or two over the span of a century. This doesn’t mean that the snow storms that are coming are not a part of the global warming. It’s coming and there are signs even in the recent reports that the polar bears are having less babies.

Don’t be certain that global warming isn’t happening. The reality is that there is far more evidence to support the idea that there is global warming than there isn’t. It’s why there has to be an emphasis on conserving the energy and our own natural resources. This is why alternative fuels and other sources of fabric and energy are so important. Without working against global warming we are going to be hurt by the effects down the road.

Filed Under: Earth, Environment Tagged With: , ,
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