Here's a web page entitled "Things YOU can do to save the Earth". I'm going to give you just a small excerpt here:
SAVE ENERGY- If each U.S. household increased the energy efficiency of our major appliances by 10 to 30%, we'd reduce the demand for electricity by the equivalent of 25 large power plants. Energy use in the home is responsible for 30 per cent of energy related carbon dioxide (C02) emissions which is a primary contributor to global warming.
*Americans buy 2.2 million light bulbs every day. We flick a light switch dozens of times a day without thinking, but it's time to give it some thought. According to the World Resources Institute, lighting accounts for about 20 percent of all the electricity used in the United States (5 percent residential, 15 percent commercial), and 10 percent of all the emissions of CO2, the main greenhouse gas.
*Turn off lights when you are not in the room
*Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents. The standard incandescent bulbs currently lighting your home have changed very little from Thomas Edison's first light bulb in 1879. Only 10% of the energy used by these standard bulbs contributes to light; the other 90% is wasted as heat. In fact, incandescent lights burn hot enough to fry an egg! And what about halogen lights? A typical halogen bulb burns at 1,000 degrees F. These old-fashioned light bulbs waste energy and can potentially cause burns or fires. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs use 75% less energy than a standard incandescent bulb and last up to 10 times longer. This means that over the life of one CFL, you can avoid replacing up to 13 incandescent bulbs!
*Use rechargeable batteries or make sure the regular batteries will be recycled
*Use energy-efficient appliances (check the Energy Guide Labels for refrigerators, freezers, water heaters, clothes washers, dishwashers and air conditioners to buy the appliance that uses the least amount of energy.)
By the way, I found a great source for full-sprectrum, non-flickering florescent light bulbs. It's the Improvements catalog and the page for the light bulbs is here.
The entire damage we have caused to the planet in past 500 years is perhaps just less than a second for the planet. the planet has expreinced extensive damage before by the giant reptiles, and has rectified and healed itself. We humans are too small to save the earth. What we are actually doing is saving ourselves from extinction. The awareness is taking us in the right direction.
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