GREEN THOUGHTS

COMPILED BY SALLY GILHOOLEY

 

Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) have revolutionized energy-efficientlighting. However, they contain a small amount of mercury, a toxic metal.Dispose of your spent CFLs at your community¹s hazardous waste collectionsite. If you break one, open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes. Usea wet rag to clean up the pieces and put them and the rag into a plastic bag
for proper disposal. ­www.eartheasy.com

The Electronics Takeback Coalition, a national recycling group, is urging television manufacturers to make it easier for consumers to dispose of analog televisions which seep hazardous chemicals into landfills. Sony has agreed to recycle all its electronic products at no cost to consumers
through a national network of pickup locations. ­­www.electronictakeback.com

In Berlin, Germany, drivers are now required to display a colored badge showing the level of pollution caused by their vehicle with a scale of red, yellow and green. An estimated 1.7 million diesel cars will not qualify.
­ Long Island Climate Solutions Network

You get about 41 pounds of junk mail per year and spend about 70 hours dealing with it. 100 million trees are destroyed to create it. Green house emissions associated with it are greater than those for 2.8 million cars. For $41, 41pounds.org. will contact each company sending you junk mail and ask that you be removed from their lists. In addition, you can sign up for Direct Marketing Association¹s Mail Preference Service which will remove
your name from DMA members' lists.
­- www.dmachoice.org/MPS

Dripping faucets that drip 60 drops per minute lose 192 gallons of water a month. Faucet aerators and high-efficiency showerheads are very reasonably priced. If only 1,000 people installed them we would save nearly 8 million
gallons of water each year. ­-www.newdream.org