Mother Earth:
"This is Mother Earth. We've got to have a heart to heart. You're getting a little selfish. You're messing things up. You can't breathe the air, you can't drink the water, you're chopping down the rain forests, and you're killing my dolphins. Now my climate's changing and I've got a hole in my ozone. Time out. I'm all you got. You blow this one and where you gonna go? But something's changing though, I can feel it. There's more of you out there who really care about me. We still have a chance."
Somewhere along the line, we fooled ourselves. We figured the earth was ours for the taking. So we mined it, we sprayed it, we developed it, and we drilled it to create a standard of living unlike any other in human history. Unfortunately we looked the other way when evidence began to emerge that we were harming our planet as well as ourselves. The good news is we're not looking the other way anymore. We're trying to find a balance between a productive economy and a healthy environment. To help us reach that balance we need to make some simple changes in the way we live.
HOW TO KEEP A NON-TOXIC HOME
Boy, it's absolutely crazy the amount of toxic chemicals that go into making our everyday products like paints, pesticides, and cleaners. We've become dependent on toxins and now we're paying the price. It's easy to blame industry for contaminating the environment, but we're the ones that are using these things. We're all partially responsible. These toxins end up in our landfills where they leach into the ground and contaminate our ground water. We discharge them into our oceans, lakes, and rivers, release them into the air, and spray them onto the food we eat. Where do these toxins end up?
Ultimately in the environment, in us, and in our children.
You want to cut down on toxins? Choose your products carefully. Use water based paint and when you wash the brush or roller, use the sink where after going down the drain, the water will be treated at a water treatment plant. Please don't dump your oil based paints or solvents down the drain or trash. They'll just end up contaminating the environment. To find out how to dispose of hazardous waste, call the Environmental Protection Agency Hotline at 1-800-424-9346 and ask them for help in locating a household hazardous waste disposal program near you.
ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE HOME-MADE PRODUCTS
Clogged drain? Try using a plunger to loosen the clog. Pour 1/4 cup baking soda down the drain and add 1/2 cup of vinegar. Close the drain until the fizzing stops. Now pour boiling water down the drain and watch it work!
Need all purpose cleaner? Start with 1 gallon hot water, add 1/4 cup ammonia, add 1/4 cup vinegar, and 1 tablespoon baking soda. Mix well and watch it do the work for you!
Invaded by ants? First, find their food source and follow their trail to their entrance. Now, seal it off with caulk. Next, spray the ants with a solution of soap and water which removes their scent and trail. Then remove their food source. Keep this process going until your home is ant free!
Got weeds? Keep your grass 3-4 inches high. It will keep the weeds from getting the sun they need to grow. Be patient and you'll soon be weed free!
Using bleach and scouring powder. Try using a non chlorine bleach and scouring powder. Chlorine poured down the drain will mix with sewage and can give off toxic by-products. Also, never, ever mix ammonia and chlorine since the fumes are extremely toxic.
Want to do more to get involved? Take a step into politics. Call the U.S. Capital Switchboard at 1-202-224-3121. Ask for the office of your congress or senator person and speak to the staff person handling the situation you wish to address.
TRASH
The average American throws out about four pounds of garbage a day. If no one were to come and take it away, there would be more than 1,500 pounds at the end of the year. Since there's over 250 million of you in the United States alone, that's over 365 billion pounds a year.
But as we all know every week, the garbage man does come and away it goes to landfills. Now we've already filled up over half the existing landfills serving our cities, but the garbage keeps coming. So how are we going to feel when our taxes go up because we have to ship garbage hundreds of miles away?
There are three very powerful ideas to help us here. Reduce, reuse, and recycle. By putting these ideas into practice, we'll save energy, we'll save resources, and we'll pollute less. To begin with, we need to reduce the amount of stuff we bring into our home and reuse whenever we can. At work, bring in a regular coffee mug instead of using those foam jobs. When neither of these options work, recycle whenever possible.
REDUCE AND REUSE
Here's some food for thought. One out of every $10.00 spent on groceries pays for packaging. Take those beautiful ears of shucked corn on display in styrofoam and wrapped with plastic. In truth, the natural wrapping originally provided by nature is not only better, but less costly and more effective. It also proves no one else has touched those beautiful ears of corn you want to serve your family.
Take the quick, easy, convenient, plastic single serve cups. Use once and add to landfill. A glass jar or can is less costly and the jar can be sealed for later as well as reused.
How about those adorable paper, lined with aluminum, and wrapped in plastic juice boxes that fit perfectly in a lunch box? Well, here's another idea. Rubbermaid, Tupperware, and several other companies make small plastic containers you can fill with the juice you've purchased in larger and less expensive sizes.
How about pancake mix in a plastic bottle? You just add water, shake, pour, bake, and trash the landfill. Use your favorite boxed product and fill a Rubbermaid or Tupperware container with it. Also, here's an inexpensive and tasty pancake recipe you can use. Start with 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup milk, 2 eggs, and sugar to taste (adjust to the thickness you desire by adding milk or flour). Mix well and cook as usual. This homemade mix can be stored for several days in a reusable container.
Keep in mind that polystyrene foam is recyclable in some places but usually ends up in the landfill. Every ton we recycle, saves about 7,000 thousand gallons of water, 17 trees, and enough energy to power the average American home for 5 months! Here's a few pointers.
Unbleached recycled paper means no chlorine was dumped into the oceans, rivers, and lakes. Consider that point when purchasing paper products like coffee filters, writing paper, envelopes, and such. Buying in bulk means less trash and saves you money.
Disposable razors and lighters are costly to both the environment and you. Disposable batteries are more expensive and leak deadly toxins into the ground.
When asked if you prefer paper or plastic, use a cloth bag if possible. They're more durable, washable, repairable, and can be used over and over again. If you must choose paper or plastic, make it plastic and reuse them as much as you can. Avoid the paper and save some trees.
RECYCLE
If you don't have curbside recycling pick up in your area, you'll have to contact your nearest recycling center and find out what they do and do not accept. You can find their number in the yellow pages under recycling. If not there, call 1-800-225-5333 and they'll send you the phone numbers of the centers nearest to you. Here are some recyclable items.
Newspaper. It takes 17 beautiful trees to make a ton of paper. Using recycled paper leaves those trees standing.
White ledger. This category includes business stationary, white typing paper, white computer paper, and white non glossy paper used in advertising.
Mixed paper. Yellow paper, other non glossy colored stuff, and most junk mail. You can write the mailing company and request they stop mailing you. It helps to send them the label so they can correct the situation. Here's the address to write to and have your name removed from most mailing lists and kept off of new ones.
Mail Preference Service ; Direct Marketing Association ; P.O. Box 3861 ; 11 West 42nd Street ; New York, N.Y. 10163-3861
Aluminum and tin cans. Most places take aluminum and some will take tin. You can tell the difference with a magnet. A magnet will cling to a tin can, but not aluminum. Some aerosol cans are recyclable and you can usually find the symbol printed near the storage and disposal statement.
Glass. Most centers take clear glass bottles and jars and some will even take colored bottles and jars. Light bulbs, window glass, dishes, and ceramic mugs cannot be recycled in most places. Putting bad glass in with good glass will ruin an entire truck load of recyclable glass.
Plastic. Ask about soft drink bottles, orange juice jugs, milk containers, and even polystyrene foam.
Motor oil. Never, ever throw it in the trash. 1 quart of oil can pollute 250,000 gallons of water! If you change your oil, collect it into an appropriate container, and never allow anything to get into the oil such as solvents, gasoline, antifreeze, and paints. It can be disposed of it at most auto parts stores.
Disposable diapers. Over 18 billion per year are sold in the U.S. alone. It takes over 1 billion trees to diaper the world's babies every year. They pollute with up to 3 million tons of raw, untreated sewage every year in landfills. The degradable disposable diapers do not degrade in landfills. The biodegrading process requires sun and time for a degrading process to be effective and there's not enough of that in any landfill. Try using cloth diapers. They're better on your baby's skin and can be washed for reuse. Try using a diaper service. Usually you don't have to wash out the diaper and they'll pick up and drop off where you request and they make emergency runs, too. After recycling, you'll discover at least two thirds of your trash is recyclable. Also, try using a compost pile for items a garbage disposal could have taken care of and about another forth of your garbage will vanish! Recycling saves trees, protects wildlife habitat and biodiversity, lowers the use of toxic chemicals, cuts energy use and helps curb global warming, stems the flow of water pollution, and reduces the need for landfills and incinerators. It also creates jobs and promotes economic development, often in neighborhoods that need it most. If you make just one trip a month to recycle aluminum , you'll make more than enough to cover your time and gas.
For more information on, contact:
Environmental
Recycling Hotline
GETTING INVOLVED
Become an advocate. If you don't have curbside pick up, call your mayor and demand it. If it doesn't pick up all you want, call your mayor and expand it. At work, get your company into recycling. Above all, remember that the recycling loop isn't complete until what has been recycled is reused. Create a demand for recycled products by using them yourself. And here are some other things you can do.
Start composting. Composting is natural recycling, turning organic material into fertilizer. By composting yard and food waste, Americans could reduce the burden on overcrowded landfills by about one quarter. Not all food scraps are compostable, but fruits and vegetables are, as well as coffee grounds, filter and all. You can make your own composting contraption, but for most people, it's probably a good idea to buy one. If you live in an area where you cannot have a compost yard, check with the local farmer's markets to see if you can drop off food scraps and they will do the rest.
For more information, contact:
Buy organic. Over the last three decades, the use of chemical pesticides has increased by 50%. Evidence is growing that pesticide use is linked to cancer, birth defects, and reproductive problems. In addition, pesticides contaminate groundwater and often poison birds and other wildlife. Buy organically grown food whenever possible -- if that means starting with just one item every week, well, you have to start somewhere. If your local store doesn't carry organic food, ask the manager to start. If that doesn't work right away (if enough people ask, it will) you can order by mail.
For more information, contact:
Become a Community Supported Agriculture supporter. Community Supported Agriculture cooperatives bring local farmers and consumers together and help to build strong regional economies and food supplies. Here's how it works: members pledge to cover farm operation costs for the season; in return, they share in the harvest. CSA farms vary in agricultural practices and not all are organic, but they all strive for sustainability.
For more information, contact:
Community Supported Agriculture of N. A
WATER
Why conserve water? We know it's precious, but it's always here and it always has been. We use it to wash ourselves, our dishes, our cars, and our dogs. Well guess what? There isn't an endless supply of clean water. We're using it faster than it's being replenished and we're polluting what we do have. How do you think this water got here?
If you're in a major city, chances are it came from hundreds of miles away, diverted from rivers and lakes which are habitat for plants and animals. The water we waste means that much less for the survival of that habitat and that much less for us, too.
Did you know that while using a conventional model toilet, 40% of the water used in your home goes right down the drain?
Use a plastic bottle or other displacement device. A water filled plastic jug takes up space so you use less water per flush. This is clever, but make sure it fits. Don't use bricks since over time they will disintegrate and clog up your plumbing.
Buy a low flush toilet. If you want to save money, try buying a low flush toilet. They use about a gallon of water each time you flush.
Repair toilet leaks. If you can hear water running between flushes, you may as well be standing there flushing dollar bills. A leaky toilet valve doesn't even make noise until it's losing about 250 gallons per day. Here's a simple dye test to check the problem. Place about 5 drops of food coloring into the tank. Wait 15 minutes and check the bowl for traces of color. If you have a leak, any hardware store can sell you a repair kit for peanuts.
Install a low flow shower head. They use about half the water a conventional shower head does and packs quite a bit of power.
Install a faucet aerator. A faucet aerator can save you 600 gallons a year and the hot water savings will pay for it in 2 months.
Water lawns in the early morning or late afternoon. Most of the water evaporates during mid-day watering and the plants lose the benefit you're paying for. Try using drought resistant plants, also called zeroscaping, which cuts down on the need for watering.
GETTING INVOLVED
Just as we can't survive without clean, fresh water, so our planet will suffer if our oceans and wetlands are damaged by over exploitation and pollution. We need a broad oceans protection policy to reduce pollution and encourage only environmentally sustainable growth along our coasts. Get involved by demanding action from your elected representatives. For information about current legislation and how you most effectively can make your voice be heard, contact the environmental groups.
For more information, contact;
American
Water and Energy Savers, Inc.
PROTECTING THE OZONE
The earth's atmosphere looks so thin and fragile from outer space. Our life depends on it and it depends on the ozone layer that protects us from the harmful ultraviolet radiation of the sun. But we've invented some chemicals known as chloroflorocarbons or CFCs and other chemicals known as haylon which are destroying this protective shield. In 1985, a hole in the ozone as wide as the continental United States was discovered over Antarctica. NASA has reported ozone deterioration over densely populated areas of North American and Europe.
If this is starting to scare you, you're not alone. Without the ozone layer, we're in deep trouble. A decrease in the ozone could increase the likely hood of skin cancer, weaken our immune systems, and damage our crops and aquatic systems. We're facing a genuine global crisis. The United States and several other countries have banned the use of CFCs for sometime, but not long enough.
CFCs used 70 years ago are still floating around up there doing damage. Nature can repair herself, but how much longer will we keep preventing her from doing what we can't? CFCs and haylons float up into the lower atmosphere. They trap heat and contribute to global warming. Then they travel into the upper atmosphere and do a number on the ozone. When sunlight hits the CFC, a chlorine atom is set free.
One little guy can destroy 100,000 ozone molecules before he's had enough and can last for 100 years in the atmosphere. The ones you use today, can destroy the ozone layer for decades to come. In decades to come, children will have to wear space protection suites just to play in the yard or sun.
Capture and recycle CFCs. Once a year, have your car, air conditioner and refrigerator serviced. Ask the technician if they're using a device called a "vampire". Also, when you dispose of these products, remove the CFCs.
Buy dry chemical fire extinguishers. Dry chemical works just as well as haylon extinguishers and they're better for the environment.
Buy ozone safe aerosols. Before purchasing a can, check on the side where the physical and chemical hazards statement is listed for the no CFCs stamp. Some manufactures have even gone so far as to eliminate CFCs and other ozone depleting substances from many of their products. In the United States, federal regulations prohibit CFC propellants in aerosols.
GETTING INVOLVED
The ozone layer has already been measurably weakened. This is a fact. If you're concerned, act now. Urge your local and state representatives to pass laws requiring mandatory recovering and recycling of CFCs from air conditioners and refrigerators. Write a letter to these people and encourage them to help our planet.
President of the Untied States ; 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW ; Washington, D.C. 20500
Administrator ; Environmental Protection Agency ; 401 M Street, SW ; Washington, D.C. 20460
Senator ; US Senate ; Washington, D.C. 20510
Congressperson ; US House of Representatives ; Washington, D.C. 20515
The ozone layer has no boundaries. To those in other countries, please contact your head of state and your environmental administrator and urge them to protect the ozone before it's too late.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
An oil tanker runs aground, spilling crude oil into the pristine water of our coasts. Do you feel personally responsible for this? Acid rain and acid snow are destroying our forests and lakes. Do you feel responsible for this. In some cities, the air itself is unhealthy to breathe. How about this? What about the future when a scientist predicts global warming could cause a rise in sea level and a shift in weather patterns. Do you take responsibility for this?
We are partially responsible. We are the users. Every time we drive our car, heat our home, or cook a meal, we're using energy and creating a demand for more drilling and transporting of oil, more mining and burning of coal and natural gas, and more building of power plants. So, don't drive, freeze your butt off and eat raw vegetables. Just kidding. We really don't have to give up our comforts and conveniences. Because we waste enormous amounts of energy, we could solve a lot of our problems with a single concept. Conservation. It all starts with you and me.
IN THE HOME
Energy audit. To test your home, light something that smokes, like a pump or incense stick. Now hold it up to the entrances, doors and windows, of your home. If the smokes seeps out of the crack, you have an energy leak. Nearly half the energy you use in your home goes right out the window or door. Weatherizing will save you an immense amount of money. And for appliances, check the energy cost tag, it makes a difference.
Refrigerator. Set the refrigerator temperature between 38 - 42 degrees F and the freezer temperature between 0 - 5 degrees F. You can test the temperature with an ordinary outdoor thermometer.
Install an insulation blanket. Water heaters use more energy than any other appliance in the home, especially if you have a washer and dishwasher. Set the water heater temperature to 130 degrees F.
Insulation. Check the R value of your insulation. The colder the area you live in, the higher R value you will need.
Air conditioner. Air conditioners use a lot of energy. Set the temperature to 78 degrees F and clean the filter every month or use a fan and window. When using heat, set the temperature to 65 degrees F during the day and 60 degrees F during the night.
Lighting. Compact florescence last 9 times as long as incandescent bulbs and use 1/4th of the energy. Over the 9,000 hour life of the fluorescent bulb, you'll save about $37.00 over the cost of the incandescent. And if the money doesn't bother you, think about this, the fluorescent bulb will keep a ton less of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
For more information, contact:
EPA'S Energy Star Refrigerators
Purchasing power. Go for the environmental-best. Every time you take your wallet out, use it to buy better health for the planet. Buy recycled products whenever you can (and pay attention to the percentage of recycled content). When it comes to appliances, shop for the highest energy efficiency rating -- look at those yellow and black Energy Guide labels. Buy the products with the least packaging. Read labels and buy the least toxic cleaning products you can find. You can even do good when you pay your phone bill: Working Assets Long Distance is dedicated to "building a world that is more just, humane and environmentally sustainable." (Last year they donated $2.5 million to non-profits.)
For more information, contact:
Mother Earth fanning herself:
"Whew! Is it hot in here to you? I'm burning up. You don't think I could be going through . . . earthopause, do you? It used to be kind of cool around here before you started burning fossil fuels for energy. Then you invented the automobile and that was hip, but the fuel you used put carbon dioxide in the air. And you know carbon dioxide traps heat which is probably why I'm burning up. You may not feel it right now, but you will if you don't wise up. Maybe some of you geniuses out there will decide to drive cars which don't burn fossil fuel, which would make me very happy. But until then, there are some things you've got to learn about cars."
IN THE CAR
Cars contribute to acid rain, air pollution, and global warming. When you buy a car, make sure the mileage rating is the best you can get.
Tune-up every 5,000 to 10,000 miles. Replace the spark plugs, spark wires, points, air filter, fuel filter, and change the oil and filter.
Inflate tires properly. You'll get better gas mileage with the proper air inflation and even better with steel belted radials.
Drive less. Try carpooling, driving less, riding a train, taking a bus, biking, or even walking. Give your car the proper attention when it needs it. Any of these ideas can save money and help protect the environment.
GETTING INVOLVED
We could wean ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels. How? By demanding a energy policy based on conservation. For example, the technology already exists for cars that can get over 100 miles to the gallon, but our car makers are only required to average 27 1/2 miles per gallon.
Now here's a good opportunity to call the U.S. capitol switch board. Urge your senate and congress member to raise the fleet average on our cars to at least 40 or even 50 miles per gallon. We'd save up to four times the amount of oil that exists off both our coasts and eliminate the need for offshore oil drilling. Let's start thinking ahead to our future. We need to spend more money on research to develop renewable sources of energy and harness the power of the sun. There's another call to congress.
Here's something else you could do. Walk, bike and take public transportation. Every gallon of gasoline you burn releases about 22 pounds of CO2 into the air. So resolve to drive less and walk, bike and take public transportation more. A good goal is to cut your driving by five miles per day -- that's 1,825 miles each year, which adds up to over 3,000 pounds of CO2 you won't be responsible for releasing into the atmosphere. When you must drive, keep your car well tuned and your tires inflated (your miles per gallon will increase by 10%).
Buy an electric car. Okay, so if you don't already live in California or Arizona you'll have to move there (currently, there are two electric vehicles available to retail buyers in this country: GM's EV1, available in California and Arizona, and Honda's EV Plus, available only in California), but after a few years, when this promising technology is more widely available, you should be able to move back. Battery-powered electric vehicles are far more efficient than internal-combustion engines, they consume energy only while being accelerated (not when idling), and unlike gas-powered cars, they don't lose efficiency as they age.
For more information, contact:
NRDC's Road to the 21st Century
Mother Earth:
"You know, you're not the only ones living on this planet. You don't own it."
PROTECTING ENDANGERED SPECIES
There's an incredible diversity of plants and animal species on our planet. They depend on us for their survival and we depend on them, too. In ways we may not even be aware of. Like the tropical rain forest. More than half our plants and animal species live in the rain forest. 1/4th of all our medicines come from plants that originate there. Yet in the time it takes you to read this page, 3,000 more acres of tropical rain forest will have been destroyed.
Billions of acres are logged each year to produce furniture and lumber. Many millions more are burned to clear the way for agriculture and cattle, much of it for export to developed countries. The burning of the rain forests accounts for almost 1/6th of our worldwide carbon dioxide emissions. If we fail to act now, the rain forests could be gone within sixty years. Then what? We'll have increased the global warming and lost 1/2 the species on earth.
You may not realize it, but some of your foreign aid tax dollars pay for programs that destroy the tropical rain forests through public financial institutions like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Inter American Development Bank. That's why the most important step you can take is to urge your senators and congress people to put pressure on these institutions to only fund projects that promote conservation of tropical rain forests. In other words, they're destroying the rain forests and we're paying for it.
Tropical rain forests hardwoods. Before you build, ask the hardware man where the wood is coming from. They're chopping down the rain forests to make paneling and plywood as well as lumber. If it's Teak, Mahogany, Rosewood, Ebony, and Iroko, they came from the rain forests.
Temperate forest woods. Again, before you build, ask the hardware man where the wood is coming from. If the wood is Oak, Pine, Cherry, Birch, Maple, and Walnut, they came from forests which are not in danger.
Rain forest beef. One of the reasons they're clearing the rain forests of Central America cattle ranching, to produce cheap beef which is then exported to countries like the united States for use in fast food restaurants. Call or visit the place you're ordering from or eating at and ask the manager if they're beef comes from cattle that have been raised on cleared rain forest land.
Dolphin safe tuna. Do you know your tuna was caught? Tuna fleets exploited the fact that dolphins swim over schools of large Yellow Fin Tuna. They chase the dolphins with small high speed power boats and helicopters, frighten and disorient them with underwater explosives, and heard them into giant mile long nets which are then pulled onto the larger fishing boats. Many dolphins are helplessly entangles in the nets and killed. Look for the dolphin safe stamp on the label and you'll know how your tuna was caught.
GETTING INVOLVED
The fact that there are cans of tuna marked dolphin safe is a victory for the environmental groups and consumers who worked so hard to protect the dolphins. It shows that we can make a difference. Let's not stop there, let's put pressure on congress to stop the practice of drift net fishing by foreign fleets. Every night they deploy enough drift nets to sweep an area the size of Ohio, catching almost everything in their path. Dolphins, whales, turtles, and seabirds. It's like strip mining our oceans. Please put pressure on your senator or congress person to push for a world-wide ban on drift net fishing.
The choice is clear.
We can choose to ignore the problems or be so overwhelmed by them we fail to act or we can recognize that what we does make a difference. We can switch to non-toxic alternatives. We can learn to reduce, reuse, and recycle. We can conserve water. We can capture the CFCs in our air conditioners and refrigerators and buy products that don't destroy the ozone. We can save energy at home and in our car. We protect our endangered species. And we can let the people we elected know how strongly we feel about protecting the environment. We do have the power to save planet earth. It all begins with me and you.
Mother Earth:
"We've got a nice little planet here, you and me. We've got men and women. We've got cute little kids. We've got oceans and trees. We've got something happening here. Let's make a deal. You take care of me . . . and I'll take care of you."
If you want to help Mother Nature and save the ONLY planet we will ever have, here are something you can do . . . ASK AROUND Seek out other ways to help Mother Nature and save the earth . . . even if only for the sake of the children of the world.
Need some more ideas? Check here!
If you find or think of anything to help Mother Nature, please let me know and I will gladly post it on here. You can E-mail me at: The Lady of the Myst
Note: Please place Helping Mother Nature in the subject line of your e-mail.
If you want to help
Mother Nature, here are some other helpful links and addresses:
LINKS
Environment
Information = A variety of links leading to various
informative sites dealing with the environment.
Earthwatch = An international nonprofit organization which
supports research through volunteers and scientists to improve
our understanding of planet Earth.
Earth
Share = Interconnecting several
environmental organizations, Earth Share creates a unified
charity to solve the issues of nature in a most effective
way. A general donation to Earth Share is distributed among
all of the members, but you may pick your favorite is you so
choose.
Rainforest
Action Network = This organization is concerned with the wolrd's
rainforest and how to save these vital and beautiful lands.
Greenpeace = An independent
organization that campaigns with non-violent and creative
confrontations to expose environmental problems and force
solutions which are essential to our future. Greenpeace's
goal is to ensure the earth's ability to nurture life.
S.P.C.A. = A nonprofit
organization dedicated to the welfare of animals and to offer
refuge, medical care, nourishment and an opportunity for a second
chance for life to unwanted animals in our community; to protect
animals from cruelty, neglect, carelessness and ignorance; to
offer a public sentiment of humanity and gentleness toward
animals; to encourage and promote responsible pet ownership.
World Wild Life
Fund = An organization that leads worldwide efforts to
protect threatened wildlife and the habitats needed to survive.
National
Geographic On-line = An exciting look at a variety of discoveries
and life.
Discovery
Channel = The Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel,
Animal Planet, the Civilization Channel, the Living Channel, the
Science Channel, the Kids Channel, & Planet Explorer all
together.
Ecology WWW Page
= A variety of links for students,
teachers, researchers, and WWW surfers interested in ecology.
Global
Communications = Expands and inspires movements for peace,
economic and social justice, human rights, and environmental
sustainability around the world.
Earth
Systems = A non-profit organization dedicated to
advancement of environmental information and education to the
world community.
Environmental
Organization WebDirectory = Earth's Biggest Environment Search Engine.
Environmental Resources on the Internet = A collection of
environmental and other related Internet resources.
Friends of the
Earth = A national, non-profit advocacy organization
dedicated to protecting the planet from environmental degradation
and preserving biological, cultural, and ethnic diversity.
Information
Center for the Environment = A cooperative effort of environmental
scientists at the University of California, Davis and
collaborators at over thirty private, state, federal, and
international organizations interested in environmental
protection.
National
Wildlife Federation = An organization that works on virtually every
environmental issue from habitat conservation to pollution
control. The nation's largest environmental group, it's
education and advocacy programs are making a world of difference
for the world's environment. The NWF is located at; 1412 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 797-6800
Nature
Connect = No matter your age,
walk nature's path to a fulfilling livelihood, personal growth
and responsible relationships.
Teaming with Wildlife = A cooperative
effort between state fish and wildlife agencies, state parks and
the customers and businesses of the outdoors that provides much
needed funding for every state to implement important
conservation strategies and to provide greater recreational and
educational opportunities for millions of Americans.
US Fish &
Wildlife Service = Working with
others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish and wildlife and
their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.
US Forest
Service = The phrase, Caring for the Land and Serving
People, captures the Forest Service mission.
ADDRESSES
American Oceans Campaign 2219 Main Street, Suite 23 Santa Monica, CA 90405 (213) 452-2206 The American Oceans Campaign is a non-partisan, non-profit national advocacy organization dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the nation's oceans, bays, rivers, and estuaries.
Earth Island Institute 300 Broadway Suite 28 San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 788-3666 Earth Island Institute develops innovative action projects for the conservation, preservation, and restoration of the global environment. Earth Island's 35,000 members receive the award-winning quarterly Earth Island Journal.
Environmental Defense Fund 257 Park Ave. South New York, N.Y. 10010 (212) 505-2100 Founded in 1967, EDF champions clean air and water and protects human health from toxic chemicals. EDF safeguards America's wilderness, coastlines, rivers and parks, defends wildlife habitats from rainforests to Antarctica, and promotes recycling.
National Resources Defense Council 40 West 20th Street New York, N.Y. 10011 (212) 727-2700 NRDC means Law and Science For The Environment. Since 1970, NRDC lawyers and scientist have fought for clean air, clean water and a safer, healthier global environment.
Toxics
For information on least toxic pest management:
The Bio-Integral Resource Center P.O. Box 7414 Berkley, CA 94707 (415) 524-2567
Books and Pamphlets
"THE CHEMICAL FREE-LAWN" By Warren Schultz Rodale Press, 1989
"EBB TIDE FOR POLLUTION: CLEANING UP COASTAL WATERS" From National Resources Defense Council 40 West 20th Street New York, N.Y. 10011 (212) 727-2700
"EVERYDAY CHEMICALS: 101 PRACTICAL TIPS FOR HOME AND WORK" From The Windstar Foundation 2317 Snowmass Creek Rd. Snowmass, CO 81654 1-(800)-669-4777
"MAKING THE SWITCH: ALTERNATIVES TO USING TOXIC CHEMICALS IN THE HOME" From The Local Government Commission 909 12th St. Room 205 Sacramento, CA 95814 (918) 448-1198
"NON-TOXIC NATURAL & EARTHWISE" By Debra Lynn Dadd Published by Jeremy P. Tarcher
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