Help me out, please: "Recycling one aluminum can...

[InvisibleTouch]

...saves enough energy to keep a 100-watt bulb burning for almost four hours, or power your television or computer for three hours."

Somewhere on the web there's a list that gives more of these very specific and concrete comparisons - how much water saved, how much fossil fuel not used, how many trees spared, how much pollution avoided by recycling a certain amount of aluminum, glass, plastic, steel - and how much difference it would make if everyone would do even one of those things. Problem is, I can't seem to find that list anymore. Maybe I'm just not putting the right search phrases into Google. Anyone happen to have a link?

I'm trying to compile a list that shows how doing even a small thing can make a significant difference. When we see movies like "An Inconvenient Truth," and hear about giant ice shelves breaking up, it's easy to become discouraged and think the problem is so big that we can't possibly have any impact on it. It's important to show that the choices we make in our lives, even seemingly small ones, do make a difference.

To that end I'm looking for that list of specific comparisons. Not the one that says "Switching to fluorescents will save you this-and-so-much money," and ditto for turning down the thermostat, etc. - I'm looking for the physical real-world impact that those changes will have, not their abstract dollar values.

Some might say, "We're in such deep shit by now that doing just a small thing isn't enough." Perhaps true - but the alternative is to do nothing at all, and that's even worse. We have to give people an accessible place from which to start.

[unhappycamper]

1. I switched to CFL bulbs in all light fixtures that would take them.

My electric bill went down 25%. :thumbsup:

[kestrel91316]

2. I'm having a peek at the book "You Can Prevent Global Warming" by

Jeffrey Langholz and Kelly Turner, Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2003.

Chapter one is about lighting choices and the benefits of CFLs. AMOUNT OF CO2 NOT EMITTED as a result of replacing 4 incandescent bulbs with CFLs: 718 lb. per year.

I have replaced about 8 at home, and I did it over the last 3-6 years. I figure that's over 5000 lb of CO2 I DIDN'T pollute the atmosphere with. Yay.

I don't care so much about the energy saved, but they say the cost savings for this move runs about $30/yr for the 4 bulbs. And I got them free from LA DWP and Earth Day promotions, I think.

About recycling aluminum cans: there isn't a specific chapter in the book. But they talk about recycling, and it obviously saves a huge amount of energy, and decreases CO2 emissions.

The important thing to remember is: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And the most important is REDUCE. Recycling is what you do when you have reduced and reused as much as possible. I don't buy many beverages in bottles, cans, boxes, or anything else. I use tap water (gasp!! horrors!!) and make my own beverages. So there ISN'T any aluminum for me to recycle anymore. I do have to confess occasionally buying beer or wine in glass bottles, which is more environmentally appropriate than aluminum.

Sadly, the book's title is now obsolete. Global warming is here. But we can "treat" it. This will require a change in the "American Way of Life"TM. I can deal with it. Can the rest of you?