How to Protect the Earth at Home

Take a realistic approach to
protecting the earth and first
consider what you can do in your
own home. This is much more
manageable than taking on the
world. It is in these simple everyday
steps that one can make an impact.
By setting a good example for your
children, you are fostering a sense
of stewardship that will last
generations to come.

1.Make your own non-toxic cleaning
products. Doing this will reduce the
use of plastics because you are
reusing plastic containers to hold the
cleaning products. The ingredients
are also biodegradable which means
it is gentler on the environment.

2.Use cloth bags at the grocery store
and for all your grocery needs.
Store them in the trunk of your car
so you always have them on hand.
You don't have to limit their use to
the grocery store. If you don't have
a cloth bag with you when you are
shopping, ask yourself if you need a
bag at all.

3.Explore the idea of purchasing
energy-efficient appliances. They
may cost more upfront but in the
end you will save money because
they use less energy. Replace
regular light bulbs with their energy
efficient counterparts. You pay a little
more, but the life of the bulb is
significantly longer.

4.Set up a compost bin. Add a few
less things to the landfill by
composting your kitchen scraps. All
plant-derived foods, coffee grounds
and tea leaves can be composted.
Have a small container in your
home to place items in. When the
storage container gets full, transfer
the waste to an outdoor bin.
Use the
resulting rich fertile soil in the
garden.

5.Grow an organic garden. Being able
to rely on yourself for fresh produce
is very rewarding. Share your
harvest with neighbors, can and
preserve the excess for years to
come. If you don't have the space
or time to grow a garden, shop
locally and support local farmers.

6.Reduce the use of car travel.
Consider using public
transportation, walking, car pooling
and bike riding to get to where you
want to go. If you must travel by
car, shop for a fuel efficient/hybrid
vehicle and keep up-to-date with
emissions checks.
Reuse clothing. When possible, look
for hand-me-downs for your
children's clothing. Shop resale
shops, garage sales and pass
clothing items on to friends and
family. Consider doing this with
toys too. When you do buy toys,
choose ones that are built to last. So
many of the plastic toys available fall
apart quickly and end up in the
trash.

What is Global Warming?

While some would call global
warming a theory, others would
call it a proven set of facts.
Opinions differ vehemently. Let us
consider global warming to be
both a premise that the
environment of the world as we
know it is slowly, but very surely
increasing in overall air and water
temperature, and a promise that
if whatever is causing this trend
is not interrupted or challenged
life on earth will dynamically be
affected.
The prevailing counter opinion is
that all that is presently perceived
to be global warming is simply
the result of a normal climactic
swing in the direction of
increased
temperature. Many proponents of
this global warming ideology have
definitive social and financial
interests in these claims.
Global warming and climate
change are aspects of our
environment that cannot be easily
or quickly discounted. Many
factions still strongly feel that the
changes our Earth is seeing
are the result of a natural climatic
adjustment. Regardless of one’s
perspective the effects of global
warming are a quantifiable set of
environmental results that are in
addition to any normal changes in
climate. That is why the effects of
global warming have catastrophic
potential. Global warming may
well be the straw that breaks the
camel’s back. It could turn out to
be the difference between a
category three hurricane and a
category four. Global warming as
caused by greenhouse gas
emissions can lead us to a
definite imbalance of nature.
The premise of global warming as
an issue of debate is that
industrial growth coupled with
non-structured methods we as
humans use to sustain ourselves
has created a situation where our
planet is getting progressively
hotter. We have seemingly
negatively effected our
environment by a cycle of harmful
processes that now seem to be
feeding upon themselves to
exponentially increase the
damage to our ecosystem.

Earth

Earth is the only planet in the solar
system with a crust of tectonic
plates floating on top of a magma
interior. Over time, the plate
tectonics pull carbon and other
remnants of life back into the interior
of the Earth where they are
recycled. Without the plate tectonics
there would be no way to recycle
the carbon, and the Earth would
overheat and our planet would end
up hot and barren like Venus.
Seventy percent of the Earth’s
surface may be covered in water,
but the rest of the planet is
composed mainly of iron, oxygen
and silicon. The molten core of the
Earth is 88% iron, creating a giant
magnetic effect with opposite poles
at the top and bottom. The
magnetosphere field extends
thousands of miles out from the
surface where it channels the solar
winds and protects us from harmful
radiation.
The Earth’s atmosphere also extends
out thousands of miles, although
75% of the atmosphere is contained
within the first ten miles above the
planet ’s surface. At higher altitudes
the atmosphere is extremely thin
and there is less protection, free-
moving particles can escape the pull
of the earth ’s gravity and get blown
into space by solar winds.
We’ve discovered evidence of water
on Mars, and the building blocks of
life ’s proteins on Saturn’s moons.
Scientists have also seen amino
acids in nebulae in deep space, but
for now, Earth is the only planet
known to have life and we are very
lucky to be on it. Help keep the Earth
healthy and we will all have a
brighter tomorrow.