JAMES MASON BALL

It’s back to school time again: a perfect opportunity for a refresher course in how to green your children’s school supplies, not to mention your own office supplies. (We should all lead by example!) And don’t miss the opportunity to educate your kids by including them in the process of selecting earth-friendly items. There are many ways to choose green while shopping for back to school.

Purchasing the right school supplies are some of the easiest ways to make some environmentally friendly decisions. Many products made from recycled paper and plastics, as well as biodegradable materials, are now readily available at most office supply and retail stores. Buying a reusable PVC-free lunchbox or bag is another excellent choice over using disposable brown paper bags everyday. And don’t forget a reusable, aluminum water bottle instead of constantly buying unnecessary water-filled plastic bottles.

While it can be a little more of a challenge to find organic cotton and other sustainable fabric clothing options, more and more retailers are beginning to offer green options. Conventionally grown cotton is responsible for 25% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of the world’s pesticides, dangerous carcinogens that seep into our groundwater and pollute natural wildlife habitats. By choosing to purchase clothing made from organic cotton, wool, hemp, bamboo, silk or ramie you are also choosing to keep dangerous chemicals from polluting our world. A backpack is yet another item that can be found made from organic, sustainable textiles.

When purchasing a new computer, consider a laptop over a desktop. A laptop uses from two to five times less energy than a standard desktop computer, takes up much less space and the amount of materials used in production are also significantly less.

Spend some extra time with your children this year by planning and shopping for their school supplies together. Use this opportunity to educate them on how to be better stewards of our planet. Instill being green as part of their own decision making process as future consumers themselves. And be sure to tell them that you are doing it to ensure a healthy, sustainable future for them.

Summer is nearly upon us and for many this means it is time to begin thinking about the annual family vacation. This could be a challenge during such trying economic times. And for those concerned about global climate change and weighing the environmental impact of a travel-heavy excursion, there are even more considerations to account for. The good news for Californians is that opportunities for a fulfilling break from the everyday grind are plentiful, all within driving distance.

Have you considered visiting one of the over 260 California Parks this year? The beauty and serenity of nature may just be the respite that you are looking for. And it’s an excellent opportunity to learn more about nature, history and conservation.

To help you plan your trip, this month KCSM TV is featuring California’s Golden Parks. Let Huell Howser take you on a personally guided tour of some of the majestic natural wonders that our state affords us, every Monday & Tuesday at 5:00 pm. Learn more about Joshua Tree, Big Basin, Bidwell Park, Columbia Diggins, Alum Rock, Año Nuevo State National Reserve, Carrizo Plain National Monument and the Yosemite Falls Trail.

And on Thursdays at 11:00pm, it’s all aboard with Huell as he takes you on a tour of some of California’s historic railway lines.  Visit the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, take the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad through the Sierra National Forest or ride the Skunk Train following the coastal Redwood Route.

Also, by staying closer to home, you are lowering the carbon footprint of your trip. The shorter the distance traveled, the less fuel burned and the fewer carbon emissions released into the atmosphere. So forego the flight to Paris this year and drive your family to one of the many amazing destinations that our own state affords us. And to help you get the most from your vehicle, check out the list below for some tips on how to improve your gas mileage.

I will be posting more information and links to all of these magnificent parks, as well as tips on how to plan an environmentally friendly vacation so check back soon.

Good luck in your travels. And have a happy, healthy summer.

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By implementing the following suggestions you can maximize your fuel economy and save yourself some green while lowering your carbon emissions.

Tips for Improving Gas Mileage    

• Change your vehicles air filter. Changing a dirty air filter can increase your fuel efficiency by up to ten percent.
• Be sure that your tires are properly inflated. Be keeping them at the correct pressure, you can increase your mpg by up to 3 percent.
• Get a tune up. If it has been awhile since your vehicle has been attended to, there can be many things that once corrected could significantly increase your fuel efficiency.
• Take it easy and use cruise control. Aggressive driving (rapid acceleration and braking) can lower your gas mileage as much as 33% at highway speeds.
• Drive the speed limit. Gas mileage decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph. As a rule of thumb, assume that for each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional XX.10 per gallon for gas.
• Don’t be idle. When sitting still with your engine running, you are getting zero (O) miles to the gallon and using up to 1/8 gallon of gas every ten minutes.
• Pack lightly. Every extra one hundred pounds of cargo will cost you 1 mpg.
• Use your vehicle’s air conditioner on the highway to cool off. True, using the air conditioner can reduce your fuel efficiency by up to ten percent, but when traveling over 40 miles per hour the drag caused by open windows will actually lower fuel efficiency even more.
• Go to the car wash instead of washing by hand. Most professional car washes use 60% less water and recapture some for reuse. Also, the water that does go down the drain is treated to be less environmentally damaging.
• Purchase carbon offsets to balance out your vehicles global warming emissions. When you purchase these offsets from organizations (such as TerraPass.com) your money is invested in clean energy projects that “offset” your carbon emissions by producing green, sustainable energy that replaces other non-sustainable energy sources.

Happy Earth Day Everyone!  How do you plan on observing it this year? Leave a comment and share your plans with us all….

In honor of Earth Day this month, I am “recycling” an article that I wrote and previously appeared in the May 2008 issue of “On Air.”  I hope that it helps to emphasize the importance that each of us make a commitment to Mother Earth of not being wasteful.

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Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.  Chances are you have heard this mantra in the very recent past.  But do you know what it means?  It is known as the waste hierarchy, voiced in the order of environmental importance.

First, we must minimize the depletion of natural resources as much as possible. To be good stewards of our planet, we should lower our level of consumption. Buy less, use less, waste less: reduce.

The next best action? Use what we already have more than once, preferably several times.  A good example would be to use a travel mug to fill up on your morning coffee and forego the paper cup: reuse.

Last on the hierarchy, yet still of immense importance: recycle.  When we are unable to reduce the amount we consume, and can’t reuse something that we have, we must do our best to increase the useful life of disposables by recycling anything that can be repurposed or remanufactured. This is a good place to start if you have been thinking about what you can do to begin having a more positive relationship with the environment.  I’ll be talking more about the waste hierarchy in future columns, but this month I want to focus on the simple act of recycling.

The more that you are able to recycle, the less waste ends up in overflowing landfills, and the more energy is saved by not having to produce aluminum cans or plastic bottles or other consumables from raw materials. If every person were more conscious of the impact that we all have on our world, and made a concerted effort to fill-up their blue bin instead of the trash can, we would see a significant, positive change in the quality and sustainability of the environment.

The list below has just a few suggestions of ways to recycle that you may not have thought of. Challenge yourself to see how many of these you can implement into your life today.

RECYCLING 101 - DO TRY THIS AT HOME:

o   Do you recycle all of those empty paper towel and toilet paper rolls?  How about the box that your toothpaste comes in? Think of keeping a small recycling bin or basket under the bathroom sink for all that cardboard and recyclable paper that makes its way into the trash in your loo. When it fills up, just empty it into your regular paper recycling bin.

o   Plastic recycling can seem to be a more daunting process.  But once you learn the rules, it becomes second nature. Containers that are recyclable will have a number between 1 and 7 surrounded by a recycling symbol, usually on the bottom.  Not all kinds of plastic are recyclable in all areas.  To find out which plastics are recyclable in your community, check with your local curbside recycling provider.

o   Donate your unwanted or excess household items to charity. Many charitable organizations are more than happy to accept your used items and many will pick them up from your home.  Not only do you keep unnecessary waste out of a landfill, you are helping others that can really use what you no longer can, not to mention that the value of your donation is tax-deductible.  EVERYONE WINS!

o   Electronics should never end up in a landfill as they contain toxic elements such as mercury, lead and chromium that can leach into our water and environment.  Both Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul accept used electronic items such as computers, monitors, printers, cell phones, televisions and most other electronics, working or not, at no cost to you.  They then sort these items for reuse or recycling.

o   Visit your local used bookstore.   You’ll be amazed at the huge selection of books available at much less then retail prices. You can often find beautiful editions of your favorites that you won’t find at retail stores. Also, many used bookstores will buy back, or issue store credit for, books that you no longer want to keep.

o   Try buying used furniture the next time you’re in the market for a chair or a bookshelf. We are fortunate in the bay area to have such wonderful thrift and antique shops, and you’ll love the gorgeous craftsmanship.  By purchasing furniture that has already been built you will be saving trees from being cut down, as well as the energy expended to create new, mass-produced furnishings. And you will have a unique piece that your friends and neighbors won’t.

o   Complete the loop and buy recycled products! All of that cardboard and paper that you so diligently placed in the blue bin has magically been reborn as recycled paper.  When you go to the office supply store, opt for products that are made from recycled materials.  The greater the demand for recycled goods, the more incentive manufacturers will have to find ways of creating quality recycled products.