ALARMS:
Having a smoke alarm
Having a carbon monoxide alarm
APPLIANCES:
Using a microwave oven instead of a conventional electric or toaster oven to save
on electricity. (The microwave is excellent for reheating cooked foods.)
Using energy-saving appliances such as those with my dishwasher, air-conditioner,
refridgerator, and washing machine (cold water)
AUTOMOBILE:
Having a subcompact car that gets good gasoline mileage
Using a seat belt in a car all the time
BATHROOM:
Having low water-shower device to save especially on hot water
Putting a water bag in toilet tank weighted down with a flower pot to reduce flushing
water usage
BATTERIES:
Using renewable batteries, with chargers for varuous sizes
BELTS:
Using non-leather belts
CHARITIES AND ORGANIZATIONS:
Having contributed to a variety of environmental charities
Having joined organizations that help plants and animals, including people, such
as fighting cruelty to farm animals and pets, combating diseases (especially preventable ones), promoting anti-pollution legislation,
and advocating against slavery or near-slavery of people in farming and manufacturing (listed in Education/Memberships/Donations)
You can become employed or volunteer or become an activist in such organizations if you have the time and inclinatuon
to do so.
CHILDREN:
Making a conscious decision not to bring any more children into this overpopulasted
world
COMPUTER:
Leaving your computer on stand-by or completely turned off when not in use.
(There doesn't seem to be any general advice from the computer companies in this regard.)
CONDOMINIUM:
Airing out condominium by opening windows when weather is appropriate, thereby
bringing in fresh air to reduce pollution
Having moth balls in my closets
Living in a condominium - with 2 shared walls to reduce heating and cooling costs
Using an indoor air filter to hold down air pollution significantly, cleaning the lamp
inside annually
CREDIT CARD:
Using a "Clean Water Action" credit card, with funds going
to this charity.
DIET:
Being a near-vegan, consuming no meat, seafood, or poultry, but still dairy products
FOOD:
Not wasting very much food
HEATING & COOLING:
Closing your blinds or shades on winter evenings to reduce radiative heat loss
Keeping the heat down in the winter and the air-conditioning low in the summer
- dressing accordingly
LIGHT BULBS:
Purchasing energy-saving light bulbs that throw off less heat
NEAR-VEGAN:
Having attended two
protests on not using animal fur
Not buying products that use animals (such as leather shoes, belts, or wallets, wool, fur,
detergents, or cleaning fluids)
NOISE POLLUTION:
Not using skimobiles, lawnmowers, or motorcycles, as they are way too
noisy.
PAPER:
Not purchasing magazines or newspapers to keep paper usage down; for example, getting
the news and weather totally from TV and the 'Net
RECYCLING:
Recycling paper, plastic, cardboard, printer cartridges, and metals in my
town dump
SOLAR:
Having a solar calculator
Using a bathroom solar scale
TEETH:
Flossing teeth and using toothpaste with fluoride
Using a mouthwash that protects against tartar, plague, gingivitis, and bad breath
TRASH:
Trying to hold down the amount of trash, such as by increasing my recycling
WALLETS:
Using non-leather belts
WAVE DEVICES:
Purchasing wave devices that repel insects and rodents instead of using `cides
and using a plant-based insecticide
I am using up my non-vegan supplies in order to save some money. There include
leather belts and wallets, standard light bulbs, and regular batteries.
Humans have been using up nature's bounty much faster
than it can replenish itself. This means a lower standard of living ahead for our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren--literally
for centuries--or even longer, with a "depresso" possible forever! The continuing large budget and trade deficits in
America are enough to sink future generations in this country economically, and the rest of the world is, generally speaking, worse
off!
Because of this, I believe strongly that we should give something
back to this world in the form of volunteering, a personal charity (or charities), community service, or contributing directly
to help save the plants and animals, as well as directly helping the impoverished people (definitely including children) in
this greatly overpopulated world.
By simple tax policies, we could help straighten out
the awful environmental mess in the world today. This might include tax advantages for environmentally sustainable industries
such as solar power, wind power, and fuel cells, as well as nutritious foods, while heavily taxing the worst in our environment
such as tobacco, alcohol, gasoline and heating oil, now-illegal drugs, and completely non-nutritious foods.
In addition to taxing the worst environmental products, government
could make a lot of money by charging the fair market price for our commonly owned water, land, forests, and mineral rights
to farmers, ranchers, loggers, and mining companies. If these users of our resources had to pay a decent price for them,
the practice of conservation would take place automatically.
Conservation should be practiced by government, industry, other
organizations, and individuals. We could do an awful lot better at stretching out our non-renewable resources (such
as coal, oil, natural gas, and aluminum) and restraining the over-usage of potentially renewable resources (such as trees
in forests, fresh air, fresh surface water in lakes and streams, and fertile soil).
As discussed in the "Overpopulaton" paper on the Academic
page, when the population of an animal species exceeds its carrying capacity (the ability to sustain its heavy numbers, often
caused by food shortages), adjustments are imposed to reduce its overpopulation. In mice, when its population exceeds the
food supply, the birth rate automatically is reduced because the potential female mothers are not as healthy.
In the case of a variety of lemings in Canada, they jump off a cliff in droves
when their food supply dries up. The fox type that feeds on them has to adapt to these varying conditions.
For humans, our environmentally unsustainable overpopulation
will be mitigated by lower birth rates. This will be due, at least in part, to the abundance of pollution
in our bodies, as we are at the top of the animal food chain where pollutants become more concentrated.
