Friday, January 29, 2010

Green Office Tips



Going green is not only limited to your personal life but is applicable to your professional life as well. Your office is where you spent a large part of the day and therefore there is no better place to inculcate these green habits into your lifestyle. Not only should you make a conscious effort to follow these but also make your colleagues do the same. Some of these green office tips are bound to help.

Here are some tips from the green police:

  • Switch off the lights when you move out of your cabin. Artificial lighting constitutes 44% of the total electricity consumption in offices and use as much natural lights as possible.
  • It has been estimate that computers take up $1 billion worth of electricity. Therefore you should always switch off your computer when not in use. Make it a point to switch off the monitor when your computer lies idle for a while.
  • Try and take prints on both sides of a sheet so that you do not waste paper. Try and minimize your paper usage as much as possible by taking most of your work online.
  • Go for office stationery that is made out of recyclable materials.
  • Travel to work via public transport and save fuel in the process.

Green Construction



Constructing structures with the aid of environmentally friendly materials is known as green construction. While the ultimate goal is to protect the environment from the harmful pollutants, the other factors of durability and comfort are not compromised either. Different methods of green construction have evolved over the years with more and more efficient technologies brought into the overall construction process.

One of the most efficient ways of utilizing energy efficient resources is to provide the buildings with adequate insulation on the walls, ceilings and floors along with installing high efficiency windows meant for air circulation. This minimizes the need for high energy sources while maintaining the optimum temperature indoors. The solar energy is used in providing both light and heat and the house thus constructed makes the maximum utilization of the easily available resources that are virtually inexhaustible. Most green construction projects generate power onsite in order to meet its requirements by harnessing the naturally available sources of wind and water.

Building materials are easily recycled or reusable form the basis of green construction. Creating the structure with bamboo or lumber from trees as well as recyclable stones helps to enhance the architecture as well. Waste reduction is yet another aspect of green constructions. According to the green police, using biodegradable material eliminates much of the possibility while the alternative sources of energy helps in limiting the emission of toxic fumes to a large extent.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Global Environment



The global environment is a family determined by the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom and even the climatic components. Our natural environment basically comprises of the ecological aspects which takes in the wide scale application of animals, microorganisms, vegetation, atmosphere, rocks, soil and other natural processes. Climatic changes are bringing in the most progressive transformations in the Global Environment. This is resulting in temperatures above or below normal, change of directions in the ocean and wind currents, delay of seasons, insufficient and inappropriate tenure of climatic phenomenon and increase in the hazards and disasters.

The Global environment is also affected by the physical and chemical reaction in the form of wind, water, air, energy, radiation, heat, magnetism and so on. According to the green police, in the past few decades the global environment is changing with alarming rates and alterations in all the above mentioned units have been spotted. The Global Environment is now facing grave difficulties in pertaining to its form because of numerous harmful impacts. On one hand the natural environment is getting modified by advance technologies while on the other it is getting degraded by acid rain, soil erosion, desertification, soil infertility, man imposed chemical and nuclear effects, etc. The overall health of both plant and animal life is going down considerably. The store of non-renewable resources is getting evacuated. More and more animals are approached by extinction.

Environmental News



As sports news covers the happenings of sports world and sports related events, environmental news covers the latest happenings related to environment. There is a wide array of subjects and topics within the scope and range of environmental news and there are different agencies and publications who publish the news from different corners of the world. Environmental news is available both from international and national level, in print and in web media as well.

Environmental news promotes environmental responsiveness and mass concern for community. While communicating about the environment issues, the objective of environment news is global promotion for conscious resolution for green planet.

Popular environmental issues of environment news are acid rain, air pollution, air quality, drought, global warming, environment policy, hazardous waste, ice ages, global pollution, organic garden, industrial hygiene, waste treatment and management, ozone holes, etc issues which have local as well as international impact on eco-balance and human survival.

Environmental news also covers the latest steps in preservation of environment; environment policies, recycling and waste issues and resolutions, sustainability etc. are also covered by news range.

The green police have listed a few well known newspapers and magazines related to environmental news: Conscious choice, Down-to-earth, National geographic, Grist, Elements, Green futures, Natural life, Orion magazine, Resurgence, World watch, Yes, Geo-times etc.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Eco Tours



No matter if you prefer to spend your vacation in a remote corner of the world surrounded by nature or in a cabin that is located on top of a mountain summit or choose to go trekking in the Alaskan glaciers or go rafting over the rapids, there is an eco tour that can accommodate all your tastes as well as skill level and lifestyle requirements.

Some of the great options and locations available to you if you want to experiment with an eco tour are: Florida’s Key West, the great natural wilderness of Alaska, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and the jungles in Belize or bird watching in Montverde, Costa Rica

An eco tour of the Key West in Florida offers individuals a guided tour of the exotic red mangrove trees, paddle through the shallow, crystal waters, a chance to see a variety of tropical fishes, moray eels, squids, lobsters, octopuses and nesting ospreys

In Alaska an eco tour allows you to trek through the Davidson Glacier, go sea kayaking with humpback whales and sea otters as company or simply watch the grizzlies wrestle or bathe on the river and across the shoreline.

You can also take an eco tour across the jungles in Belize where you have an opportunity to ride a horse along the jungle trail or sleep in ecological cabins that have rustic appeal of thatched roofs or bathe in the waterfalls among the Mayan remains or simply relax in the delights of the tropical paradise! The green police strongly encourage those who can to take an eco tour.

Clean Environment




Today what each one of us aspire is to have a clean environment which is pollution free and devoid of any public health hazards. A clean environment implies a return of the natural endemic local ecology and it is what we strive for. We need to create a cleaner and a greener planet if our marvels of science and technology are going to be matched and not outweighed by current tragedies consisting of human starvation in many parts f the world and extinction of other forms of life.

Global warming is an increase in earth’s temperature and this in turn is causing the rapid change in climatic condition. Global warming also results in droughts and disrupts agriculture. A clean environment means not to despoil the remaining parts of the world which are still not developed.

According to the green police, in some parts of the world extinction of other life forms is growing fast. It is ironic that space exploration will now only take place at the time when earth’s own oceans, and freshwater areas while they grow increasingly polluted and their life forms are still largely unknown and where known are probably misunderstood.

This is the time to start pushing ourselves to make the earth a planet with clean environment with the assistance of different agencies which have started to make this planet a greener and a cleaner place to live.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Solar Power Generation



Many ancient civilizations worshiped the sun, believing it to possess powers to create and sustain life. For all their naivety, the green police believe that they had actually grasped the truth. As environmental scientists have discovered, the only way to conserve fast dwindling energy resources is to switch to solar power. Solar power generation is also the answer to the menace of global warming, caused primarily by burning fossil fuels that release toxic gases into the atmosphere.

The popular belief is that you need large and complex machinery for solar power generation and these machines can only be used in an industrial setup. But you will be surprised to learn that even something as simple as installing large picture windows and skylights on the south side of your house will let in sunlight and reduce the need for central heating or daytime lighting. If you live in California, then you have loads of opportunities to tap the abundant rays of the sun and use them to your advantage. You will be amazed by how much your power bills are slashed.

Staying in a cold place does not mean that you will rake up whopping power bills. Invest in active solar hydronic systems to retain the heat generated and you will save loads in terms of electricity usage.

One way of going green is to go in for solar power generation.