FEASIBLE IMPROVEMENTS FOR INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS
Things You Can Do to Help the Planet (in order of importance):
1. Participate in local, state and federal elections, and be well-informed about where candidates stand on environmental issues (significant environmental reforms can only happen through government regulation)
2. Minimize the use of cars by walking or using public transportation (to and from work, when running errands)
3. Own cars that get at least 30 miles to the gallon
4. Know the definition of photovoltaics, fuel cells, wind power, and green architecture
5. Incorporate environmental factors into consumer purchasing decisions (i.e., Does the product have components derived from petroleum? How much packaging is used? Is the product made with recycled materials?)
6. Don’t patronize companies with bad environmental records
7. Live in a small space in a densely populated neighborhood such as an apartment building in a city because people who live in cities use more public transportation, and people who live in cities use about half as much electricity as people who don’t
8. Minimize the use of air conditioning and heating (open windows and use ceiling fans in the summer and wear sweaters and use heavy blankets in the winter)
9. Minimize the use of a clothes dryer by hanging some of your wet laundry on the shower curtain rod with hangers
10. Minimize the amount of bags used when purchasing things (bring old bags or reusable canvas bags, or don’t use bags at all and put things in your pockets)
11. Minimize the purchase of cleaning products that use fragrances, dyes or chemicals (dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, cleansers)
12. Minimize the purchase of food that have fragrances, dyes, chemicals and preservatives in the ingredients
13. Buy food from local farmers, farmers markets, and natural food markets, and buy food that’s in season
14. Buy organic produce; organic, hormone-free, free-range chicken; and organic, hormone-free and antibiotic-free beef and pork
15. Avoid seafood choices that suffer from overfishing, depletion and poor management
16. Minimize the use of disposable products (plates, napkins, silverware, diapers, razors, etc)
17. Don’t run the water needlessly when showering, brushing teeth, or washing dishes
18. Buy long lasting products and use them until they expire (light bulbs, cars)
19. Give items that you don’t use to other people who can use them, and accept used items from people who offer them to you and use them (freecycle.org)
20. Recycle paper, plastic, glass and metal
21. Use washable reusable kitchen rags rather than paper towels
22. Use latex paint instead of oil based paint
23. Minimize the use of clothes that have to be dry cleaned, and, if you can find one, use an environmentally friendly dry cleaner
24. If you work in an office, bring a sandwich to work every day for lunch in the same reusable container and bring water to work in a reusable water bottle (wash the container and water bottle every night)
25. Install low flush toilets and water conserving showerheads
26. Reduce junk mail (call companies and ask them to remove your name from their mailing lists), and when possible, have monthly statements emailed to you instead of mailed
27. Donate money to charitable organizations that help the environment
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Sacrifices: The Things You Can Do to Help the Planet require an effort, but are relatively painless when compared to the tremendous sacrifices being made to protect the American way of life, namely our soldiers killed in armed conflict. These relatively painless sacrifices can go a long way to protect and improve of our way of life.
Family Responsibility: People who have children have to spend the time and effort on their kids that will produce happy, functional, responsible, well-educated and well-adjusted adults. This is good for society because when the time comes for those kids to vote, they’ll learn about the issues and vote responsibly. It’s no excuse to be too busy with work to spend time with your kids. If you’re going to be too busy with work, don’t have kids.
Wake Up! When you hear news from the government or from a politician or when you see an advertisement for a campaign on TV, don’t take the information literally, try to READ BETWEEN THE LINES. Break out of your habits and your routines for a minute and really think about this stuff.
The Solutions to Society’s Problems Begin with the Individual: It’s a fundamental belief of the market that the social good is best served by allowing people and companies to pursue their self-interest without any thought for the social good – the two being identical. This is a perversion of human nature. People must expand upon the pursuit of narrow self-interest and give some thought to the future of humanity. People need a reassertion of morality amid their amoral preoccupations. It would be naïve to expect a change in human nature, but humans are capable of transcending the pursuit of narrow self-interest. Indeed, they cannot live without some sense of morality. Each citizen should do what’s best for herself and her family, but also must do things in a way that will help society simultaneously.