atau mobil lain yang super efisien, bukan berarti Anda tidak bisa “menciptakan” mobil yang ramah lingkungan. Temukan enam cara mudah untuk “menghijaukan” mobil Anda yang bermanfaat tidak hanya bagi dompet namun juga bagi lingkungan.
1. Maksimalkan jarak tempuh mobil Anda. Anda bisa melakukannya dengan mengubah cara Anda berkendara. Mengerem lebih sedikit, melaju sesuai dengan batas kecepatan, mengurangi beban yang tidak perlu, dan memompa ban secara maksimal sesuai dengan ukuran tekanan udara bisa menghemat BBM hingga 25%.
2. Hindari penggunaan pendingin udara (AC). Walau praktik ini susah diterapkan terutama saat musim panas, penggunaan AC akan menyedot bahan bakar Anda. Jika cuaca tidak terlalu panas dan mobil Anda tidak terpanggang matahari, kolumnis Wall Street Journal, Jonathan Welsh menyarankan Anda untuk membuka jendela mobil Anda sebagai ganti pendingin udara. .
3. Rawat mobil Anda dengan baik. Pastikan Anda mengganti oli mobil Anda secara berkala. Mobil yang sehat dan terawat akan mengonsumsi bahan bakar secara lebih efisien, lebih awet dan tahan lama.
4. Hindari menyalakan mobil dalam kondisi berhenti (idling). Anda akan membakar bensin secara sia-sia saat mobil Anda berhenti. Matikan mesin jika Anda menunggu lebih dari 30 detik untuk menghemat BBM.
5. Gunakan pengharum ruangan non-kimia. Ruth Logan dari Examiner.com melaporkan pengharum ruangan mengandung bahan penyebab alergi (allergens) yang bisa menyebabkan sakit kepala dan iritasi mata pada sejumlah orang. Menurut laporan Children’s Environmental Health Network, organisasi nirlaba yang bergerak di bidang keselamatan, penyegar ruangan juga mengandung racun kimia yang bisa merusak paru-paru; mengganggu produksi hormon dan memicu kanker (carcinogenic).
6. Beralihlah ke produk pembersih yang lebih ramah lingkungan. Banyak pembersih mobil yang mengandung detergen, ammonia, dan bahan kimia lain yang merusak lingkungan. Dengan menerapkan keenam langkah tersebut mobil dan hidup Anda akan lebih sehat.
Jumat, 12 Agustus 2011
Senin, 01 Agustus 2011
Are Chinese Mothers Superior?
A good friend sent me an article called Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior from the Wall Street Journal. In it, the author claims that Chinese mothers are willing to put enormous pressure on their kids to succeed and the kids eventually realize their mothers are right. She writes, "A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes and music prodigies, what it's like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I've done it".
Seems like a promising start, but then she writes, "Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:
attend a sleepover
have a play date
be in a school play
complain about not being in a school play
watch TV or play computer games
choose their own extracurricular activities
get any grade less than an A
not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama
play any instrument other than the piano or violin
not play the piano or violin
… What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences."
Now, I agree that goal-oriented kids (and grownups) accomplish more, but this is way over the top, especially when some more details of harsh treatment are provided.
If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know Ronit and I have a 22-year-old daughter who excels academically, having finished high school when she was 16. We have a son who is musically gifted, a top student and a school captain, who will be finishing high school when he just turns 16. Our youngest daughter is only 9, but she is well known by her teachers and her friends' parents as the girl to associate with. She is polite, independent, determined and accomplished academically, as well as in several arts.
Yet, we use very different methods to help our kids grow, because the most important thing for us is their emotional wellbeing.
Boy playing violinAmy Chua seems to be measuring her daughters' success in life externally, by how well they perform musical pieces or how high they score on exams. She claims that kids are happy when they master a skill and that getting used to hard work and sacrifice is necessary for a successful life.
Now, I have never met Amy's daughters, but I have met other Chinese kids - our kids go to school with lots of them. Of course, they are not all the same and the term "Chinese" often means "immigrant focused on academic and material success", but the general profile is an uptight, fear-motivated, passive-aggressive, competitive and often self-loathing child. They play some dorky instrument, like violin or piano, but they listen to pop. They do everything perfectly, but with no spark in their eyes. They can often do things perfectly, but rarely truly well, because they are all head and no heart.
Do you think modern Chinese kids cannot see the difference in the way they are being treated? Sure they can.
Do you seriously believe they are not jealous of the other kids? Sure they are.
Do you really think they have no resentment or feeling of loss and abuse? Sure they do.
During her parenting workshops, Ronit asks the parents to list the things they want for their kids most. The things they list most often are health, love, happiness, friendship, faith, confidence and contentment/satisfaction. Nobody lists money. Nobody lists material success. Apart from health, these are all emotional things!
Ronit then asks the parents to narrow down their list and let go of their least important parenting value (because that is what they have listed). Then, they must do it again and again, until they are left with a single value.
Girl playing pianoParents have a very hard time letting go of those values. They do not want their kids to miss out on any of them. When this exercise is done, most parents are left with (drum roll) happiness. The number one thing parents want for their kids is to be happy.
So when you drill your kids to "help" them be better at something - violin, piano, math, English, football or whatever - and you are putting pressure on them, you may be improving their skills in that particular area, but at the same time, you are also
making them associate that skill/sport/game/subject with pressure and conflict
positioning yourself as a source of pressure, which means you cannot be trusted to provide emotional support when things are difficult (you will just tell the child to stop whining)
making your child externally motivated, focused on others' verbal, written or even implied approval
making your child ignore anything not being formally measured, like emotional expression, empathy or enjoyment
making your child doubt their own judgment and preferences
causing your child's self-esteem to drop ("I'm no good unless I'm perfect at everything, which is impossible, so I'm no good")
The success of migrant children, in my opinion, is not so much the result of continuous pressure from their parents. I believe it is more likely the result of other things:
Having parents who are good role models for some useful values:
Independence and unconventional thinking - through living away from their original culture and support structure and making things work
Determination - through working hard themselves and finding ways to overcome the extra challenges of immigration
Family, love and sacrifice - through caring enough for their kids to migrate to a better place despite the difficulties
Education - through investing time and effort choosing the best schools (even if it means relocating), following up and helping
Speaking a different language - studies have shown that multilingual kids do better than average academically
Being more open and accepting - kids who grow up in one place believe their way of life is the only one possible, but migrant kids know at least another way of life and are required to adapt all the time
Playing music - research shows that regardless of their choice of instrument, children who study music consistently increase their academic results (by 23% in 8 years)
One other thing worth mentioning here is that kids have different communication styles and excel at different things. Sadly, some kids can excel at nothing, simply due to their genetic makeup. Using standard ways to measure success is cruel, especially when comparing to other kids. Even if you are a Chinese mother and even if you are very good yourself, the expectation that by applying enough pressure for long enough you can make your child perform is just wrong.
My kids are self-motivated, positive, busy, physically active, social and happy:
Happy kids bouncing on a trampolineThey have lots of fun at sleepovers and play dates
They get applauded for performing in school plays after spending a lot of time rehearsing
They play harmless computer games and watch filtered TV (mostly Noff)
They choose their own activities, do well at them and have a ball
They get B's in subjects they don't like and will never pursue, but A's in anything that matters (to them)
They are not No. 1 in every subject, but they are very good at what they like, as well as math, English and science
Eden plays the piano, but she quit as a child and is now paying her own tuition and is very proud of herself. Tsoof plays percussion (does marimba qualify as a piano?) and guitar (it has strings…) and writes music. Noff tried the piano for a while and may go back to it. In the meantime, she sings, dances, skates on ice, draws cartoons and does drama
This weekend, they lost sleep from the excitement of … going back to school.
Yet, Ronit is not a Chinese mother and (ahem) I am certainly not! We believe in creating the environment for your kids to excel and showing them how by example. The rest is up to them, but happy kids always (always) do better.
Seems like a promising start, but then she writes, "Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:
attend a sleepover
have a play date
be in a school play
complain about not being in a school play
watch TV or play computer games
choose their own extracurricular activities
get any grade less than an A
not be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama
play any instrument other than the piano or violin
not play the piano or violin
… What Chinese parents understand is that nothing is fun until you're good at it. To get good at anything you have to work, and children on their own never want to work, which is why it is crucial to override their preferences."
Now, I agree that goal-oriented kids (and grownups) accomplish more, but this is way over the top, especially when some more details of harsh treatment are provided.
If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know Ronit and I have a 22-year-old daughter who excels academically, having finished high school when she was 16. We have a son who is musically gifted, a top student and a school captain, who will be finishing high school when he just turns 16. Our youngest daughter is only 9, but she is well known by her teachers and her friends' parents as the girl to associate with. She is polite, independent, determined and accomplished academically, as well as in several arts.
Yet, we use very different methods to help our kids grow, because the most important thing for us is their emotional wellbeing.
Boy playing violinAmy Chua seems to be measuring her daughters' success in life externally, by how well they perform musical pieces or how high they score on exams. She claims that kids are happy when they master a skill and that getting used to hard work and sacrifice is necessary for a successful life.
Now, I have never met Amy's daughters, but I have met other Chinese kids - our kids go to school with lots of them. Of course, they are not all the same and the term "Chinese" often means "immigrant focused on academic and material success", but the general profile is an uptight, fear-motivated, passive-aggressive, competitive and often self-loathing child. They play some dorky instrument, like violin or piano, but they listen to pop. They do everything perfectly, but with no spark in their eyes. They can often do things perfectly, but rarely truly well, because they are all head and no heart.
Do you think modern Chinese kids cannot see the difference in the way they are being treated? Sure they can.
Do you seriously believe they are not jealous of the other kids? Sure they are.
Do you really think they have no resentment or feeling of loss and abuse? Sure they do.
During her parenting workshops, Ronit asks the parents to list the things they want for their kids most. The things they list most often are health, love, happiness, friendship, faith, confidence and contentment/satisfaction. Nobody lists money. Nobody lists material success. Apart from health, these are all emotional things!
Ronit then asks the parents to narrow down their list and let go of their least important parenting value (because that is what they have listed). Then, they must do it again and again, until they are left with a single value.
Girl playing pianoParents have a very hard time letting go of those values. They do not want their kids to miss out on any of them. When this exercise is done, most parents are left with (drum roll) happiness. The number one thing parents want for their kids is to be happy.
So when you drill your kids to "help" them be better at something - violin, piano, math, English, football or whatever - and you are putting pressure on them, you may be improving their skills in that particular area, but at the same time, you are also
making them associate that skill/sport/game/subject with pressure and conflict
positioning yourself as a source of pressure, which means you cannot be trusted to provide emotional support when things are difficult (you will just tell the child to stop whining)
making your child externally motivated, focused on others' verbal, written or even implied approval
making your child ignore anything not being formally measured, like emotional expression, empathy or enjoyment
making your child doubt their own judgment and preferences
causing your child's self-esteem to drop ("I'm no good unless I'm perfect at everything, which is impossible, so I'm no good")
The success of migrant children, in my opinion, is not so much the result of continuous pressure from their parents. I believe it is more likely the result of other things:
Having parents who are good role models for some useful values:
Independence and unconventional thinking - through living away from their original culture and support structure and making things work
Determination - through working hard themselves and finding ways to overcome the extra challenges of immigration
Family, love and sacrifice - through caring enough for their kids to migrate to a better place despite the difficulties
Education - through investing time and effort choosing the best schools (even if it means relocating), following up and helping
Speaking a different language - studies have shown that multilingual kids do better than average academically
Being more open and accepting - kids who grow up in one place believe their way of life is the only one possible, but migrant kids know at least another way of life and are required to adapt all the time
Playing music - research shows that regardless of their choice of instrument, children who study music consistently increase their academic results (by 23% in 8 years)
One other thing worth mentioning here is that kids have different communication styles and excel at different things. Sadly, some kids can excel at nothing, simply due to their genetic makeup. Using standard ways to measure success is cruel, especially when comparing to other kids. Even if you are a Chinese mother and even if you are very good yourself, the expectation that by applying enough pressure for long enough you can make your child perform is just wrong.
My kids are self-motivated, positive, busy, physically active, social and happy:
Happy kids bouncing on a trampolineThey have lots of fun at sleepovers and play dates
They get applauded for performing in school plays after spending a lot of time rehearsing
They play harmless computer games and watch filtered TV (mostly Noff)
They choose their own activities, do well at them and have a ball
They get B's in subjects they don't like and will never pursue, but A's in anything that matters (to them)
They are not No. 1 in every subject, but they are very good at what they like, as well as math, English and science
Eden plays the piano, but she quit as a child and is now paying her own tuition and is very proud of herself. Tsoof plays percussion (does marimba qualify as a piano?) and guitar (it has strings…) and writes music. Noff tried the piano for a while and may go back to it. In the meantime, she sings, dances, skates on ice, draws cartoons and does drama
This weekend, they lost sleep from the excitement of … going back to school.
Yet, Ronit is not a Chinese mother and (ahem) I am certainly not! We believe in creating the environment for your kids to excel and showing them how by example. The rest is up to them, but happy kids always (always) do better.
Approval-Seeking Behavior
The first step of getting out of any emotional trap is recognizing that you are caged by a mindset that blocks you from being happy and fulfilled – that you are the one giving others power over your life.
People in the approval trap have some common character traits, all related to fear (is there anything besides love and fear?). They lack significance, have low self-esteem and use attention-seeking behavior to gain more significance, although that cannot remove the fear or raise their self-esteem.
Trapped individuals have the idea that to be highly thought of by some important others, they need to stick out, gain superiority by making others feel inferior, pretend to be someone they are not or, in other cases, never take risks to avoid conflict and judgment.
Everyone is trapped somehow, but it is the magnitude of the problem that matters. Use the list of approval-seeking behaviors below to discover if you are trapped or not and how deep are you in the trap of approval.
Give each item a rating from 0 to 10 (0 means you never do it and 10 means you do it all the time). My suggestion is to focus on those you gave high scores, indicating you have that behavior and the next post will give great tips to change that and get yourself out of the trap.
People in the approval trap have some common character traits, all related to fear (is there anything besides love and fear?). They lack significance, have low self-esteem and use attention-seeking behavior to gain more significance, although that cannot remove the fear or raise their self-esteem.
Trapped individuals have the idea that to be highly thought of by some important others, they need to stick out, gain superiority by making others feel inferior, pretend to be someone they are not or, in other cases, never take risks to avoid conflict and judgment.
Everyone is trapped somehow, but it is the magnitude of the problem that matters. Use the list of approval-seeking behaviors below to discover if you are trapped or not and how deep are you in the trap of approval.
Give each item a rating from 0 to 10 (0 means you never do it and 10 means you do it all the time). My suggestion is to focus on those you gave high scores, indicating you have that behavior and the next post will give great tips to change that and get yourself out of the trap.
How to get yourself out
If you have followed the activity in the previous post, you probably understand that it is impossible to be totally free from needing approval. Again, do not blame yourself or others for this mindset, because you always do the best you can and your parents always did the best they could. But now that you know how dangerous approval can be to live with, you cannot afford to pass it on to your children, because doing what was done to you is not longer the best you can do.
To change, we need to make a conscious decision to change!
If you need some help in motivating yourself to change, think of how much pain you have endured over the years while seeking others’ approval and about how much more heartache and pain you will have to endure through in a year, 5 years and 10 years if you do nothing.
Think how cruel you will be to your kids by continuing this cycle. My mentor life coach did this trick to me when I faced a difficult change. He said to me, “Would you want Eden to be like this?” and I understood that I managed to live with the pain as a survival mechanism, but I could not live with the pain of being a role model to my daughter and making her suffer for it. I made the change immediately!
The good news is that you can minimize several approval-seeking behaviors at once by developing a single skill. For example, if many of your approval-seeking behaviors are due to lack of significance, working on your sense of uniqueness and learning to feel special will reduce or even eliminate about a third of the behaviors mentioned.
To change, we need to make a conscious decision to change!
If you need some help in motivating yourself to change, think of how much pain you have endured over the years while seeking others’ approval and about how much more heartache and pain you will have to endure through in a year, 5 years and 10 years if you do nothing.
Think how cruel you will be to your kids by continuing this cycle. My mentor life coach did this trick to me when I faced a difficult change. He said to me, “Would you want Eden to be like this?” and I understood that I managed to live with the pain as a survival mechanism, but I could not live with the pain of being a role model to my daughter and making her suffer for it. I made the change immediately!
The good news is that you can minimize several approval-seeking behaviors at once by developing a single skill. For example, if many of your approval-seeking behaviors are due to lack of significance, working on your sense of uniqueness and learning to feel special will reduce or even eliminate about a third of the behaviors mentioned.
Teenage
I have heard a lot about angry teenagers (some even call them troubled teenagers). People talk about teenagers being angry as some natural phenomenon, but I often find there is nothing natural about it and teenage problems are caused by things that can be changed.
One of my clients had an angry teenager at home until recently. Olivia was only 12 years old and very, very, very angry. Her mom, Nancy, who was trapped by the “teenage problems” belief, did nothing for a while. All her friends said it was normal (“You know, teens these days…”), so she just waited for the teenage years to pass and prepared herself for when her two younger kids would go through it too.
But then Nancy met another client of mine who told her, “It doesn’t have to be like that. You should go and see Ronit”. So she came to one of my parenting workshops. After the workshop, she had some hope that maybe it was not normal for “teenagers these days” to be so angry and that maybe she could help her daughter relax.
Shortly after, Nancy told me, “There was something you said to me during the parenting workshop that made a huge shift with my daughter. I was convinced all teenagers were the same, but I realized that I could help my daughter if I only changed some of the things I was doing myself. It really worked!”
Olivia had been seeing a psychologist for a while, trying to make a big decision, but without any results. After the parenting workshop, Nancy went to the psychologist and asked her to try one of my strategies. It took only one session for Olivia to make her mind up and Nancy came to see me, hoping she could make more changes in her teen daughter’s attitude and life.
One of my clients had an angry teenager at home until recently. Olivia was only 12 years old and very, very, very angry. Her mom, Nancy, who was trapped by the “teenage problems” belief, did nothing for a while. All her friends said it was normal (“You know, teens these days…”), so she just waited for the teenage years to pass and prepared herself for when her two younger kids would go through it too.
But then Nancy met another client of mine who told her, “It doesn’t have to be like that. You should go and see Ronit”. So she came to one of my parenting workshops. After the workshop, she had some hope that maybe it was not normal for “teenagers these days” to be so angry and that maybe she could help her daughter relax.
Shortly after, Nancy told me, “There was something you said to me during the parenting workshop that made a huge shift with my daughter. I was convinced all teenagers were the same, but I realized that I could help my daughter if I only changed some of the things I was doing myself. It really worked!”
Olivia had been seeing a psychologist for a while, trying to make a big decision, but without any results. After the parenting workshop, Nancy went to the psychologist and asked her to try one of my strategies. It took only one session for Olivia to make her mind up and Nancy came to see me, hoping she could make more changes in her teen daughter’s attitude and life.
Ways to Save the Environment and Make a Difference
After hearing many people talk about the movie "An Inconvenient Truth", we decided to rent it from the video library. We watched it with the kids and they were very surprised to see the world drying up right in front of their eyes. I was not sure that it would have such a great impact on them, because, as kids, I thought they would be too preoccupied with school, friends and fun. Well, watching it was not fun at all, but I was very surprised when "Earth Hour" was announced and the kids wanted to take part in it. They did not complain, they did not talk about computers or watching a movie, they did not even say anything when we suggested taking a shower in the dark.
We made our last phone calls to friends, then turned the lights off and spent a nice evening by candlelight, which gave the house a special atmosphere. The shower was obviously the highlight of the evening. Have you ever tried taking a shower in total darkness?
As parents, I believe we have the responsibility to teach our kids to care for our world. And it is easier than most people think. Here are some tips to make a difference.
Take your family to the park and talk to them about the joy of being in green, clean, preserved places.
When you are outside, pick up your rubbish and teach your kids that, just as they do not litter at home, they should act the same in our "global home".
Have a garden and teach your kids to care for the garden. If you live in an apartment building, have pot plants and take care of them.
Every year, plant new things in your garden.
When you go camping, put out your fire properly. Be careful with cigarettes and fire in the bush.
Have a compost bin and put your organic waste in it.
When you fish, make sure you follow the rules of fishing. The rules are there to protect the fish, but in the long term, they protect the people.
Turn off the lights when they are not needed.
Globe in the grassAvoid long showers.
Use water-saving appliances. Consider the water rating before you buy.
Walk instead of driving.
Ride a bike instead of driving.
Walk up the stairs instead of using the elevator (it will make you healthy too).
Car pool if you can.
Install a "half flush" in your toilet,
Use public transport if you can.
Open your car windows from time to time.
Hang your clothes outside to dry instead of using a dryer.
Use your washing machine only when you have a full load.
Use your dishwasher only when you have a full load.
Use solar power.
Recycle your clothes. Donate them or use their fabric to make something else. The more you use, the less everyone needs to produce.
Separate your garbage and recycle.
Buy products with less wrapping and packaging.
Use reusable bags and boxes instead of plastic bags.
Do not print things you do not have to. Learn to adjust your computer applications to make text easy to read.
Use recycled paper.
Print on both sides of the page if possible.
Use emails as much as you can to save printing.
Pay your bills online (and choose to receive email statements) to save tons of paper waste.
Be careful what you wash down the sink (avoid disposing of oil, paint or hazardous chemicals).
Earth between two handsUse a strainer in your sink.
Plan your shopping. If you buy more than you need and have to throw it away, everybody loses.
Use leftover food and make new dishes with it.
Turn off taps and make sure they do not leak.
Find ways to save water in your shower, toilet, garden and sink.
Wash your car on the grass.
Use energy-efficient light bulbs.
Reuse your containers (just be careful when using them in a microwave oven).
Buy in bulk to save on packaging.
When you use your oven, avoid opening the door.
When you heat water, heat only as much as you need.
When you bake, try to do all your baking on one day, so you only have to preheat the oven once.
Clean all your filters.
Use timers for electric appliances.
When you mow your lawn, use the cuttings for compost.
Borrow equipment from people to avoid buying something you rarely use.
Lend other people your equipment, for the same reason.
Find out natural alternatives for chemical cleaners.
Reuse envelopes.
Use old magazines and phone books for arts and craft.
Avoid using disposable plates, cups and cutlery.
If you can work from home, do it.
Buy used furniture.
Many hands carrying the Earth
Try to fix things before buying new ones.
We made our last phone calls to friends, then turned the lights off and spent a nice evening by candlelight, which gave the house a special atmosphere. The shower was obviously the highlight of the evening. Have you ever tried taking a shower in total darkness?
As parents, I believe we have the responsibility to teach our kids to care for our world. And it is easier than most people think. Here are some tips to make a difference.
Take your family to the park and talk to them about the joy of being in green, clean, preserved places.
When you are outside, pick up your rubbish and teach your kids that, just as they do not litter at home, they should act the same in our "global home".
Have a garden and teach your kids to care for the garden. If you live in an apartment building, have pot plants and take care of them.
Every year, plant new things in your garden.
When you go camping, put out your fire properly. Be careful with cigarettes and fire in the bush.
Have a compost bin and put your organic waste in it.
When you fish, make sure you follow the rules of fishing. The rules are there to protect the fish, but in the long term, they protect the people.
Turn off the lights when they are not needed.
Globe in the grassAvoid long showers.
Use water-saving appliances. Consider the water rating before you buy.
Walk instead of driving.
Ride a bike instead of driving.
Walk up the stairs instead of using the elevator (it will make you healthy too).
Car pool if you can.
Install a "half flush" in your toilet,
Use public transport if you can.
Open your car windows from time to time.
Hang your clothes outside to dry instead of using a dryer.
Use your washing machine only when you have a full load.
Use your dishwasher only when you have a full load.
Use solar power.
Recycle your clothes. Donate them or use their fabric to make something else. The more you use, the less everyone needs to produce.
Separate your garbage and recycle.
Buy products with less wrapping and packaging.
Use reusable bags and boxes instead of plastic bags.
Do not print things you do not have to. Learn to adjust your computer applications to make text easy to read.
Use recycled paper.
Print on both sides of the page if possible.
Use emails as much as you can to save printing.
Pay your bills online (and choose to receive email statements) to save tons of paper waste.
Be careful what you wash down the sink (avoid disposing of oil, paint or hazardous chemicals).
Earth between two handsUse a strainer in your sink.
Plan your shopping. If you buy more than you need and have to throw it away, everybody loses.
Use leftover food and make new dishes with it.
Turn off taps and make sure they do not leak.
Find ways to save water in your shower, toilet, garden and sink.
Wash your car on the grass.
Use energy-efficient light bulbs.
Reuse your containers (just be careful when using them in a microwave oven).
Buy in bulk to save on packaging.
When you use your oven, avoid opening the door.
When you heat water, heat only as much as you need.
When you bake, try to do all your baking on one day, so you only have to preheat the oven once.
Clean all your filters.
Use timers for electric appliances.
When you mow your lawn, use the cuttings for compost.
Borrow equipment from people to avoid buying something you rarely use.
Lend other people your equipment, for the same reason.
Find out natural alternatives for chemical cleaners.
Reuse envelopes.
Use old magazines and phone books for arts and craft.
Avoid using disposable plates, cups and cutlery.
If you can work from home, do it.
Buy used furniture.
Many hands carrying the Earth
Try to fix things before buying new ones.
NASA Going Green With Solar-Powered Jupiter Probe
NASA heads for Jupiter this week. And its mission can't get much greener.
A solar-powered, windmill-shaped spacecraft named Juno is set to become the most distant probe ever powered by the sun. The robotic explorer is equipped with three tractor-trailer-size solar panels.
null
AP
In this May 27, 2011 photo made available by... View Full Caption
A rocket is set to launch the spacecraft on Friday morning from Cape Canaveral.
It will take Juno five years to reach Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. The spacecraft will orbit the planet for a year, sending back photos and other data.
Juno is the first of three high-profile astronomy missions for NASA in the coming months. Other destinations include the moon and Mars.
A solar-powered, windmill-shaped spacecraft named Juno is set to become the most distant probe ever powered by the sun. The robotic explorer is equipped with three tractor-trailer-size solar panels.
null
AP
In this May 27, 2011 photo made available by... View Full Caption
A rocket is set to launch the spacecraft on Friday morning from Cape Canaveral.
It will take Juno five years to reach Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. The spacecraft will orbit the planet for a year, sending back photos and other data.
Juno is the first of three high-profile astronomy missions for NASA in the coming months. Other destinations include the moon and Mars.
we care environment
Support for protecting the environment has declined precipitously since 2001, an alarming trend that could have profound implications for the United States in the years ahead.
For more than three decades, Michael Greenberg, associate dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, has tried to keep his finger on the environmental pulse of the nation, and what he has seen lately is disconcerting.
Greenberg has conducted surveys of his own, and has pored over surveys done by others, and he admits now that he was wrong when he postulated in the American Journal of Public Health in 2001 that environmental support was "really strong and not likely to change."
"Three years later it had changed a lot," Greenberg said. "That really shocked me."
What happened? Had the disastrous attack on the World Trade Center and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq forced Americans to rethink their priorities? Had the plunging economy left them so concerned about jobs that nothing else mattered?
Greenberg said he "needed to get to the root of it," so he turned to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which each year asks U.S. residents to rank national priorities from "top priority" to "should not be done." From 1999 to 2004, 3,688 people took part in the surveys.
The surveys were made available to Greenberg, and it didn't take long to find that the public's concern over the environment had taken a nose dive.
"In January 2001, 63 percent of respondents wanted environment to be a top priority," Greenberg wrote in a recent issue of the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.
The survey is always conducted in January, and by January 2002 the world had become a very different place. Terrorism, which had always seemed to be somebody else's problem, had moved into the hearts of every American.
And concern over protecting the environment had dropped 19 points to 44 percent. The next year, it dropped to 39 percent, but it rose back up to 49 percent in 2004.
But that's not all that changed during that period. The need to reduce crime, even in the face of terrorism, dropped by 22.5 percent, knocking it off the top spot. Replacing crime as the No. 1 concern was the need to improve the job situation, which rose by 14.4 percent.
Of the seven topics included in the survey, only improving the job market increased in public support. The need to reduce federal income taxes took a big hit, dropping by nearly 20 percent.
Some analysts contend that those changes in priorities resulted from a national shift toward the political right, but Greenberg noted that if that were the case the participants in the Pew surveys would not have lowered their concern about reducing taxes and paying off the national debt.
Others argued that the environmental movement is now dominated by huge organizations that offer little in the way of vision and much in the way of temporary fixes. But during the same period that concern over the environment took a plunge nationally, most of those same organizations added thousands of new members, largely in response to the environmental policies of President Bush.
Personally, I think the movement siffers from fatigue. People are weary of problems they think they can't solve, like global climate change, despite the fact that many scientists believe it is one of the most pressing environmental issues we are likely to face over the course of several centuries.
For more than three decades, Michael Greenberg, associate dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, has tried to keep his finger on the environmental pulse of the nation, and what he has seen lately is disconcerting.
Greenberg has conducted surveys of his own, and has pored over surveys done by others, and he admits now that he was wrong when he postulated in the American Journal of Public Health in 2001 that environmental support was "really strong and not likely to change."
"Three years later it had changed a lot," Greenberg said. "That really shocked me."
What happened? Had the disastrous attack on the World Trade Center and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq forced Americans to rethink their priorities? Had the plunging economy left them so concerned about jobs that nothing else mattered?
Greenberg said he "needed to get to the root of it," so he turned to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, which each year asks U.S. residents to rank national priorities from "top priority" to "should not be done." From 1999 to 2004, 3,688 people took part in the surveys.
The surveys were made available to Greenberg, and it didn't take long to find that the public's concern over the environment had taken a nose dive.
"In January 2001, 63 percent of respondents wanted environment to be a top priority," Greenberg wrote in a recent issue of the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management.
The survey is always conducted in January, and by January 2002 the world had become a very different place. Terrorism, which had always seemed to be somebody else's problem, had moved into the hearts of every American.
And concern over protecting the environment had dropped 19 points to 44 percent. The next year, it dropped to 39 percent, but it rose back up to 49 percent in 2004.
But that's not all that changed during that period. The need to reduce crime, even in the face of terrorism, dropped by 22.5 percent, knocking it off the top spot. Replacing crime as the No. 1 concern was the need to improve the job situation, which rose by 14.4 percent.
Of the seven topics included in the survey, only improving the job market increased in public support. The need to reduce federal income taxes took a big hit, dropping by nearly 20 percent.
Some analysts contend that those changes in priorities resulted from a national shift toward the political right, but Greenberg noted that if that were the case the participants in the Pew surveys would not have lowered their concern about reducing taxes and paying off the national debt.
Others argued that the environmental movement is now dominated by huge organizations that offer little in the way of vision and much in the way of temporary fixes. But during the same period that concern over the environment took a plunge nationally, most of those same organizations added thousands of new members, largely in response to the environmental policies of President Bush.
Personally, I think the movement siffers from fatigue. People are weary of problems they think they can't solve, like global climate change, despite the fact that many scientists believe it is one of the most pressing environmental issues we are likely to face over the course of several centuries.
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