Green Faith Team

• Choose your plastic wisely, not only to protect the planet but also for your health. Avoid using plastic containers in the microwave, try not to use cling wrap, avoid plastic bottled water (bottles number 1 or 2).
• Save trees by using less paper towels. Either use 100% recycled paper or just use cut up rags and towels and throw them in with your weekly laundry.
• Water- The bathroom accounts for 65-75% of water used inside the home, it is the perfect place to start making modifications. New shower heads, less flushing, lathering up with water off and how we brush our teeth can all save water.
• Household tips- make your own cleaning solutions. You can make environmentally friendly cleaner out of baking soda and vinegar, borax washing soda, cooking oils, and lemons. For more info see: es.epa.gov/techinfo/facts/safe-fs.html.
• Replace your 5 most used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. These light bulbs use 2/3 less energy and last up to 10 times longer.
• In summer, use fans whenever possible instead of air conditioning. Using fans to supplement air conditioning allows you to raise the thermostat temperature, using less energy.
• Some practical tips: Laptop computers use 50% of the energy of a desktop PC when plugged in and just 1 % of the energy when running on batteries. If your copier, printer and fax have a sleep/standby mode, make sure it is selected. Print double sided documents to save trees!
• Do you know about vampires? These are the plug-ins that suck electricity even though your appliance is not attached. Don't leave your cell phone charger plugged into the socket after you have removed your phone...it keeps sucking electricity. Some lamps have those "transformer" type black boxes that do the same. Don't just turn it off, unplug it please!
• Your electric toothbrush should hold a charge for 5-10 days, so you can also unplug the stand for the toothbrush after it is fully charged. Dust Busters are plugged in 24/7 for just a few minutes of use...a broom will do as well; or plan ahead and just plug in when needed for a project.
• WATER,WATER, and more WATER: *Water your yard or garden in the early morning or late evening, when it is cooler. This will discourage excessive evaporation. Plant native grasses, trees and shrubs. since they are adapted to the weather and local insect specie, they won't require extra watering or pesticides.
• REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE.Buy re-chargeable batteries and a battery charger. Most can be recharged up to 1,000 times. Battery drop off for used batteries can be found at rbrc.org or call 1-800-8-BAYYERY. Sorry, but we were unable to find a convenient local place to recycle household batteries.
• Food Storage- Use glass or ceramic containers that can be reused. They're healthier than plastic, ( harmful seepage may occur). You'll also reduce the waste generated by using plastic containers.
• ANSWERING MACHINES: Use VOICE MAIL instead. Answering machines guzzle energy 24/7. When they stop functioning, they become hazardous waste in the nation's landfills. If all use voice mail, the annual energy savings would total nearly two billion kilowatt-hours. The reduction in air pollution related to decrease in energy would be equivalent to removing 250,00 cars from the road a year.
• Many of today's household batteries can be placed in the trash since they no longer have the harmful contents of the past. Nevertheless, rechargeable batteries are recyclable at Shoemaker Lumber at 11th and west.
• Recycling: Mirrors aren't recyclable through municipal recyclers, because the chemicals on the glass can't be mixed with glass bottles and jars. You can donate them to secondhand stores, of course. Or if the mirror is broken, put it in a paper bag for the safety of your trash collectors.
• Auto switching- Try "auto-switching power strips. They shut down when the primary appliance is turned off and can save up to 4 kilowatt-hours per day of energy. If every home in America switched to more efficient power strips, we could save enough energy to power 40,000 homes for a year.
• Thermostats- When you're away, adjust your thermostat to 50 degrees in the cold months and 85 degrees in hot months. Depending on how long you are gone, you could save up to $100 per year in energy costs. The United States uses $1 million worth of energy every minute. You can help to lower that by turning the dial.

It’s hard not to be exasperated and even a little frightened by the Senate’s selfishly partisan approach to the nation’s energy challenge in the days leading up to its August recess. Given one last shot at taking modest but meaningful steps to deal with tightening oil supplies and climate change, the Senate instead settled for a schoolyard blame game whose main purpose was to exploit public dismay over rising gasoline prices for short-term political gain. Senate Republicans tried to leverage voters’ anguish by offering proposals that furthered their unexamined strategy to expand offshore drilling. The Democrats responded by pinning the blame for the surge in oil prices on financial speculators, and offering a bill to curb trading. The usual bogeymen appeared, with Republicans’ accusing environmentalists of locking up precious oil supplies and the Democrats’ blaming Wall Street.

These competing bills provided a dashing image of senators hard at work, but neither provided any hope of relief at the pump for beleaguered constituents. The oil industry already has access to fourth-fifths of the nation’s recoverable offshore resources, mostly off Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico, and drilling the forbidden areas — protected by a longstanding Congressional moratorium that President Bush is trying to lift — would make only a marginal difference in prices 15 years down the road.

As to the speculators so reviled by the Democrats, most economists believe that they have little or nothing to do with oil prices.

This political theater — for that is all it was — exacted a price. It diverted the nation from the intellectually rigorous debate over energy policy it needs to have (and should have) in an election year, while sparing the Senate from developing serious policies that could help set the country on a more energy-efficient and environmentally sound course.

Among the victims of this poisonous bickering were serious proposals from Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico, that would have provided an estimated $18 billion for alternative and renewable energy sources. Much of this money would have extended tax credits, set to expire in December, that are vital to the further development of climate-friendly sources of energy like wind and solar power, while providing new credits for plug-in hybrid cars that over time could actually make a difference in fuel prices.

The most vivid symbol of the Senate’s ineptitude was the majority leader, Harry Reid, who tried to make the best of a terrible two weeks by asking his opposite number, Mitch McConnell, to join him in an “energy summit” in Las Vegas. From one perspective, given the farce we have just witnessed, it makes sense to move the debate over energy policy as far from Washington as possible, even to an environment as distant from reality as Las Vegas. But Mr. Reid has to know how silly this looks and what it really says about the Senate’s capacity for action.

Ocean City Free Cycle is a fun website. You sign up for the site and you can get rid of that old couch, or love sit, maybe an old bike. You put up what you are looking to get rid of and those on the mailing list will email you directly to schedule a pick up. You may even find something you would love for yourself. I know I found a perfectly good queen sized sleeper sofa on the site. They could of sold it for probably $200 easily, but I got it for free! This was a great way for me to give away my sons little tykes car bed. I got 4 responses immediately. You do have to sign up for yahoo if you don't have an account, but it is free. Check them out and have fun recycling!! -Kathi Carlin

groups.yahoo.com/group/OceanCityNJFreecycle/

If you are closer to Mays Landing, they have one to:

groups.yahoo.com/group/mayslandingfreecycle/