What Can You Do to Lessen
What
You Do?
YourCan
Environmental
Impact?
A Lesson on Environmental Impact
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson students will be
able to:
• Define Environmental Impact and measure their
own.
• Understand ways to lessen their impact in the home,
on the road, in the school, and on their own.
What is an Environmental Impact?
• The consequences of human action and
behavior on the natural environment
• In this presentation we will be concerned
about human actions/behavior related to
energy (using electricity, heating, cooling,
driving, etc.)
Measure your impact!
The ecological impact calculator allows you to:
– Measure how much biologically productive land and
sea you are using by looking at:
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What kind of food you eat
How much trash you produce
Where you live: what kind of house? Do you have electricity?
What transportation you use: Do you ride by a car most
often? Do you carpool? How much do you use public
transportation?
• How much you fly in an airplane each year
– Compare this amount to how much land and sea is
available
– See how many Earths it would take to support your
lifestyle!
Measure your impact!
• Calculate your ecological footprint using
Earth Day’s online calculator
• Measure Your Impact
http://www.earthday.org/footprint-calculator
So the real question is… What can YOU do
to reduce your ecological footprint and
lessen your impact on the environment?
Let’s take a look at 4 categories:
• In the home
• On the road
• In the school
•
On your own
In the Home
In the Home
• Everyone in the world can make a
difference, no matter where we live!
• Take a look at the different things in our
homes that use energy:
– Heaters & air conditioners
– Lights
– Appliances
– Windows & insulation
– Waste
Where Your Home Uses Energy
Some things you can do to lessen your
impact
• During the winter: set thermostat at
86°F/30°C during the day and 60°F/15.5°C
at night
• During the summer: set thermostat at
78°F/25.5°C
• Turn the heat or air down when not home
• If it’s not unbearably hot in the summer, save
energy by turning the AC off, opening the
windows at night, and shutting them during the
day
• Shut the doors and windows when AC is on
Windows
Double or triple pane
windows are
recommended to
save energy
•Windows provide views, lighting, and solar heating. Unfortunately,
the heat that leaks through them also accounts for 10-25% of your
heating bill. During the summer, poorly insulated windows make
your air conditioner work 2-3 times more.
•Caulk windows
•Use curtains to insulate
At home, you can…
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Keep water heater set to low (120°F/48.9°C)
Turn off the lights when not in use
Take advantage of natural light
Use CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) light bulbs instead of
traditional incandescent bulbs; CFL bulbs provide the same
amount of light, but use 1/5 to 1/3 of the electric power used
by incandescent bulbs and last 8 to 15 times longer. Although
CFLs cost more up front, they can save over 5 times of the
purchase price in electricity costs over the bulb’s lifetime.
One CFL uses as much energy as 9
traditional incandescent light bulbs
Did you know turning off the lights in
your house can save up to 10-20% of
your TOTAL household electricity
usage?
Now that’s a lot of energy and money!
When you’re in the kitchen…
• Choose what you want before opening the
fridge!
• Shut the fridge and freezer when not in
use
• Cook with stove, microwave, & toaster
oven instead of oven
• Lower heat on stove after reaching a boil
• Use reusable utensils and dishes
• Wash with cold water
Thaw food in warm water instead of
thawing with microwave!
• Turn all appliances off and unplug when
not in use
• Use manual appliances; you don’t need an
electric can opener or toothbrush
Turn OFF computer instead of putting
it to ‘sleep’!
Energy-efficient products
• Choosing energy-efficient products can save families about
30% ($400 a year) while reducing our emissions of
greenhouse gases.
• ENERGY STAR is the government-backed symbol for energy
efficiency. The ENERGY STAR label makes it easy to know
which products to buy without sacrificing features, style or
comfort that today's consumers expect.
Water
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Use dishwasher and laundry only when full
Clean full loads & select for low water usage
Use tap water instead of bottled water
Take shorter showers and choose showers over
baths
• Turn off water when brushing, washing, shaving
• Fill up the sink with water when hand-washing
dishes; don’t wash each dish individually
On the Road
To reduce your impact on the road:
• Ride your bike or walk: not only are you
saving energy, but you’re getting healthier by
exercising!
• Use public transportation when possible
• Carpool!
• Combine car trips
• Keep a record of car trips you can avoid
A study at the University of Virginia shows students drove
significantly less when recording avoided car trips and
calculating the amount of gas and money saved
When you do drive…
• Don’t use the car AC: the AC decreases gas
mileage by up to 20%
• Inflate car tires to 32-35 psi; the recommended
tire pressure will be located in the owner’s
manual
• Use cruise control on flat roads and highways
• Coast on downhill roads
• Don’t idle car for longer than 10 seconds
• When buying a car, check fuel efficiency & if the
car takes renewable fuels
For every 2 minutes a car is idling, it uses
about the same amount of fuel that it takes
to go one mile
At School
To reduce your impact at
school:
• Print double-sided
• Ask your teacher to put notes online to
view at home instead of printing them out
• Turn off computers in labs at night and
when not in use for awhile
• Turn off lights! Another great option is to
put automatic light sensors in rooms
• Replace paper towels with hand driers
When you’re at school…
• Shut the doors to classrooms to keep heat or air
inside (don’t prop doors open during class!)
• Make sure books/furniture aren’t blocking vents
• Shut the windows when heat/AC is on
• During the winter: set thermostat at
86°F/30°C during the night and
60°F/15.5°C at night
• During the summer: set thermostat at
78°F/25.5°C
Recycling
• Materials you use to recycle are used to create products
you buy
• When products are recycled, less materials need to be
harvested from the environment for production
• You SAVE energy when you recycle!
• At your school, find out if there is a recycling program; if
not, start one
• An easy way to start a recycling program is by re-using
the unprinted side of paper
• Separate bins for recycling and trash; place recycling
bins in classrooms, offices, bathrooms, the cafeteria, etc.
• Raise awareness for recycling!
When you’re at school…
• Use programmable thermostats to
minimize operating hours of
heating/cooling during low occupancy
hours
• Use CFL or LED lighting
• Turn heat down in hallways, since
oftentimes those are low occupancy areas
• Turn off computer monitors when not in
use
Anti-idling at school
• Idling means a vehicle’s engine is running when it is
parked or not in use
• School buses travel about four billion miles each year,
and more than 25 million American students ride a
school bus every day.
• There are a variety of clean diesel strategies for making
school buses a cleaner way for children to get to school.
One of the easiest ways to reduce school bus emissions
and save money is to reduce idling. Another effective
method is to replace the oldest school buses in the fleet.
Anti-Idling
• While all new buses must meet EPA’s tighter emission
standards, many older school buses continue to emit
harmful diesel exhaust.
• Do not idle because idling negatively affects:
– human health by releasing fine particulate matter in diesel fuel
exhaust; fine particulate matter can get trapped in lungs and
create respiratory problems
– Air quality because diesel fuel contains pollutants that contribute
to ozone formation, acid rain, haze, and global climate change
– Wasting of fuel and money; when idling, a school bus engine
burns about half a gallon of fuel per hour (think of all the FUEL
and MONEY saved by not idling)
– Engine wear and tear: extended idling causes engine damage
Anti-Idling Campaign
• Start a campaign to get your school involved in idle
reduction
• Establish an Idle Reduction Policy with rules such as:
– Buses should typically be moving when the engine is on
– Engines should be turned off as soon as possible after arriving
into loading/unloading areas
– School buses should not be restarted until ready to depart
– Limit idling time during early morning warm up to what
manufacturer recommends
• Calculate fuel and money savings from idle reduction
• Promote your campaign and get others involved!
YOU!
• Here are four categories in which you can
personally reduce your environmental impact:
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Consumerism
Food
Spreading Awareness
Travel
Consumerism
• Buy from local brands and companies: it takes a
lot of energy to produce and ship goods across
the world… You also will be supporting your
local community!
• Reuse & recycle instead of buying new
• Buy energy-efficient products and products from
“green” companies
• Buy in bulk or multi-packs to reduce packaging
waste
If you have old clothing, donate or give as a hand-medown. If you need new clothing, buying used saves
energy that otherwise would be used in the
production of new clothing!
• Use reusable water bottles instead of onetime use recyclable water bottles
• Use a reusable lunch box instead of paper
bags
• Bring your own bag to grocery & other
stores
If you do need bags at the grocery store, ask
for paper instead of plastic! Plastic bags are
hard to recycle, not biodegradable, cause
litter, and harm wildlife
A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade….
That’s 12.82 times the average life span of 78 years!!
One of the many beaches destroyed by the overuse of plastic bags
Food
• Buy organic food: organic farms have a
much lower environmental impact than
conventional farms, use natural methods
for soil fertilization, weed prevention, and
pest control, and growth hormones are not
given to animals
– Buy dairy products with no RBST
– Buy cage-free eggs
• Avoid processed food, farm raised fish, and
meat from confined feeding operations
• Eat leftovers
• Grow your own vegetables and fruit
• Finish everything on your plate.. Don’t take
more than you can’t eat!
• Compost your fruits, veggies, &
eggshells…You can use this as mulch and in
soil
Let’s talk about composting
• Compost is organic material that can be added to soil to
grow plants
• You can compost by decomposing organic matter such
as food scraps, eggshells, grass clippings, etc.
• By reducing food waste (due to composting) we can
reduce methane from landfills. Methane is a greenhouse
gas with 21% the global warming potential of CO2 and is
produced from rotting food in landfills
Composting Continued
• Benefits of composting include: reducing/eliminating the need for
chemical fertilizers, promoting higher yields of agricultural crops,
remediation of soils, among many others
• All compost requires browns (twigs, branches, and dead leaves),
greens (vegetable and fruit scraps, grass clippings, coffee grounds),
and water
• There are various types of composting, but one you can do at home
is backyard composting
– Pick a dry, shady spot near a water source for compost pile
– Add brown and green materials as they are collected (make sure
larger pieces are shredded or chopped)
– As dry materials are added, add water
– Once the pile is made, bury vegetable and fruit wastes under 10
inches of other compost material
– Let the compost sit for at least two months before use
Lawn and Garden Tips
• Shred leaves and wood scraps into chips to use as
mulch on garden beds
• Buy garden tools and equipment made from recycled
materials
• To protect young seedlings from wind, frost,
and animals, place the cut-off bottoms
of plastic milk jugs or small paper bags
over the seedlings
Travel
• Reduce air miles travelled each year
• Travel light: don’t over-pack
• Stay in sustainable/eco-friendly hotels, lodges,
etc.
• Unplug appliances at home when going on a trip
• At hotels, don’t have towels washed every day
Underground eco-friendly
hotel in Bozen, Italy that
uses ecological methods of
heating, cooling, & building
Spread Awareness
• Inform family, friends, & schoolmates
about energy-saving processes
• Join/create an environmental club at
school & make an effort to reduce energy
use
• Join GO3’s online network
What else can you do?
• Play outside instead of using technology
like the computer, video games, & movies
(which use a lot of energy)
• Plant trees! Trees create and store CO2
• Participate in a park or forest clean-up
• What else can you do? Can you and your
classmates come up with any other
activities or actions to reduce your impact
on the environment?