My Blog is now green!!!

I just discovered this awesome web service that keep tracks of your sites CO2 emissions and then will purchase renewable energy from wind & solar farms to offset the CO2 emissions. How fantastic is that! So why is this whole CO2 emissions thing important? If you had asked me a year ago, I would not have been able to tell you. Many of you have probably heard about global warming and climate change, but if you are clueless like I was keep reading!!

What is renewable energy you ask? Renewable Energy is energy that has been captured from natural and renewable sources. These sources are most commonly sunlight and wind. However rain, biomass, tides, and geothermal heat can also be sources. These renewable sources can produce energy without producing CO2. Also, because these sources are not finite, like coal for example, as a global population we do not need to worry about them disappearing.

CO2.. I have heard of that but why reduce it? CO2 or Carbon Dioxide is a gas that is present in our atmosphere. When we breath in oxygen we breath out CO2. This cycle is completed with plants and respiration. The plants take in the CO2 and through photosynthesis release oxygen! However this balance has been tipped. Humans, through the burning of fossil fuels, are constantly releasing higher and higher loads of CO2 into the atmosphere. It is important to reduce CO2 because scientists believe that it is leading cause of global climate change. Often this is referred to the greenhouse gas effect.

So why is renewable energy important? Renewable energy is important because today's traditional methods of capturing energy cause air pollution through the release of CO2. These traditional methods include the burning of oil and coal. Not only are these processes polluting our atmopshere with excessive levels of CO2 but they are also finite. When we run out of fossil feul on this planet, it is gone for good. Today's society is incredibly dependent on fossil feuls. We need energy to light our homes, run our computers, drive to work, power our TV's, and countless other applications. That is why when we can it is good to take steps to reduce the amount of CO2 we produce in a day.



So how can 1 individual reduce CO2? You have most likely heard the term "Carbon Footprint." This is a term that has been coined to refer the the amount of CO2 we individual produce. To reduce that fooprint here is a list of5 simple things you can do!!
#1: Carpool to work, school, store, anywhere really!! Everyone has to shop so make it a social event!!
#2: Unplug your electric devices when you are not using them. An easy way to do this is to get one of those power strips with an on/off switch on them.
#3: Turn down your heater and turn up AC levels. Changing your settings by just a few degrees can cause a big impact! (not to mention save you $$)
#4: Buy locally grown fruits and veggies!! Think of all the petroleum that is used to ship grapes from Chili and bananas from hawaii...
#5: Ride your bike or take public transportation when possible.

To learn more about reducing your carbon fooprint visit this site & to learn more about renewable energy options go here!!!