Working together, we can leave our children a living planet.




Take Action..

Be responsible...be INFORMED.
Educate yourself..the internet is a great way to do that. Taking part in Earth Day 2000 is another means of getting informed! Join Leo, and join his fight to save our planet!

Here is something REAL and SUBSTANTIAL you can do to help...CLICK HERE!

By taking the Living Planet Pledge, I will:

Learn more. I will educate myself and others about the many connections between human life and the environment.

Speak up. I will speak out about the threats facing our wildlife, our wildlands and our planet.

Take action. I will consider how my everyday actions affect life on Earth, and make planet-healthy choices. I will get involved in efforts to conserve nature where I live.

How do I take action?

Every time you flip on a light switch, start your car, heat or cool your home, cook a meal, take a shower, flush your toilet, watch television or a movie, use a computer or listen to recorded music, there are direct negative impacts to nature. Everytime you make the decision to disregard the impact your choices make upon an already threatened world we live in, you hammer one more nail into the coffin of the environment as we now know it.

We pay for energy not only when we get the bill but nature pays every time we use it. Nature pays through rivers dammed for hydroelectric power. Earth torn open and pollution created through mining, refining, transportation and use of coal, oil, natural gas and uranium. Nuclear waste without a home. Oil spills at sea. Increased carbon dioxide. Acid rain. MTBE polluting water. Refinery accidents. Salmon and other waterlife unable to reach their spawning regions due to the presence of hydroelectric dams. Global species die-offs caused by global warming, and destruction of forests for fuelwood in less developed countries.

Global Warming is real. Evidence abounds for higher ocean and atmospheric temperatures, the migration of lifeforms to latitudes once too cold to support them, increased frequency and severity of storm activity, the melting of polar ice sheets and sea level rise. Human beings have created this change since the industrial revolution through destruction of natural resources and by creating pollution (particularly carbon-dioxide) in amounts which have altered the ratio of gasses in our atmosphere.

Earth Day is the most widely know day to celebrate nature. Although a free concert and a huge fair in the park, involving Leo and the world does it's best to awaken worldwide awareness of the vast impact of these problems, how can we personally show our concern and love for the environment? How can we personally contribute to helping nature?

TAKE ACTION!!
We must take action. We must change our wasteful and destructive ways. We must make Earth Day more than a concert in the park. We must transform Earth Day into the day when people all over the world take action to help nature by lessening their own destruction of the Earth's resources.

There is a chain of human-driven environmental destruction, and energy use is the second link after population pressures. Energy use causes 80% of air pollution and 88% of greenhouse gas emissions. The more people there are the greater the demand for land, food, shelter, clothing. It takes energy to power our technology to achieve all of these ends. We should enjoy the technology our imagination and hard work have created, but we must use it wisely. The United States wastes more energy than most nations use for all of their energy needs combined. Thus, it is up to Americans to lead by example in changing our wasteful ways, not export them.

Earth Day is the most widely known day in the world to celebrate nature, but after important impacts on policy in its early years - such as the creation of the Clean Air Act in the U.S. - thirty years later Earth Day is primarily a media event little respected by policy-makers. How can we change this attitude?

It is time for those who care about nature to make an acclamation that Earth Day as a time of action not a celebration. So cut back or go completely without manmade energy each Earth Day. Help break the chain of environmental destruction.

Take action right now: Go to the control panel settings of your computer and put it into energy-saving mode. Turn down your home or work thermostat to between 66 and 72 degrees. Go to your water-heater (if at home) and turn down the setting at least one mark. Turn out any unneeded lights, or lower lights to a more pleasing level with a dimmer. Use curtains, shades and other passive solar methods to adjust the light where you are - you may not need artificial light at all.

Understand and never forget the link between energy use and environmental destruction - nature pays each and every time you flick on a light switch, start your car or cook a meal. Please participate in the Earth Day Energy Fast every Earth Day. Tell others about it, and apply the lessons learned throughout the rest of the year.

  • HEATING/COOLING/LIGHTING

    TURN DOWN THERMOSTAT
    CLOSE UNUSED VENTS
    USE NATURAL LIGHT
    TURN OFF UNNEEDED LIGHTS

  • TRANSPORTATION

    CARPOOL
    TAKE MASS-TRANSIT
    RIDE A BIKE
    WALK

  • WATER

    TURN DOWN WATER-HEATER SETTING
    INSTALL WATER-HEATER JACKET
    INSTALL TOILET TANK DISPLACEMENT OBJECT

  • COOKING

    USE SOLAR OVENS
    PREPARE NON-COOKED MEALS

  • COMMUNICATION & ENTERTAINMENT

    TURN OFF YOUR TV, STEREO, COMPUTER, PHONE, VIDEOGAME, PAGER for the whole day April 22, 2000 and make it count!