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Bike or Car?

Americans have adapted to become very lazy people. Face it, we would all opt to drive there rather than exert our energy and ride a bike. If we chose to ride there the benefits are more than going green but also we would be getting a work out on our legs, and helping our heart.

If you are traveling a longer distance, it would be wise to drive your car there, but if you are going to your grandmas only or just around the neighborhood to your corner store for milk, the best option would be to ride your bike there. According to volunteerguide.org, riding a bike  "uses absolutely no nonrenewable energy (just your own!) and emits no pollution, making it one of the best ways to get around without contributing to global warming." It is all around the smarter choice to ride a bike to your destination.

Not only will riding a bike save your health, the earth, your wallet (you'll be saving on gas!) but as oppose to cars, contributing to half of transportation fatalities, bikes are only 2 percent. Cars cause many pollutants, according to volunteerguide.org, only a "four-mile trip by car adds 15 pounds of pollutants to the air we breath," so if you chose to ride your bike that would be 15 pounds less per every four miles.

According to USATODAY, there are only eight percent 8 percent of American households without a car, so 92 percent of Americans have cars. Let's say Americans drive two hours a day, at 65 miles per hour, which equals 130 miles divided by 4 which equals 32.5 multiplied by 15 (for every 4 miles there are 15 pounds of pollutants) which equals 487.5 pounds of pollutants a day per person who drives in America at roughly two hours a day. That is a lot of pollution when it can easily be avoided.

You should opt to make the choice to ride your bike when your destination is less than 5-10 miles away, and the futher destinations, you should chose to drive. If we work together, we can make a difference in the enviornmentm, and our health, and our wallet.

Many drivers and more pollution

Cars create a lot of pollution

Bike crossing

Ride a bike.

To Recycle or Not to Recycle?

To recycle or not to recycle, that is the question. How do you even know what to recycle or not to? Here are some things to keep in mind when you are throwing something away,
1. Can I make more use out of it when I am done?
2. Just because I don't need it, someone else might make use of it.
3. Can I make more than one purpose out of it?
4. Can it be made into something else?
5. Can I donate it to someone in need?

Those are just a few things to keep in mind when you are making the choice to throw away or not, ask yourself those five things. Another thing many people wonder is, what should I recycle and what should I throw away? Well recycling-revolution.com created a list to make it easy on what you should recycle;
1. Aluminum cans
2. Steel cans
3. Newspaper, or any paper
4. Magazines, books
5. Cardboard
6. Paperboard
7. Plastic
8. Glass

Also things that are still in good condition you can donate to your local homeless shelter, they can use many different types of donations. Donation, recycling, reducing, and reusing, it's all better than throwing it away.

Donate clothes rather than throw it away

Glass can be reused over and over again

recycle cardboard

10 Ways to Think Smart

Here is a helpful video to keep in mind when going green!

Being Green Goes a Long Way

You might not think that the little things you do to save energy products and resources have that much of an impact on the world, but they do. Many people and students respond when they see other people doing something different to make a change in the world. So when one person does it, it will be a domino effect to other people and students to react in the same way. Then once many students are joining hands and helping one another, the end result will be good.

There are other things we can do to save energy and resources, always keep in mind the three R's Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce. Anything that will give back to the environment will really help out in the long run, if you don't for yourself, think of your future children and future generations. If we set the the right example for them, they will follow in our lead and make the change our earth really needs to see.

 If you have any pictures of yourself or friends who are helping our school or community volunteering for the environment rather it be a beach clean up, recycling, or anything you can think of, send your response to thegreenscholarutb@gmail.com

Make the change in your community

Think smart! think green! be environmentally friendly

Our planet needs our help

Students Giving Back

It is encouraging to see other students in other schools across the US giving back to our planet by taking steps to recycle. Can we think of steps we can take in our school to recycle or to be more green? If you have any ideas or questions, please e-mail thegreenscholarutb@gmaill

Go Green! Unplug your Appliances

We all have things that need to be charged or plugged into the electrical outlet, taking up a lot of energy and making our electric bill higher, in fact, if we choose to unplug our appliances when not in use, we will be saving money and the environment. It doesn't take much effort on our part, we simply have to remember to unplug when not in use.

Such things as our computers, phone chargers, camera chargers, microwaves, radios, televisions, and any other things you can think of all have plugs that go into electrical outlets, all these things add up, and suck out a lot of energy. According to sustainablechoices.stanford.edu, "this energy use is known as standby power or vampire power (because it sucks your power in the middle of the night)." We need to always be on the watch where our energy is being sucked out by, the more appliances you have plugged in, the worse it can be.

There are some helpful tips you can use when trying to go green by switching your appliances. sustainablechoices.stanford.edu suggests to, "use a smart power strip. Because it’s not practical to unplug every appliance whenever you’re not using it." It also suggests if you are running low on time to just unplug the things with the highest standby power, such as TVs or computers.

The main reasons you should make the change taking steps, even as small as unplugging our appliances adds up if everyone does it, another reason you might like is you will be saving cash while you do it, your electric bill will go down in price.

Save green for your wallet and the environment when you choose to unplug

Print this picture out as a reminder to unplug

Remember to always unplug!

Don't let vampire energy suckers take your energy and money!