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!

Go Green! Beach Clean Up

If you decide to be lazy and litter at one of Texas beautiful beaches you can be fined up to $2,000. That is a lot of cash out of ones pocket just because you decide to be lazy and not dispose of trash the proper way. Rather there are many ways you can be proactive about being environmentally friendly at our beach at South Padre Island, or any beach.

One way to be proactive is to not bring any garbage or waste to the beach, especially glass or things that can be harmful to the animals in that region. Every beach has community clean ups where community members can volunteer and help clean up.

According to spionline.com the next Adopt-A-Beach will be in February and one following in March after spring break. For more information, or if you think you would be interested you can contact, Monica Vela at 956-761-5494 or Clemente Valdez at 956-761-3704.

A dirty beach is an ugly beach

Help clean with beach clean ups



You litter you pay the price fines up to $2,000



Keep SPI beautiful

A clean beach is a beautiful beach

The Purest Ingredient: Water!

We find water everywhere, it is the most complex source to life on planet earth, without water earth would not be able to sustain our life. All life depends on water. Earth has natural water cycles for when it rains, which eventually turn into our source for drinking water.

The earth has natural cycles that are very important and vital for its well being. The water cycle is one of them, it fills our oceans and rivers and creeks, it evaporates into rain and goes back into the earth. If this natural cycle was in danger or trouble, so would we be, we rely on our water from this cycle.

It is very important that we keep our water on earth clean so that when this natural water process happens again, it will be safe to consume our water. Some tips from nrdc.org to keep water clean is:

1. Correctly dispose of hazardous household products

2. Use nontoxic household products whenever possible

3. Recycle and dispose of all trash properly.

4. Conserve water

5. Use natural fertilizers.

It can be really easy to help keep earth's water safe and clean. Remember to reuse. reduce and, recycle.

Diagram of the water cycle

Diagram two of water cycle

Be friendly, don't waste

Why You Should Change Your Cleaning Products

We usually don't think of our cleaning products doing anything other than keeping our surroundings clean but we must be aware that they can have harsh effects on our bigger surrounding, our planet earth. They may be doing much more than just cleaning.

 Many of our cleaning products have bad chemicals that effect our planet, we always need to keep in mind that what we use and do effects the planet and other people as a whole.

Here is a good video to keep in mind when shopping for environmentally friendlier products.

Fruit Peels for Rich Soil

Before you decided to throw away your orange peels, banana peels, or any other fruit peels, if you cut them and store them in a pot with dirt and then place them to create rich soil, they will help your garden of flowers, or fruit or even if you are just planting a tree to grow.

Since fruit peels are organic, they decompose turn into something that helps plants and other organic things grow. They are very beneficial to help you start growing a garden. Bugs and worms can help the process go by faster by working the fruit peels and quickly turning them into rich soil nutrients.

There are many alternatives rather than just throwing things in the trash bin, you can think twice and reuse them to help start and grow a beautiful garden which is also giving back to help make a earth friendly environment.

Fruit and veggie compost

Rich soil made of fruit and veggie peels

Cut pieces of banana to make it easier to decompose

A Threat to Life?

How well can humans, plants and animals adapt to the earths ever changing vicious climate cycles. Can we adapt fast enough to survive? A recent article in newscientist.com states that "a warmer, wetter Earth with higher CO₂ levels could support more life - if there were time to adapt to it."

Our planet generally has stable weather and a stable climate it has been so for thousands of years. So what happens to all known life on earth when the climate starts heating up. According to newscientist.com, "the world is warming very rapidly and could become hotter than it has been for millions of years, and the climate is going to be anything but stable for the foreseeable future."

So what can humans do to survive? Put on sunglasses? wear more UV protection? Is there anything we can do to prevent this problem? Well the website livescience.com goes on to state that "41 percent of Americans believe the burning of fossil fuels causes global warming. But in a meeting this week in Paris, officials from 113 nations have agreed that a highly anticipated international report will state that global warming was "very likely'' caused by human activity."

Livescience.com suggests that, "human-caused global warming—also called “anthropogenic” global warming, is the latest example of life altering Earth, but it is not the most dramatic." There are other things taht alter the earths global warming such as the methane cows release when they have gas. Howstuffworks.com states that agriculture, or cows more specifically contribute to 14 percent of the earth's green house gases.

What can we do to help? The website environment.about.com says some ways to help reduce global warming would be, to:
1. Reuse, Reduce, Recycle
2. Use less heat and air conditioning
3. Switch your bulbs to fluorescent light blubs
4. Drive less, Drive smart
5. Buy energy-efficient products
6. Use less hot water
7. Use the "off" switch
8. Plant a tree
9. Get a report card from your utility company
10. encourage others to conserve.

Are there any other things you can do to help your campus or community to go green? If you do send your ideas to: thegreenscholarutb@yahoo.com and your idea will come out on this blog!

Help with global warming, save a life

See the proof firsthand

Our home a fiery furnace?

Vegetarianism and the Environment

Is it possible that your choice of diet can effect the environment? Having a vegetarian diet can actually have good effects on the environment, but also following the vegetarian lifestyle. Besides having a good effect on your health, finances, and ethics being a vegetarian also helps the environment.

Being a vegetarian you are conserving fossil fuels, according to britishmeat.com, it takes 78 calories of fossil fuel to produce one calorie of beef protein, 35 calories for one calorie of pork, 22 calories for one calorie of poultry as appose to one calorie of fossil fuel for one calorie of soybeans, the difference is great.

Another reason according to britishmeat.com is that "in Brazil and other tropic regions are destroyed daily, in part, to create more acreage to raise livestock" since vegetarians don't eat meat they don't have a demand for livestock.

Pets are friends not food.

Eat your veggies.

Who are you really eating?

Water Rules! Why Shorten your shower

Shower is just a part of our daily hygiene, to keep clean and healthy we must always shower, but we should be efficient about it, and learn how to shorten our shower and save water, money, and energy.

There are some parts of the world were water is very scarce and hard to get to, here in America we should never take for granted our water supply. We should learn to be efficient and shorten our shower to no more than 6 minutes. According to squidoo.com every minute you shorten from your shower saves five gallons of water! The shorter your shower the less you will harm the environment.

You can be just as efficient in showering in less time, just be quick and think of the energy and water and even money you will be saving.

Go Green shorten y our shower time,

Pets Part 2: Why Adopt a Pet Today

There is not quite a joy as when you know you rescued an animal from being euthanized or from being starving from the street. If you are one of the Americans who do not yet have a pet but are looking for one, you might want to consider the choice of adoption from the local animal shelter.

Since many pet owners fail to spay or neuter their pets there is an overflow of pets in the streets who end up getting run over or starve, (see Pets Part 1: Why Spay or Neuter Your Pets). You can be the rescue to these helpless creatures if you make the choice to adopt today.

Most animal shelters euthanize pets who have been there too long, although some animal shelters use other options. When you adopt one of these animals the animal shelter you picked it from will usually spay or neuter your new pet before you bring it home.

These animals are not always mutts, according to the humanesociety.org many of these animals are purebreds. If you choose to adopt you are saving a life. Many of these animals were rescued from the street, saved from being run over or in danger.

 Choose to adopt a new pet today!

Save a life, and adopt a pet!

Make the choice

Get a new family member, and adopt today.

Pets Part 1: Why Spay or Neuter Pets?

Everyone loves animals and more so baby animals, in the U.S alone about 40 percent of Americans own a pet dog and about 33 percent of Americans own a pet cat. With these statistics it would be very wise for pet owners to spay and neuter their pets, but why?

Pets who are not spayed or neutered go about reproducing more and more so there are many animals left who are homeless and without a loving family to care for them, many of these poor animals are killed or go starving. According to the humanesociety.org some states have up to 300,000 homeless animals which end up euthanized in animal shelters each year. Many of these pets who are euthanized aren't just muts but purebreds who become euthanized.

It would be very beneficial to decide to get our pets spayed or neutered. It's the loving thing to do.

We all love baby animals, decided to have your pets spayed or neutered

Be kind to your pets, make the right choice for them

Choose to spay or neuter your pets.

Ozone Hole Reaches Peak

The Antarctic ozone hole has reached a peak September 12, 2011 according to sciencedaily.com. The hole stretched 10.5 million square miles which is the ninth largest in record.

The ozone layer helps protect the planets surface from many things such as harmful rays from the sun or ultraviolet radiation. Environmentalist have been monitoring the Antarctic ozone hole for a while and have found "The upper part of the atmosphere over the South Pole was colder than average this season and that cold air is one of the key ingredients for ozone destruction," said James Butler, director of NOAA's Global Monitoring Division in Boulder.

Many instruments are made to track the hole and its size. According to sciencedaily.com,
"researchers do not expect a smooth, steady recovery of Antarctic ozone, because of natural ups and downs in temperatures and other factors that affect depletion, noted NOAA ESRL scientist Bryan Johnson. Johnson helped co-author a recent NOAA paper that concluded it could take another decade to begin discerning changes in the rates of ozone depletion."

The Antarctic ozone hole.

Think Twice, Recycle! Topic: Newspapers

We come across them everyday, either we get the bargain book every Wednesday, we pick up the college paper, or we get the local newspaper everyday or weekend. Either way, we all come across newspapers sometime or another.

Rather we decided to use them for the dog's corner or clean our cars with them, there are many ways to reuse and recycle newspapers. Most cities have local recycling centers specifically for newspapers, some might even turn in your old papers into cash. Pile up your newspapers till you have enough and them turn them into your local recycling center.

If you have kids of your own it is good to teach them at a small age how to recycle.

Think twice! recycle

These shoes were made out of nenewspaper

There are even decorative ways to recycle newspaper

Rethink! Reuse! Topic: Guitar Strings!

There are many items around our house that we would not think could be reused or recycled, well just think if it could be used once, it can be used again. Many guitarist go through strings very often usually just throwing away the old ones while replacing the new ones.

But there are many ways to reuse guitar stings. According to planetgreen.discovery.com guitar stings can be reused by using them to:
1. Hang pictures on the wall
2. Turn them into jewelry, bracelets, necklaces etc
3. Donations, there are many guitarist in need of stings
4. Arts and crafts
5. to cut fine slices of cheese

So before your guitar strings away, think twice and you might think of more ways to reuse them!

These decorative flowers were once guitar stings

These beautiful bracelets were created by guitar stings

Endangered Species

There have been species that have gone extinct and endangered even before humans knew of their existence. That is a very sad fact that we can destroy something even before we know it existed. By cutting down and destroying these creatures habitats we leave them in much danger and even possibly giving them their death sentence. Many animals live in the trees and forests humans like to cut down.

It is very important we recycle, reuse and reduce our materials being used in order that new ones won't have to  be created and more of our environment in danger. Here is a video of species in which are endangered.

Think Twice, Recycle! Topic: Batteries

Think about it, they are everywhere! Batteries are in our phones, our remote controls, and even our cars! There are proper ways of disposing of them rather than throwing them away in your trashcan. You should make the choice to recycle of these batteries so they may be renewed for someone else to use.

50 percent of the lead supply in the US comes from recycled batteries according to batteryuniversity.com. That is a high percentage. It will only be so if we keep continuing to recycle our old batteries.

There are many places in Brownsville alone that have recycling services for batteries. Some of these places are: Best Buy, Battery Solutions Inc., Staples Corp. and many more. If you want to reach out and make the difference it is not that hard to do.

Never go this far. Always chose to recycle!

Make the choice go green! recycle!

To Reduce or Not to Reduce?

If everyone thought why should I be the one to reduce my waste I'm sure enough people do it anyway it will not matter if I do or don't, then we would have no one reducing their waist and the earth would be in even more of a mess than it is now.

There are very simple easy ways that anyone do to reduce waste and even save some green. Some easy ways to do so according to reduce.org are as simple as packing your own waste-free lunch to school or work with by putting your food into a reusable container that you can always use. Another thing to remember is to only take enough food that you know you will eat.

More ways according to reduce.org that can help us reduce waste for school is by buying school supplies that we can reuse each school year and semester, things such as refillable pens and pencils a durable backpack and lunchbox and binders that we can use over again.

One of the most effective ways to reduce waste and help the trees is by cutting down on paper usage.
 Teachers should start by trying to go green and have students e-mail their work to them if possible. If not teachers and students should always try to recycle paper rather than throwing it away. So many trees don't have to but cut down for paper usage. Always try to buy recycled paper as well.

Using reusable food containers helps reduce waste

Always remember where your paper comes from before you decide to waste it

Go green! Go smart!