Eco-friendly Tips For The Summer

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With summer approaching that means long days outside, and hotter than normal temperatures. Staying cool and having fun is what most of us plan to do. Though this should be a time to try and conserve energy while we do this. Here are some easy ways that you can save energy this summer. 

Don’t Waste Water 

Saving water doesn’t just mean saving money, but using it resourcefully can diminish the amount of water being taken out of aquifers and rivers. There are several ways that you can save water at home this summer.

  • Shorten your shower: Trimming just two minutes off your shower can save up to 1,700 gallons of water per person in your household.  Another trick to conserve water is to turn it off while you soap and/or shave. Doesn’t seem like it would make an impact, but trust me the little things always do. 
  •  Water your yard in the morning or evening: Water evaporates quickly when the sun is high, so water when it’s more likely to stay in the soil. Make sure you’re watering your yard, not the sidewalk or driveway
  • Go to the car wash: Washing a car at home can use up to 100 gallons of water, commercial car washes often use only 40 gallons or less of freshwater. Making a trip to the car wash this summer would be a lot better for the earth and you.

Use Fans Instead of Air conditioners

A fan moves air around, using 90% less energy than central air conditioning units, while still keeping your house cool for summer. Implementing this change or rather sometimes the use of a fan when you might find yourself lowering the temperature for the air conditioner could save a lot of energy in the long run.  Keep yourself hydrated

During the summer months, we sometimes forget how much water our bodies need. Being out in the sun for long periods can easily cause dehydration. One way to combat this would be to always have a reusable water bottle with you. Reduces the amount of plastic and can be easily filled up. 

These are just a few tips and tricks to help you have an eco-friendly and safe summer. 

How to Recycle Common Items Around Your House

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If school is coming to an end like it is for me, then I’m sure you have a lot of items lying around that you don’t use anymore. Those barely working highlighters, pens with no ink, light bulbs, almost any item you might not know what do to with is recyclable and can be achieved with the help of Terracycle. 

Terracycle 

Terracycle is a social enterprise whose mission is to eliminate the idea of waste. To achieve this, they collaborate with local communities to offer innovative collection and recycling platforms for waste. Merely everything we touch can be recycled and collected, and get done with the help of TerraCycle’s programs. If there an item that we don’t know what to do with, or don’t know if it’s recyclable, there is most likely a program that can help with that. 

 

How you can participate

All you have to do is select the program you wish to send items to. Gather at least three pounds of said item(s), print a label from the website, and ship it. Once shipped and received TerraCycle does the rest in recycling your unwanted items, striving for zero waste. Once they receive your items, they add points to your account that can be redeemable for a cash payment to the non-profit organizations or school of your choice. You can join as many programs to help reduce your impact on our planet.

 

 

 

3 Alternatives to Driving Your Car

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Transportation is without a doubt, one of the leading causes of climate change. The carbon emissions that come from driving our cars and trucks makes up at least ⅕ of the US’s total emissions; this isn’t even including the smog in urban areas that result from driving. But how will you get to work each morning? Well, there are several alternatives that are better for the environment and some ways that are great sources of exercise as well! 

 

  1. Biking

Biking, especially in Austin, is a great alternative to driving your car. Luckily, Austin has been implementing more bike lanes to make it easier to travel downtown and in several other areas. Additionally, making bikes requires far less resources than making cars does. So, not only will owning and using your bike combat pollution and climate change, but creating them as opposed to cars as there’s less of a need to mine for materials as well as using less fossil fuels. 

 

2. Buses

While you may be thinking that taking the bus is also emitting carbon emissions; you’re right. However, with this alternative, it reduces the amount of people in cars individually and reduces traffic. Taking the bus reduces less fuel being used per person which outweighs the emissions from the single bus. However, each city is different. Texas is a bigger state and everything is a little more spaced out. Regardless, the busses in Austin, using CapMetro, are still a better alternative than using the fuel from your car. 

 

3. Carpooling 

Now, this option is the most appealing on our list because it makes it easier on those who can’t access public transportation or if your job is too far away to realistically bike to. It’s not the most environmentally friendly, but at the very least, it does still reduce carbon emissions. Carpooling is also a better alternative for you local air quality because you are using less fuel driving your own car. It’s also cheaper! You can totally ride with people you work with and help reduce congestion while reducing emissions.

 

There are several other options too if these aren’t realistic. There are so many cities like Austin where public transportation is more difficult to use as the infrastructure is trying to adapt to support the population boom. However, biking is a realistic option and so is carpooling. These options might be a little more inconvenient, but it won’t be as problematic as the amount of emissions our cars produce daily. 

4 Reasons Why We Need to Phase Out the Oil Industry to Combat Climate Change

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The topic of fracking and the oil industry in the United States has been one of the more controversial conversations. Debates between those employed in this industry versus environmentalists is not new. However, politics aside, the oil industry has undoubtedly contributed to climate change. These oil companies have profited off of selling and burning large amounts of coal, oil, and gas. Furthermore, some experts have come to find that on public lands alone, the oil industry is expected to emit a massive amount of carbin emissions. 

 

  1. Large amounts of fossil fuels 
    1. It’s a relatively obvious fact that the oil industry is responsible for burning oil, coal, and gas which is one of the leading causes for this negative climate change. In order to at least slow this process, we have to first stop burning fossil fuels and convert to renewable energy. While those employed in this industry may feel panicked by this idea, they fail to realize that there are plenty of jobs in the green energy industry. 

 

2. System change is required to stay within the 1.5 degrees C. of warming. 

 

    1. According to the United Nations Emissions Gas report, global greenhouse gas emissions need to drop by 7.6 percent each year to keep warming under 1.5 degrees celsius. With that being said, the oil industry has been reported to produce 120% more oil, gas, and coal by 2030. This is a detriment. However, in order to stay below this warming, governments need to act now by not allowing the licensing and permitting of new oil fields and gas wells, begin to develop phase out plans, etc. 

 

3. The oil industry has been aware of the climate crisis for decades.

    1. This reason might be off-putting for those who support the industry. However, this reason also eliminates any plausible deniability from companies like Exxon. Investigations have recently found that these companies were doing research into carbon emissions and were well aware of the dangers of rising global temperatures. This issue is not just the fault of the companies, but also the fault of the government as they have allowed and supported this industry from its inception. Furthermore, it has been found that this industry is also partly responsible for the spread of pseudo science concerning the very tangible affects the oil industry has on the climate. 

 

4. Environmental racism is driven by the oil industry

    1. Families of color are hit the hardest by the oil industry due to the climate impacts the industry causes to the environment. Power plants, toxic wastes sites, and pipelines that pollute the drinking water are more often than not placed in areas where the community has little economic or political power. Additionally, race and poverty have been correlated with being significantly more exposed to air pollution caused by the oil and gas industry.

 

Conclusion

Phasing out the oil industry is one of many ways that we as a society need to do in order to halt the Earth’s warming. It goes beyond politics and the economy at this point. Overall, despite the rhetoric being used to say otherwise, there are several other alternatives to oil and gas. 

Maybe We Should be Vegan? 5 ways Veganism is Beneficial for the Environment

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While going vegan is the root of several memes and criticisms, it might actually be a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, food production makes up one quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, meat and dairy products make up 14.5% of global greenhouse gasses. 

 

However, it is totally understandable that switching diets to this extreme would feel uncomfortable. But, research has been pointing to this diet in particular as one of the most individual effective ways to reduce those greenhouse gasses. In fact, according to Carbon Beef, a diet shift is actually necessary to limit global warming to “well below ” 2 degrees Celsius.

 

Below is a graph that illustrates how each diet would effectively cut into greenhouse gas emissions.

 

  1. Food distribution and World Hunger 

Furthermore, going vegan would aid in world hunger as most of the food grown in the world is not distributed in a way that everyone can eat. But that’s a different issue in and of itself. In fact, research gathered has shown that 700 million tons of food that could be consumed by humans actually goes to livestock instead. The land used to raise the livestock could be used to grow more plant based food that would be just as nutritiously diverse as eating meat. 

 

2. Water Conservation

It is no surprise that a vegan diet would conserve water. The amount of water used by plants pales in comparison to how much water we use for livestock. In fact, 93% of the world’s water supply is used for livestock. Now, this might surprise you but, but it’s been proven that one person adopting a vegan diet alone can save 200,000 gallons of water!

3. Deforestation 

The meat and dairy industry is one of the biggest driving forces behind habitat loss. Cattle ranching in particular is damaging to the world’s tropical forests as trees are required to be cut down to create pastures. In fact, it has been estimated that by 2050, Asian and African countries will need a 30%-50% increase in land to support the growing meat industry. 

 

4. Reducing Energy Consumption 

There are several activities within the meat industry that use an unnecessary amount of fossil energy. These things include producing feed, breeding, electricity use, producing and spreading fertilizer, etc. However, converting to a plant based diet uses 8 times less energy than a meat based diet.

 

5. Cleaning Waterways 

While other industrial pollutants contribute to the pollution of our water, animal agriculture makes up most of the pollution. What happens is the surrounding waterways are polluted with high doses of chemicals that create “dead zones”– primarily from livestock feeding. Unfortunately, going vegan won’t eliminate the issue, but it will help to make great strides. 

Can Veganism Save The Environment?

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Can Veganism Save Our Animal Species?

By: Ali Niefield

Edited By: Brady Brooks

Over the last several years, the vegan diet has become more and more popular. We have seen the vegan options displayed on menus and in grocery stores, but do you really know what veganism is? Before we get into how veganism is beneficial to our animal life, let’s take a look into what it means to be vegan.

Being a vegan means eating only food not derived from animals and typically avoiding the use of other animal products. Foods such as beans, peas, fruits, vegetables, breads, rice, and pastas are some of the few items that are consumed on the diet. Not only is going vegan a healthy option, but it is one that could potentially cure our ecological devastation. Now that you have the basic information, let’s get into three ways on how veganism can save our animal species.

Species Extinction

   Food is essentially at the heart of many issues our environment faces. Our eating habits threaten the biodiversity of many areas, along with the resource and water security of their inhabitants. Unless greenhouse gas emissions are severely reduced, climate change could cause a quarter of land animals, bridle and plants to become extinct. Since a vegan abstains from using animal products, eating animal meat, or using animals for clothing, it spares these animals and allows for greater numbers to continue thriving in the wild. It is essentially the circle of life. We need our animals for oxygen and clean water and soil. Cleary, abstaining from eating meat will contribute to keep our animals alive, well and thriving! Without animals, our lives would not be possible.

Climate Change

   Arguably, the most impactful factor lies within our environmental footprint. Global warming is one of the biggest effects on land and marine animals. It impacts entire ecosystems; sea levels and temperature change, animal Animal agriculture is the leading cause of desertification and deforestation as. Similarly, livestock and their byproducts account for 51% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Animal agriculture is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the world’s transports combined. Global warming impacts entire ecosystems including sea levels, temperate change, and food chains that become altered. Going vegan will mean producing 50% less carbon dioxide than an average meat-eater. Just by cutting out meat from your diet can have a monumental effect on the planet and the species we share the planet with. Next time you are preparing a meal, think about the impact you could be making!

Ocean Dead Zones

    The oceans “dead zone” is the region that has such low oxygen levels, marine life is unable to survive. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of these zones. Because producing feed for animals needs to be done at a rapid rate, it means there is a higher use of chemical fertilizers being used which, at the end of the day, cause these dead zones. It has been projected that our oceans will be fish-less by 2048. Eating organically helps to eradicate these dead zones because of the lack of chemicals that are needed to grow crops! While vegans follow a plant based diet, most follow permaculture practices when growing their own food, meaning nothing wasted and the soil is maintained with natural compost from plants and there are no pesticides used to keep insects away. Nothing is wasted and nothing artificial is needed. All in all, veganism does in fact have a direct correlation to our oceans dead zones. Let’s try to reverse them!

Now that you know more about going vegan and all of the benefits it has not only on our environment but in regards to wildlife, let us know what you think! Reach out to us on Twitter @GoGreenGO10 or through our Instagram @gogreengo_tx. Let’s chat!

Greenhouse Gas Effect

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By: Brady Brooks

Edited by: Ali Niefield

The existential problems with climate change have increased dramatically over the years. The warming of the planet is problem that many describe as the greenhouse gas effect. It’s an issue that has exponentially increased over the past several decades. About 30 percent of the solar energy from the sun is reflected back into space. Furthermore, about 70 percent of the other solar energy is passed through the atmosphere. This heat that is created by the sun is then absorbed by the earth’s space. This heat is then radiated back up in the form of invisible infrared light. The extra heat effects the earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere.

For almost 800,00 years the concentration of greenhouse gases was between about 200 or 280 parts per million. The higher the concentration of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide in particular is causing extra heat to be trapped and global temperatures to rise. Unfortunately, over the past century the concentration to more than 400 parts per million. This has been increased mostly due to the human impact of burning fossil fuels.

Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor and fluorinated gases. These gases arise naturally and part of the make-up of our atmosphere. These greenhouse gases are essential for the planet, but humans have been interfering with the natural energy balance of our planet. The rising levels of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has been rising over the past decades. This rise in carbon emissions then causes the planet’s ozone layer to trap heat.

Earth Day 2021

Earth day is an amazing day for our planet and this is such an important holiday for humans to celebrate. Planet Earth has an objective beauty that is incredibly captivating, and she gives all the nutrients and resources we need to live a flourishing life with one another. This wonderful tradition has been going on since 1970 and is celebrated every year on April 22.

Why Texas needs bees

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Save The Bees, Tx

Now that it’s officially spring time here in Tx, it’s the perfect time to talk about the importance bees play in our environment. If it weren’t for these tiny fuzzy creatures, we wouldn’t have those beautiful flowers that have been popping up along our road sides. If Texans are not made aware of the importance bees offer our state’s population, then we made all be in for a rude awakening.

Don’t worry, GoGreenGo is here to educate you on the importance of bees in Texas as well as what you can do to help keep them here. So keep reading, taking notes, and spreading awareness!

Pollination

If you’re from the great state of Texas, you have at least one picture of yourself standing next to our beautiful state flower (bluebonnet). Thanks to bees, you are able to get them cute lil pics. They pollinate $587 million worth of crops in Tx every year! There is 800 different bee species here in Tx, who have helped contribute to that amount of money. Unfortunately that number will drop due to pesticides being used. When we say pesticides we mean Neonicotinoids: impairs the bees ability to fly and look for food.

How to help: call on our state leaders to limit or ban the use of harmful pesticides here in Tx!

Urban Sprawl

GoGreenGo is located in Austin, Tx where we have seen some major urban growth. People from all over the world have been moving into our tiny city. Buying a home or starting a business in the outskirts/suburbs of Austin has become a lot cheaper than living near the inner city. In order to build more houses in those areas, bee habitats have to be destroyed. If bee habitats are destroyed to make homes in these areas, then the residents can plan on not having free pollinators to keep their gardens growing.

How to help: Educate yourself on the areas you plan to build a new home/start a business, before doing so. Buy and renovate if need be.

Commercial Honey

We all know how important honey is to us Texans, we wouldn’t know what to do without it. Most commercial honey is heated, taking out all of the nutritional value it has to offer. When there is no nutritional value, then it does not do what it is supposed to do. Texans who use honey for allergies, should shop local. The commercial honey does nothing for those horrible spring time allergies here in Tx.

How to help: In order to keep the Texas bee keepers in business, shop local honey!

 

Spread the word!

We hope that you have learned a thing or two about the importance of bees here in Texas. So spread the word and shop local honey! If you know of or find a good local honey, then tag us on Twitter: GoGreenGO10 or Instagram: @GoGreenGo_tx

 

 

 

Earth Day 2021

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By: Ali Niefield

Edited By: Brady Brooks

Earth Day Tips and Tricks!

For us, everyday is Earth Day! This year we have decided to dedicate our time to give you some useful tips on how to get involved and save our planet. With the help of each and every one of us, there is hope of reverting the negative changes we have seen come to light in recent years. Here are some tips to make a difference in light of this special day.

Wash your laundry in cold water

Did you know that about 90% of the energy your washing machine uses goes towards heating water? In order to save that energy, try washing your clothes with cold water instead! If you wash your clothing in cold water it not only saves energy, but it can also remove many stains while hot water shrinks, fade, or wrinkle clothing. Next time, stop and think about the effects of cold vs warmer water and make the change!

Forget the plastic straws

It’s time to ditch the plastic straws, people! Did you know that Americans use nearly 500 million plastic straws every day? Not only do these straws effect our “on land” environment, but they also have a deep impact our ocean life as well. In fact, a study showed that 100% of tested sea turtles had ingested plastic. Thankfully, we have made various reusable straws to help this problem. Many are now made from stainless steel, silicone, or bamboo! Not only will the environment be impacted positively for these investments, but the ocean will thank you too. 

Unsubscribe from junk mail

Everyone still gets that piece of mail that makes them think, “how did I end up on this list?” It is not uncommon to look at that piece of perfectly wrapped mail only to realize it has no importance to you, and then to toss it. It’s time to save some time, effort, and some trees and finally remove yourself from that mailing list! If you need information on how to easily and effectively do so, visit https://www.ecocycle.org/junkmail for six easy steps!

Switch to E-books

What is portable, lightweight, accessible anywhere, and has shareable content? E-books! There might be some satisfaction of turning the page, but there is also something to be said for the movement of swiping your hand across the screen. According to one lifecycle analysis of print books versus e-readers, the energy, water and raw materials needed to make a single e-reader is equal to that of 40 to 50 books. In terms of the effect on climate, the emissions created by a single e-reader are equal to roughly 100 books. So, the next time you want to pick up a book, try seeing if the ebook is available and remember the impact you will be making!

Ways to Help Fight Climate Change

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Written by: Brady Brooks

Edited by: Ali Niefield

 

Grab a group of your friends and go out and explore the horizon of your environment. Feel the thickness in the air and the scarcity of wildlife. After that, notice the beauty and wonder of our planet that still shines. We are at dire straights here but the time is not too late. Our planet is still breathing but her lungs are weak . If we can come together as a state and work to spread awareness then this issue will be more fluid in conversations throughout the country. This brings me to the first and possibly most useful way to help fight climate change: spread awareness.

Building Awareness

Fully accepting the problem is the first step in solving it. The positive of this situation is that the amount of people that believe in climate change is increasing. The difficulty of this conversation is that there isn’t much entertainment or fire behind it. If you notice during the political discourse in our society the environment is rarely talked unless it’s something that’s extreme like the recent Texas blizzard. Hopefully this problem will become more of a focal point in the political discussions than what is it is right now.

 

 

Promote clean energy

Personally, switching over to clean energy will not only help your paybook but help promote an eco-friendlier lifestyle. This situation is difficult though because so much of our economy is already based in the oil market. However, there are always ways to help fight this problem and it doesn’t have to by buying an electric car. Weatherizing your home is helpful in this spring and fall time to save some money on the energy bill and help save the planet. Switching over to solar energy and limiting the amount of water use will help exponentially as well.

 

Planting Trees

Earth essentially has two much carbon emissions in the atmosphere caused the burning of fossil fuels that’s affecting the ozone layer. Planting trees will help the wildlife as well help diminish the carbon emission problem. Trees are vitally important for the planet’s oxygen to help keep its balance and equilibrium.