it's not easy being green --or is it?

if you're a student or someone living in an apartment where you may not have much control over the major appliances, heating, hot-water heater units, etc. here are a few steps adapted from http://www.climatecrisis.net/ which you can take to be a little nicer to gaea. please, if there is anything incorrect or anything that could be added/improved, do let me know: eric.thul@mail.mcgill.ca

• replace lighting with cfls (compact fluorescent lights). and obviously turns off lights when leaving a room. you can get a three-pack of these for less than 10 bucks at canadian tire, what a deal!
• look for the energystar label on appliances, electronics, lighting. for example...
  • battery chargers
  • cordless phones
  • tv/vcr/dvd
  • digital-to-analog converters (used for converting digital tv signals to your analog tv [unless you have a digital one])
  • power adapters which connect your laptop (notebook), cellphone, tablet, pda, etc to the wall
  • home audio like steroes, mixers, cd changers, ...
  • computer-related equiptment
• with all of these fancy gizmos and gadgets, perhaps try to turn them off and power them down when they are not in use. for example, perhaps organize the ones which do not need to remain turned-on onto one power strip. then just flip off the power strip when you leave or go to sleep, etc. if you're like me and need to access your computer from anywhere go, then check these power saving tips for linux or windows or mac
• recycle... but you knew that. also, buy recycled paper products: tissues toilet paper paper towels napkins, or check out this handy wallet-sized guide
• this next one ventures out of the home: plant a tree
• purchase organic fruits and vegetables. not only do they taste great, but they are free of synthetic pesticides. this is good because pesticides store up in our fat cells and get released when we burn fat, distrupting our energy-making mitochondria. this matters because it has been shown that people with more of these pesticides (i.e. organochlorines) had more of a metabolic slowdown than those with lower-levels when burning fat (A Tremblay, C Pelletier, E Doucet, P Imbeault. ``Thermogenesis and weight loss in obese individuals: a primary association with organochlorine pollution''. International Journal of Obesity v28 p936--939 2004 Jul). so not only are you doing earth a favor, but also your body
• public transportation (get a student bus/metro pass), bike, walk, carpool, rideshare
• take less flights, maybe we can get some high-speed railways going

...but green's the color of spring.
and green can be cool and friendly-like.
and green can be big like an ocean
or important like a mountain,
or tall like a tree

when green is all there is to be
it could make you wonder why, but why wonder why?
wonder, I am green and it'll do fine, it's beautiful!
and I think it's what I want to be

do try to save such splendors