Yamot Articles Directory

We should all be concerned with saving the rainforest, and we can do our part by making small changes to our lifestyles. If everyone chose to do so, the results would be amazing. Trees offer us beauty and shade of those hot summer afternoons. Trees also help reduce the effects of carbon dioxide. Planting more trees is a very easy way you can help the to preserve the rainforest.

You can help reduce the amount of waste by recycling, especially recycling paper. The number one reason why rainforests are being destroyed is to provide more wood for paper. Another reason is for building homes and businesses. There are plenty of other types of materials you can choose from so that the rainforest can be preserved.

Other products produced from rainforest trees include rubber and lumber. Take a good look at how much of these commodities you are using. Try to limit the use of them to only necessities and look for alternative materials when it comes to luxury items.

Do you drink large amounts of coffee or use spices each time you cook? If so, you can be damaging the rainforests. This is because the demand for coffee and spices are so high areas of the rainforest are being cleared away to grow them.

Americans contribute to 25% of the pollution worldwide. This is due to the fact that they consume more fossils fuels for their vehicles and factories than any other country. There are many changes you can make to cut down the amount of pollution you contribute on a daily basis.

Consider taking public transportation or carpooling to and from work. There are also many great models of hybrid vehicles that can operate for long periods of time on electricity. This is a good investment for the environment as well as to save money on the cost of fuel.

Each animal in the rainforest is important to the balance of its ecosystem. Make sure you report any illegal hunting in the rainforests as well as the illegal sell of animals that are removed from that natural habitat and sold as pets. The most common ones are parrots and iguanas.

Individuals need to realize that purchasing the parts of poached animals in the rainforest or these live pets encourages that behavior to continue. If we all do our part to make sure there is no market for such activities, then the financial motivation for doing so would be gone.

Write letters to Congress to encourage the government to place stricter laws on those who hunt illegally and remove animals illegally from the rainforest. You also need to write to encourage them to restrict how much land in the rainforest a company can clear as well as require them to plant new trees in the location afterwards.

Children need to be taught from a very early age just how important the rainforest is to our well being. They need to learn what they can do to protect the rainforest as well as to appreciate how it helps keep the air clean, affects our water cycles, and affects the climate around the world.

Children need to be educated both at home and at school. With the rainforests being completely cleared away at the rate of 6,000 acres per hour, we need to make some serious changes. Taking the right steps in our own lives and teaching our children to do the same will help ensure the rainforests and the animals that have a home there are able to survive for future generations.

The rainforests are essential to our well being. The trees produce oxygen that we need to breathe. They also help keep the air clean, and we need that due to the chemicals, emissions, and pollution we put into our environment.

Learn about Conservation & Preservation Initiatives at http://www.paradiseearthonline.com/

Monaco has led the small countries of the world in the campaign to heighten awareness of environmental issues since Prince Albert became Sovereign in 2005, and has launched a radical plan of its own to cut carbon emissions.

One of the first acts Prince Albert took when succeeding to the throne upon his father’s death was to sign the Kyoto Protocol.

Along with the USA and Australia, Monaco was one of the few countries not to sign up to the treaty intended to cut greenhouses gases.

Included in a campaign by Prince Albert to protect the environment has been an expedition to the Arctic to see for himself how global warming has begun to melt the glaciers, and shortly after his return he started a foundation to study rising sea levels and how to address what he sees as environmental challenges.

A Monaco travel guide comments that given the Principality’s position in the Mediterranean, concern at rising sea levels should come as no surprise.

‘There are plans at an advanced stage to build an island off Monte Carlo, which will change the Monte Carlo map, and the district of Fontvieille is largely reclaimed from the sea.’

The island is expected to be complete in ten years time, and will include the first new hotels in Monaco for some time.

Prince Albert recently spent time with fellow royal and campaigner for the environment Prince Charles.

‘Most notable of all’, comment the online guide, ‘Prince Albert chose a mansion in the Kalorama district of Washington D.C. to serve as Monaco’s U.S. Embassy - Monaco’s first independent embassy outside of Europe. Up to now it hasn’t been necessary for Monaco to have her own representation in the U.S. - France has always looked after Monaco’s interests. But it serves as a useful base for him to entertain politicans on Capitol Hill and get his environment message across. Expect to see more of Prince Albert in America in the coming months and years!’.

Monaco Climate

With Prince Albert punching above Monaco’s weight abroad, he has been no less active at home to prove his green credentials, and a radical plan has been introduced to cut carbon emissions, and to reduce the number of cars on the streets of Monte Carlo.

The domestic campaign began with the Monaco Yacht Show 2005, held each September, with the event successfully becoming carbon neutral. To encourage the thousands who commute to Monaco every day from neighbouring France and Italy the railway station is one of the best in Europe, with frequent and reliable services.

‘For those who work in Monte Carlo and travel in from Nice and her surrounding villages five days a week, it’s both cheaper and quicker to take the train - the trains are modern and comfortable and it’s rare for seats not to be available even during the rush hour’, claim the guide, ‘Once people are in Monaco the local transport service is equally quick and efficient. Virtually all routes are well planned and easy to understand, and the most you have to wait for a bus is ten minutes, often it’s just a couple of minutes - which isn’t exactly a hardship given the weather in Monte Carlo!’

With many major companies and the banks in Monaco also looking to see how they can improve their own environmental records the business community view the steps as prudent ones.

The routes are planned to incorporate tourist needs, with many passing by the Hotel de Paris in Casino Square and the Columbus in Fontvieille, two of the best known and popular Monaco hotels. Fares have been reduced to one Euro, making public transport in Monaco among the lowest priced, comfortable and frequent in Europe.

With the overall aim to increase bus usage by 20 per cent, the Principality is also funding five new duplex trains with a thirty per cent increase in train services, and in an innovative attempt to persuade commuters to leave their cars at home will provide free electric cycles at car park schemes.

‘The one time of year you might see fast cars being encouraged is of course for the Monaco Grand Prix in May’, conclude the Monaco travel guide, ‘But overall it’s Prince Albert who will be able to claim the winners rostrum among European leaders for the environment.’

Monaco details for the visitor are available at YourMonaco.com

Information provided includes Monte Carlo hotel reviews, for business visitors to Monaco how to learn Italian and for the more adventurous the casino in Monte Carlo.

A lot of fuss has been made over the continual destruction of the rainforest and the amount of damage that is caused by illegal logging. But what does that really mean? Consider that there are thousands of animal, plant and bird species that live in the rainforests of the world, and that even today, scientists speculate that we still don’t have a full understanding of exactly how many species actually exist. Unfortunately, it now appears that we may never know.

At the current rate of rainforest and habitat destruction, it is estimated that around half of the known species of exotic forest birds will be extinct within fifty years. After that, scientific study has now discovered that species extinction may continue for up to a century after sections of the rainforest have been cut down and logged away. What many people don’t seem to realize is that rainforest habitats have a very intricate eco-cycle, and removing even one component of that cycle will affect many, many others - other bird species, plant species, insect populations, and ultimately exotic mammals.

While it may come as a surprise, some of the most affected rainforest habitats can be found in Southeast Asia. Severe deforestation of Indonesia and the Philippines has threatened several species of exotic doves and parrots in those countries, as well as the Philippine Eagle. Brazil, Madagascar, and areas of West Africa each have over 100 threatened bird species in their rainforests, a frightening confirmation that the current rate of logging practices simply cannot be sustained - lest all species of exotic bird life are lost.

With over 700 rainforest bird species at risk worldwide, the loss of even one of these species will affect others. In some cases, only a very small number of a species remain. For example, it is suspected that only around twenty Curassow birds survive today in the forests of El Salvador. In the West Indies, all but twelve of sixty parrot and macaw species have disappeared since human arrival, and in the jungles of South America, the intelligent Blue & Gold Macaw has slowly begun to disappear.

Clearly, it is absolutely crucial that something be done to prevent this kind of tragic loss. Better recovery plans and more effective laws need to be implemented, however it will take the cooperation of the entire globe - one country simply cannot do it alone.

Learn about preserving Exotic Bird Habitat at http://www.paradiseearthonline.com/

There’s no doubt about it: if you’re a patriot, you should feel great about recycling.

Think about it. Recycling saves trillions of kilowatts of energy every year. It conserves our natural resources. It makes our country’s air, water and soil cleaner by limiting pollution, and it stimulates our economy by creating new jobs.

Politicians and pundits from both the Left and the Right strongly agree that we should decrease our dependence on foreign oil. So recycling makes you a true patriot who’s doing something to make the people and economy of our great nation cleaner, healthier, richer and stronger!

I can see some folks in my mind’s eye (not you, of course!) with a slight sneer of disbelief on their faces. So allow me to share some basic statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency and other reputable sources that back up my argument.

Be a Patriot: Save Energy!

In 2003, the energy savings from recycling 54 billion aluminum cans exceeded the energy equivalent of 15 million barrels of crude oil, or the amount of gas the U.S. uses in one day.

Another way to look at it: recycling 1 can = 3 hours of TV, so in 2003 the U.S. saved enough energy by recycling cans to run 162 billion hours of TV, or about 25 hours of TV for every man, woman and child on Earth.

The Center for Ecological Technology found that the glass industry uses 50% less energy to create glass from recycled glass than from raw materials.

Americans recycled about 40 million tons of paper products in 2003, creating an energy savings of 163 trillion (yes, with a “T”!) kilowatt hours of electricity.

Recycling one pound of plastic soda bottles - or PET plastic - saves 1200 BTUs of energy (1 BTU is the amount of energy needed to raise a gallon of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit).

2005 saw the U.S. recycle 5 billion pounds of PET plastic, which equals a savings of 60 trillion BTUs of energy.

Be a Patriot: Conserve Natural Resources

Americans disposed of 83 million tons of paper products in 2003. According to the EPA, by recycling nearly half of that, we saved 705 million trees and 290 billion gallons of fresh water.

4% of U.S. annual oil consumption, or roughly 219 million barrels of oil, goes into the manufacture of plastic. Thus increasing the amount of plastic we recycle can make a significant impact on oil use.

In 1997, the U.S. recycled 13 million cars, which conserved 32.5 billion pounds of iron ore, 18.2 billion pounds of coal and 1.5 billion pounds of limestone.

Aluminum can be recycled forever. Over 2/3 of all aluminum ever created is still in use. Most of the 1/3 not still in use is aluminum cans in landfills.

Be a Patriot: Limit Pollution

Recycling just half of your annual recyclable household waste saves 2400 pounds of CO2 being released into the atmosphere. Many scientists contend that human-released CO2 is a leading cause of global warming.

Recycling household and car batteries keeps heavy metals such as mercury, lithium and cadmium from being released into our air and water. Heavy metals, when consumed by people and other animals, cause numerous health problems and diseases.

The EPA estimates that 200 million gallons of used motor oil are improperly disposed of each year. Recycling used motor oil keeps it from polluting your ground and fresh water.

Americans dispose of 270 million waste tires each year. Illegally-dumped and stock-piled tires are fertile breeding grounds for rodents and mosquitoes, and illegally-burned tires release oil and soot into the air and ground water.

Be a Patriot: Stimulate the Economy

Recycling creates a net gain in jobs - 5 to 1 over landfill management.
Jobs created by recycling cover a wide variety of skill sets, including basic labor, manufacturing, entrepreneurship, advanced science and engineering.

Recycling creates new “green” technologies designed to take advantage of the reclaimed resources.

The National Recycling Coalition reports that recycling has created 1.1 million jobs, $236 billion in gross annual sales, and $37 billion in annual payroll.

So there you have it. Patriotic people recycle! I challenge you to come up with another activity that every family in the country can so easily do to make such a huge difference in so many critical areas of the health of our great nation.

Mac Bartine writes about business, music and the environment for his website, KnoxvilleBusiness.com. View more of his writing about recycling here.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all do something to help with global warming? Actually, wait a minute, we can! You would have to be on a different planet not to know about how bad global warming has become. You only need to take a look out of the window to observe the ever increasingly unpredictable weather. The weather is becoming so bad that natural disasters are becoming more frequent and causing more death and destruction than ever.

Why is it important for us to change the way we live?

As you know, the earth as we know it is damaged. The way we humans have lived has taken its toll on the planet and because of it, global warming is causing things to happen that shouldn’t happen. Icecaps are starting to melt and as a result, species of animals are becoming extinct.

So what can we do it about it?

The problems we humans have is that we are naive by thinking how can one person wasting electricity or doing something else along the same lines cause this much damage? Well, this may only be your thoughts, but then how many other people think if I do this it will not do any harm? Before you know it, a lot of people are doing the same thing and it all contributes.

So, if you are not sure what to do, assess the way that you live. Basically, do you leave lights on when you do not really need to? Just by making little changes, you could be doing your part to help save energy.

Smart houses could be a reality

There has been a call to produce smart houses that eat their own rubbish and power themselves up. The government’s chief scientist, Sir David King, is overseeing this project that plans to design these smart houses that can withstand the conditions of the 21st century. It is thought that the homes need to be wireless so it would need to draw any energy that it can from its own environment, whether it be solar or wind energy.

It could be a fair few years before this can happen, but in the mean time, the government is constantly trying to find new ways to help reduce carbon emission and other things. New methods include taxing people for the amount of rubbish that they have and they are trying to also encourage people to recycle more of their rubbish instead of throwing it away.

Why not change the way that you live today by switching off lights, or by trying to find other ways of saving energy. Together, we can help to make the changes needed and to try to help the planet repair itself. If nothing is done, things will just becoming a whole lot worse and it may get to a stage where nothing could be done whatsoever anymore.

http://www.envirochemcontrol.co.uk/ supply waste management services.

It seems everyday we’re bombarded with even more information regarding global warming. Scientists give us finding after finding; this ice shelf is melting, that drought is longer and more severe than even before, plus it seems wherever you are in the world politicians add their personal opinions, whether genuine or not.

Early summer, late winter.
Here in London we’ve been basking in beautiful near summer weather for the past few weeks, a full 3 months early. Yet now tonight we have snow forecast over the next couple of days. No matter what we think is happening, nature is confused. Trees and flowers in full blossom thinking it to be mid to late April will now lose their colour to late frosts and snow.

Is it true; are we to blame for Earth’s atmosphere warming to artificially high levels?

I was recently inspired by the new movie, An Inconvenient Truth. Based on US Senator Al Gore’s illuminating and extraordinary slide show dealing with the onset of global warming dating back to the industrial revolution, the movie contains all the latest factual information, plus strategies of what we as individuals can do to alleviate the situation. It most worryingly shows how the human production of CO2 and other harmful greenhouse gasses have dramatically increased in the latter half of the 20th century.

Tackling such a serious subject head on, I also found famously heavy and some-might-say-boring Al Gore to be light, informative, funny and a very human person indeed.

I don’t usually make movie recommendations during my newsletters and articles, however on this occasion I would recommend and encourage you to seek out ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. Have a look at the official website (link below) and take an extra step forward today.

What would it take for you to become inspired?
Being inspired to make positive changes for our planet and future generations surely is the biggest legacy any of us can leave, isn’t it? I’m currently coaching with Tom, a young man in The Netherlands who’s re-training in order to move into environmental research to reduce and reverse global warming, and even though much of the technical side of what he does is completely over my head, his focus and dedication is totally inspirational to me.

The spectrum of what we can all do is huge. And just to bring this back into the area of life coaching & personal development, it’s the area known as ‘contribution’.

Of course, there is also a debate doubting the present scientific data. Some suggest the Earth warms and cools as part of its greater long-term cycle, and that what is happening now is simply a part of that. It’s mentioned the oceans produce far more CO2 than any human factory ever could, that cows produce more methane than a human ever could, and that most of the predictions published by scientists throughout the past 20-30 years have proved either inaccurate or just plain wrong.

Personally I lean on the side of global warming being a reality, and one I can effect. I believe we have an obligation to future generations to safeguard their world whether we have irrefutable evidence or not. If we took no action, believing scientists to be wrong, and they turned out to right, by that time we might have inflicted irreversible harm on the world they inherit.

So, what some actions we can take that will tell future generations that even if the scientists are right or wrong we took care of their planet anyway? Here are a few handy hints I’ve picked up along the way, which as well as helping reduce global warming will also cut down your fuel bills and make you more healthy!

1. Leave the car at home more often, especially for short trips. Use public transport, walk to the shops instead of driving. As well as saving money on gas (petrol), carrying the bags and walking will be great for your body.

2. As light bulbs blow in the house, replace with low emission bulbs and also switch lighting and other appliances off in rooms or areas not in use. Think TV, DVD, music system, think big savings on your fuel bill each year!

3. Take a shower instead of a bath. Showers use only around a 5th water compared to taking a bath.

4. Recycle household waste. I know some countries and cities view this with different levels of urgency. Even here in London some councils are more proactive than others. I just moved from a lackluster one to a really good one, and now have separate bins for garden and vegetable waste, one for cardboard, plastic and glass bottle, papers and books, etc, and everything else goes in the regular black bag destined for a landfill. What I’ve noticed however, is since I’ve been doing this the size of the black bag is smaller and smaller as I feel better and better.

5. Become more eco savvy. Check items that have less, or more easily recyclable packaging. This gives supermarket shopping a whole new twist, which for those of us who seem to spend hours in the places each week, helps pass the time and make the experience a whole lot more interesting.

And finally
It has been suggested that intention is everything. In the case of global warming, whichever side of the debate you’re on, your intention is still so important, and asking the question, what condition do you want to leave the planet in for the future, does make a difference, not least to you.

To get inspired and learn how to inspire others in all areas of your life visit http://www.mikeblissett.com.

Mercury is poisonous, yet it’s a critical part of most compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), the kind that environmentalists and some governments are pushing as a new way to cut energy consumption. Mercury is probably best known for its effects on the nervous system. It can also damage the kidneys and liver, and in sufficient quantities can cause death.

There were an estimated 150 million CFLs sold in the United States in 2006 and, and Wal-Mart alone hopes to sell 100 million in 2007. Some scientists and environmentalists are worried that most are ending up in garbage dumps. U.S. regulators, manufacturers and environmentalists note that, because CFLs require less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs, they reduce overall mercury in the atmosphere by cutting emissions from coal-fired power plants.

But some of the mercury emitted from landfills - in the form of vaporous methyl-mercury - can get into the food chain more readily than inorganic elemental mercury released directly from a broken bulb or even coal-fired power plants, according to government scientist Steve Lindberg.

“Disposal of any mercury-contaminated material in landfills is absolutely alarming to me,” said Lindberg, emeritus fellow of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The mercury content in the average CFL — now about 5 milligrams — would fit on the tip of a ballpoint pen, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and manufacturers have committed to cap the amount in most CFLs to 5 milligrams or 6 milligrams per bulb. To prevent mercury from getting into landfills, the EPA, CFL makers and various organizations advocate recycling. Besides commercial recyclers and some municipal waste collection services, some retailers accept used CFLs.

IKEA, the Swedish home furnishings chain, has free drop-off programs at all of its 234 stores, 29 of which are in the United States. Now advocacy groups are calling on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other big chains to get involved.

One problem with recycling is that it isn’t cheap. The value of the metal, glass and mercury reclaimed from recycling fails to offset the cost of the process. Costs can range from 20 cents to 50 cents per bulb - not a paltry sum when some CFLs sell for less than $2 at Wal-Mart.

But, compared with the overall lifecycle cost of buying and using a bulb, recycling would be less than 1 percent. Another obstacle lies in the fragility of the bulbs and their mercury content.

The U.S. government has no single recycling plan in mind. Among the alternatives are special curbside collections by municipalities, mail-back programs by manufacturers and drop-off programs at various places, including retail stores that sell CFLs, he said.

Some methods lend themselves to certain geographic areas more than others, because of differences in population density, transportation infrastructure and proximity to recycling sites.

State laws are also a factor. Federal regulations mandate recycling of fluorescent lighting, while exempting households and other small users. Some states, however, are strict. For example, California no longer allows anyone to throw CFLs in the trash, while Massachusetts requires manufacturers to implement recycling programs and meet certain targets.

As technology advances, however, mercury could become less of an issue, at least as far as light bulbs are concerned. Last month General Electric Co. said it was working on doubling the energy efficiency of incandescent lights and eventually developing versions comparable with CFLs. These bulbs, which the company hopes to begin marketing in 2010, will cost less than fluorescents but they won’t last as long.

Meanwhile, some environmentally minded consumers in Dallas, Houston and throughout Texas are embracing CFLs and doing their best to dispose of them responsibly.

Pat Carpenter writes for Precedent Insurance Company. Precedent puts a new spin on health insurance. Learn more at Precedent.com