WATER: Do's and Don'ts Around the Home What you don't know can hurt the environment. When rain falls or snow melts, the seemingly negligible amounts of chemicals and other pollutants around your home and premises get picked up and carried via storm drains to surface waters. The ramifications include polluted drinking water, beach closings, and endangered wildlife.

Oceans and Fisheries:

Each year, commercial fishing worldwide wastes more than 16 billion pounds of fish and kills hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, marine mammals and seabirds.

Each year commercial fishing operations catch and kill more than 300,000 marine mammals worldwide – more than 800 each day.

Cruise ships generate an astonishing amount of pollution, up to 25,000 gallons of sewage from toilets and 143,000 gallons of sewage from sinks, galleys and showers each day. Currently, lax state and federal laws allow cruise ships to dump untreated sewage from toilets once the ship is three miles from shore.

Sea turtles have been swimming the world's oceans since before the dinosaurs roamed the earth, more than 110 million years ago. However, these treasures of ancient times are now on the brink of extinction. All six sea turtles species found in U.S. waters are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

"Treecycle" Your Xmas Tree Recycle your Christmas Tree through January 16th. Read the following article for the do's and don'ts and who to call. Denver leads by example... bagging the plastic bag The Mayor, Denver Public Library, King Soopers, Vitamin Cottage, Safeway, and Wal-Mart team up to bag the old plastic bag and welcome reusable bags. These voluntary programs will help the Denver area meet Greenprint Denver waste reduction goals. Find a recycler in your area Colorado Recycles provides a statewide guide to recycling resources. Use this site to find a product recycler in your area. You will be able to search for recyclers convenient to your community by selecting among drop-off locations, curbside recycling services, other regional and statewide recyclers, national recycling resources and organizations that accept materials for charitable donations. -------------- • Recycle Plastic Bags • Recycle Your Christmas Tree • Curbside Recycling Fight Medical Waste and Pharmaceuticals in the Water Did you know that improper disposal of unused medications and personal products can affect the water we drink? Click here to learn how pharmaceuticals and other medical waste find their way to our water and how to prevent it. Colorado Recycles and Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority have developed an informational paper concerning the proper disposal of unused medications in order to minimize the amount of prescription medications and personal products that are finding their way into the municipal wastewater system. To review this paper, please use this link: http://www.pprwa.com/pdf/rxdisposecrpprwa.pdf Not driving pays for some DENVER - Not driving wasn't in Heather Kirwin's plans. "I bought a brand new car so I was driving it downtown," she said. When a co-worker told Kirwin about Get Downtown Unconventionally, a month-long effort by the Downtown Denver Partnership to encourage car lovers to cut back, she decided to try something different. Running solely on solar power BOULDER - Louis Palmer started his trip around the world 13 months ago, in his home country of Switzerland. So far he has been to Europe, the Middle East, Asia, New Zealand and now North America, all in a car that goes no more than 50 miles an hour and runs entirely on sunlight. Seven tips to save energy and money Saving money and energy does not meaning changing your lifestyle. Instead, consider these tips on changing they ways you use energy in your home. Insulate and Seal Rebates Now Available for 100 Denver Homeowners Properly insulating and sealing a home can help reduce monthly energy bills, and make your home more comfortable. Greenprint Denver has partnered with the Colorado Energy Science Center (CESC) and the Governor's Energy Office "2008 Insulate Colorado" program to offer cash-back rebates to qualifying homeowners in the City and County of Denver that make these energy-efficient improvements to their homes.  This is a limited time offer, with funding for approximately 100 rebates.  Rebates are not guaranteed. Mayor Hickenlooper Encourages You to "Take Five" Some of the greatest threats to our natural resources come from things we do out of habit. By simply changing five of these habits, we can all contribute to sustaining the environment for generations to come. We're encouraging all Denver residents to Take Five. In five simple steps  - you can save energy and water, clean the air, and reduce waste. Please join us in making a pledge for the future!  Green Grocery Shopping on a Budget Want to green your grocery cart, but think organic foods are out of your price range? Think again. If you pick and choose your spots and know how to shop smart, you can make healthy purchases that are good for you and your wallet.

Energy Watch:

Using energy more efficiently and moving to renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, and bioenergy) would significantly reduce our emissions of heat-trapping gases.

The United States currently produces 70 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas, and oil, but only two percent from renewable sources. Since the burning of fossil fuels releases large amounts of carbon dioxide—the leading cause of global warming—but renewable energy does not, increasing the share of our electricity generated from renewable resources is one of the most effective ways to reduce global warming emissions.

Cars and trucks are another significant source (25 percent) of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. A serious effort to address global warming must therefore reduce emissions from cars and trucks. Many technologies already exist that can do this, while also creating new jobs in the U.S. automotive sector and other industries throughout the country. In addition, American consumers would save billions of dollars on gasoline, and we would reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

By putting energy efficiency, renewable energy, and vehicle technology solutions in place at the federal level, we can reduce our contribution to global warming while creating a stronger, healthier, and more secure nation.

Waste management

Outdoor-gear label Patagonia is collecting used clothing (regardless of brand) made from Polartec and Capilene to melt and make into new fabric and clothes. (Some of that fleece is especially virtuous, starting out as fabric made from recycled plastic.) The company estimates that making polyester fiber out of recycled garments, compared with using new polyester, will result in a 76% energy savings and reduce greenhouse gases 71%. To shear your own fleece, visit patagonia.com/recycle.

Buying a shirt the second time around means you avoid consuming all the energy used in producing and shipping a new one and, therefore, the carbon emissions associated with it. Every item of clothing you own has an impact on the environment. Some synthetic textiles are made with petroleum products. Cotton accounts for less than 3% of farmed land globally but consumes about a quarter of the pesticides.

If every U.S. home viewed and paid its bills online, the switch would cut solid waste by 1.6 billion tons a year and curb greenhouse-gas emissions by 2.1 million tons a year, according to Javelin Strategy & Research.

Every year, more than 500 billion plastic bags are distributed, and less than 3% of those bags are recycled. They are typically made of polyethylene and can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade in landfills that emit harmful greenhouse gases. Reducing your contribution to plastic-bag pollution is as simple as using a cloth bag (or one made of biodegradable plant-based materials) instead of wasting plastic ones. For your next trip to the grocery store, BYOB.

Deforestation

An acre of forest is cut every second world wide.

Every continent is being deforested except for Antarctica.

In Europe the forest were cut back so long ago that scientists that look at paintings to see what kind of trees grew there. Only 1/5 of the world's frontier forests remain intact.

As a result of deforestation and poor forest management, about ten percent of the world's 80-100,000 tree species are in danger of extinction.