Global warming is no longer something we can ignore, and as the worlds’ leading producer of green house gases, the U.S. needs to take a more active role in helping to stop this environmental catastrophe in the making. “Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population, we produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning -- by far the largest share of any country.”* In fact, the United States emits more carbon dioxide than China, India and Japan, combined. The biggest cause of global warming is carbon dioxide released when fossil fuels like oil and coal are burned for energy. So when you save energy, you are helping to fight global warming. In the U.S. the two biggest producers of carbon dioxide emissions are coal burning power plants and vehicles.*
Here at Outward Bound we are trying to do our part. Conservation and environmental stewardship have always been cornerstones of Outward Bound’s curricula, but with the reality of global warming in the world, Outward Bound is committed to doing what we can to make a difference both in the back country and in the front country. Around the country, we are taking steps to reduce our carbon impact in numerous ways. Below are three simple things that we are doing to help conserve energy and resources that you can do too! Please join us in conserving energy, fighting global warming, and protecting our environment.
1. RECYCLE: All of our base sites recycle everything they can: steel, plastic, paper, junk mail, glass, batteries, printer cartridges etc. More than 60% of the waste produced by the average household can be recycled. All of the materials you recycle can be passed on to reprocessors so they can turn them in to new products, using recycled materials to manufacture new items is cheaper than using raw materials and uses less energy. By recycling you will be helping to preserve natural resources and to protect the environment for you and for future generations. (source - www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk)
2. USE LESS PAPER AND LESS FUEL: Our Student Services and Administrative Departments have reduced our paper use and our reliance on ground transportation in numerous ways. We are emailing all of our student welcome packets, which conserves both paper and fuel, and we have revised all of our administrative procedures so that we review and approve student and course paperwork with minimal printing.
Using less paper, using recycled paper and recycling the paper that you do use has several positive impacts on the environment. First, using less paper means we use fewer trees, which helps fight global warming because tress absorb carbon dioxide from the environment. Second, recycling paper saves water and electricity and reduces air pollution. Producing recycled paper involves between 28 - 70% less energy consumption than virgin paper and uses less water. This is because most of the energy used in papermaking is the pulping needed to turn wood into paper. Furthermore, recycled paper produces 95% fewer polluting emissions into the air and water, because recycled paper is rarely re-bleached, and when it is oxygen is usually used instead of chlorine bleach. (source – Waste Online)
3. REPLACE INCANDESCENT LIGHTBULBS: All of our bases have replaced incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Lighting accounts for 1/5 of all the electricity consumed in the U.S. One of the easiest, cheapest things you can do to use less energy, is to change your regular incandescent bulbs to super-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFL's). If every household in the U.S. substituted even 1 conventional bulb with a CFL, it would have the same effect on pollution as removing a million cars from the nation's roads. If every household replaced the five light bulbs used most with CFLs, it would save roughly $60 a year and keep half a ton of heat trapping carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.*
* Source – The Natural Resources Defense Council