There are six main ways that we contribute to global warming:

1. Driving
2. Flying
3. The energy we use in our homes
4. The wastes we send to the landfill
5. The stuff we buy
6. The food we eat

Do you want to know how much CO₂ your family produced last year? Get yourself a notepad, and we’ll start. Good luck! It’s an important process.

1. Your Driving

Each litre of gas produces 2.5 kg of CO₂. If your car does 25 mpg (9 km per litre), and you drove 15,000 km last year, you used 1,667 litres of gas, which produced 4,167 kg of CO₂ – that’s 4.1 tonnes. So take an odometer reading, estimate your car’s fuel efficiency, and do the maths. Every litre you don’t burn (every 9 km you don’t drive) will save 2.5 kg. For public transport, it’s 15 grams of CO₂ per km, half the amount from driving. For cycling, it’s a healthy zero. The website www.offsetters.ca has an online calculator for driving, with a full list of vehicle types so you can get an accurate calculation of your emissions from driving.

2. Your Flying

If you go to www.offsetters.ca, you can calculate the CO₂ for each flight. Victoria to Toronto return is 1.3 tonnes. You can do the same at www.terrapass.com. For the year ahead, ask “Is this flight really necessary? Could I do this meeting by teleconferencing? Could we holiday closer to home?”

3. Your Home Energy

Electricity

BC Hydro produces 88% of its electricity from hydro, producing no CO₂ emissions, and it imports 12% from Alberta (80% from coal + 12% from gas) so 12% of your power produces CO₂ emissions. The average BC household uses 12,000 kilowatt-hours (kwh) a year, so that 12% from Alberta comes to 1,440 kwh, at 800 grams of CO₂ per kwh from the coal/gas mix, producing 1.15 tonnes of CO₂. You can fine-tune your numbers by looking at your hydro bills. Whenever you save electricity, however, by turning off the lights, and switching to compact fluorescent bulbs and more efficient appliances, 100% of the energy you save comes from Alberta. BC Hydro does not turn down the dams when there’s less power needed: they import less from Alberta. So if you can reduce your power use by 15% in 2007, saving 1800 kWh, you will reduce your emissions by 1440 kg, or almost 1.5 tonnes of CO₂. Now let’s look at those light bulbs. If you replace 18 incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents, you will reduce your CO₂ by 5600 kg over the 10-year life of the bulbs – 560 kg a year, or 30 kg per bulb. For insights into the best buys for all things green, go to www.thegreenguide.com and dig in. An old inefficient fridge in a basement might use 1,000 kwh a year, so if you unplug it, you will reduce your annual emissions by 800 kg of CO₂.

Oil

If you heat your home with oil, find your fuel bills, and calculate your emissions at 2.6 kg of CO₂ per litre. An average single family home uses 3,000 litres of oil a year, producing 7.8 tonnes of CO₂. If you make your home 25% more efficient, you’ll save 2 tonnes. If you use Columbia Fuels BioHeat with its 20% biodiesel mix, you’ll reduce your CO₂ by 16%, saving 1.25 tonnes a year.

Gas

If you use gas for cooking or heating, find your gas bill, and calculate it at 52 kg of CO₂per gigajoule. (Propane = 63 kg per GJ).

4. The Waste We Landfill

In the landfill, most waste breaks down, releasing methane gas, which is another powerful greenhouse gas. Here in Victoria, the CRD captures the methane and uses it to generate carbon-neutral electricity, which should be done everywhere. Every time you recycle, however, the materials can be used again, which saves a lot of energy. So do whatever you can to recycle more.

5. The Stuff We Buy

Almost everything we buy has a carbon footprint. The materials were harvested or mined, and then it was manufactured, packaged, and shipped to the store. Imported beer, when there are such great locally brewed ales here in Victoria, makes no sense. You are using carbon fuels to ship flavoured water from Germany, or Nelson, or wherever.

6. The Food We Eat

Imported food has a far higher carbon footprint than locally grown food. Locally grown organic food is best, since organic soil stores far more carbon than chemically pumped soil. Beef has a high carbon footprint, since cows burp methane. An average meat diet produces 1.5 tonnes more CO₂ a year than a vegan diet. For more info visitwww.earthsave.bc.ca and www.TheVictoriaVegan.com

We Care Campaign will be launch on 16 August 2008, at Kulim Public Field by YTM Dato’ Seri Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz Binti K.D.Y.M.M Tuanku Sultan Haji Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah..

Kindly please download the full program here.

One of the highlight of this Campaign is the Town Parade with Tunku Puteri. You can download the road map here.

Recycling

Recycling is the third R of the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Recycling means taking a product or material at the end of its useful life and turning it into a usable raw material to make another product. To find recycling locations and programs near you, use our recycling locator. Type your zip code, and the material you want to recycle, into our recycling locator box (at the top of the page).

This section provides information about how to recycle, why to recycle and what you can recycle. The Earth 911 green recycling locator box can also help you find where you can recycle by entering a product and your location.

Curbside Recycling

Curbside recycling now serves half of the U.S. population, providing the most convenient means for households to recycle a variety of materials.

While all curbside programs differ, the most commonly included materials are The Big Five: aluminum cans, glass bottles, paper, plastic and steel/tin cans.

Electronics

Technology has revolutionized our lifestyle through telephones, radios, TVs, computers and cell phones. However, the brisk pace of technology means these devices become obsolete quickly.

A more recent issue is how our old electronics should be disposed of, because they often contain dangerous elements such as lead and mercury that can contaminate our soil and water supply.

Composting

Managing organic material at your home can not only decrease the amount of material you send to the landfill; it can also help turn your organic waste into a landscape asset.

Composting will reduce the amount of food waste in your garbage can, while creating nutrient-rich fertilizer for your garden.

Garage Garbage

Did you know that used motor oil can be recycled? How about paint and batteries? It turns out many of the items in your garage are recyclable.

Claim your garage back, learn what to do with the mess and help the planet while you’re at it.