You can start with the simplest thing, which is to switch off the lights, fans and all possible electrical appliances when they’re not in use. If your mobile is charged, don’t keep the battery charger switched on or plugged into the socket. If you can, reduce your use of electrical appliances—reduce television time and supplement it with reading time or use the time to indulge in an outdoor activity. Don’t keep the refrigerator door open for long unnecessarily and make sure the refrigerator, when closed, seals properly to let the energy from escaping. Also, make sure the food is cooled down before you put it inside the refrigerator—this way less energy will be used by the device. Make sure you get your electrical appliances serviced regularly, so their functioning speed remains optimum. If you’re designing or constructing your house or office space then try and make maximum use of sunlight to avoid using artificial light during the day. For already constructed buildings, modify a bit or optimize the use of daylight over artificial light as far as possible. When the weather allows it, keep the ventilation outlets and windows open to optimize temperature and air circulation. Tube lights use consume less electricity and illuminate the space better, CFL bulbs are good too in comparison to regular incandescent ones. If you’re a big fan of decorative lights in the living room or fairy lights in your bedroom then restrict the use to a bare minimum, like only for special occasions. Invest in energy savers; make sure you buy energy efficient appliances while making new purchases. Switch off your computer screen if you’re not going to be using the machine for 20 – 30 minutes; switch it off for longer inactive periods, specially at night when you’re not going to be using it for a good eight plus hours. Use the power saver mode on your computers. When you go away on a trip, make sure you unplug all electrical appliances since they consume more energy when on stand-by. Don’t put objects in front of heating or cooling vents. Try switching to solar or hydro energy if possible.

So, save electricity, save energy because doing so can ensure that things become better down the supply chain. Be the change and encourage and inspire others around you to follow your example.

Spicy Mango Ginger Cold Soup

We all know how good soup is for us. It’s a filling healthy option, and of course it’s a friend to anyone on a diet. But it’s hard to drink a soup when it’s 40 degrees outside. Which is where the cold soup steps in. The best thing about this one is that it’s sweet too!

Ingredients (Serves two)

1 large ripe mango, peeled and de-stoned
½ onion chopped
½ cup cold water
1-2 small chilli peppers, minced
Juice from 1 lime
½ teaspoon grated/minced ginger
Salt to taste

How to make

Process all ingredients together in a blender until you have a smooth and creamy mix. Add water based on how thick you like your soup. Chill in refrigerator before serving, and garnish with a sprig of coriander. Completely healthy, the soup has only 81 calories on completion!

Banana Sorbet

The healthiest of fruits, the list of good things a banana gives you is endless. For the summer, we suggest you make yourself a treat.

Ingredients (Serves six)

6 frozen (and peeled) bananas
A juicer
Yes, really, we’re not lying … that’s it.

How to make

Push the bananas through the juicer. Voila! Banana sorbet! Serve with a sprig of mint. For variations try adding walnuts/mint or strawberry yoghurt to the mix.

Cucumber and Watermelon Salad

According to Ayurveda, cucumber and watermelon both cool the body and reduce stress. They’re hydrating and full of goodness. What better way to eat them, than to combine both?

Ingredients (Serves four)

3 cups seedless watermelon cut into bite sized pieces
2 cucumbers with peel, sliced thinly
¼ cup feta cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup chopped basil

How to make

Combine all the ingredients (except basil) in a large bowl and gently toss. Leave for twenty minutes. Later add basil and serve.

Courtesy: Greenlife Magazine

Sources & Notes: All data is for 2000. All calculations are based on CO2 equivalents, using 100-year global warming potentials from the IPCC (1996), based on a total global estimate of 41,755 MtCO2 equivalent. Land use change includes both emissions and absorptions; see Chapter 16. See Appendix 2 for detailed description of sector and end use/activity definitions, as well as data sources. Dotted lines represent flows of less than 0.1% percent of total GHG emissions.

Infographic Source: cait.wri.org

Apple

A is for? Yes, how does one not begin with this? An apple a day keeps the doctor away. True? Absolutely – the fruit lowers cholesterol, protects your fragile bones, stops asthma, prevents many different kinds of cancer (colon, breast, liver and lung), helps manage diabetes, prevents Alzheimers and, best of all, helps you lose weight. To jumpstart your healthy lifestyle, bite right in.

Arctic Circle

The Arctic, for many today, stands as the only hope of continuing to run this world on oil. A rich hub of natural resources (oil, gas, minerals, and forests), the area is also home to 1/5th of the planet’s water. However, the melting of the ice at the North Pole is a huge issue – not simply for scientists and geologists, but also for you and me. If the Arctic continues to shrink at the rate it is, chances are that the methane eventually released will lead to the sort of climate changes you’ve seen in The Day After Tomorrow.

Aloe Vera

Since the 16th century, people have been using aloe vera to help them heal. Known for its antifungal properties, aloe vera is now added to the label of every bottle of cream, lotion, shampoo, and face cleanser you can find. But drink it for its real goodness. The ancients had it right: drinking aloe vera juice helps manage glucose levels in diabetics and has been known to strengthen the liver even in cases where a patient is suffering from acute hepatiti

Arcology

Not heard the word? Not to worry – it’s simply a combination of architecture and ecology. Though most ‘arcologic’ buildings are still hypothetical and belong more to the world of science fiction novels and video games than anything else, remember our world is fast becoming an imitation science fiction one. This makes ‘arcology’ the new word to know. What do arcological buildings do? They minimise individual human impact on the environment. Cities like Shanghai and Tokyo are catching on, and architects like Paolo Soleri are spearheading a movement to make arcology trendy.

Alicia Silverstone

The pretty actress isn’t just a pretty face. Silverstone lives in a completely ecofriendly house in California. The property is completely ‘green’ with solar panels and an organic vegetable garden. She throws open her home to stray dogs needing rescuing, has her own lines of eco friendly make up and recycled handbags, and best of all, has her own website on healthy and fair living and eating – thekindlife.com

Al Gore

To introduce him would be ridiculous, wouldn’t it? Maker of An Inconvenient Truth, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (2007), founder of the Alliance for Climate Protection and other firm committees on the subject, Gore didn’t take up ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ as accessories to enter the White House. He’s been interested in the cause since the late 1970s, and since then has been raising awareness in the government and public about matters such as toxic waste and clean water. He pushed strongly for the Kyoto Protocol, has been involved in the Live Earth concerts, and continues to make a difference with his strong policies and opinions, and his boundless energy for the cause.

Alexander Thomson

If you thought sustainable energy design was a new concept, think again. Way back in the 1800s, Thomson was already coming up with ideas to save a planet we didn’t even know would someday need saving. His ideology lives on through the work of people like Frank Lloyd Wright. In the 1950s and 60s – when the concept of a mortal planet became popular – Thomson’s underappreciated work finally gained recognition.

Courtesy: Greenlife Magazine

Infographic Source: www.flickr.com

Infographics Source: sayiamgreen.com

India is a developing country. Historically, we haven’t been an emitter of greenhouse gases but we’re currently one of the fastest growing economies of the world, which means that our rates of emission are escalating quickly and dramatically. We’re currently at fourth position in the list of world’s topmost emitters of greenhouse gases and predictions say that we might be bumped up to third position by 2015. Although we’re a developing nation, we’re also home to one-third of the world’s poor and all this combined makes us very vulnerable to the ominous effects of climate change. If things go awfully wrong as far as climate change is concerned, quite a large part of our population may not be able to buffer themselves against the impact.

The current government recognizes the need for change in order to control climate change but is also of the view that development is a crucial step in the process. However, despite the many hurdles, it seems that change is now around the corner with organizations and individuals raising awareness about the issue and suggesting green reforms and policy changes.

Our biggest advantage is the considerable reserves of natural resources at our disposal. We have in the recent past been consuming them at breakneck speed despite some of them being non-renewable. We need to now device or implement ways to use renewable sources, such as wind, sun, tidal power, biomass (organic materials such as wood, plants or animal droppings), geothermal power, etc to meet our energy needs and go green.

Fortunately, we are a tropical country with sunlight available to us in abundance so can we almost operate an entire building throughout the day without having to switch on an artificial light. This abundance of sunlight can also translate into solar energy. Being powered by solar energy is a vital part of green buildings. Although the green building movement is at a nascent stage in our country, it has already starting catching up with similar movements in developed nations. We’re at an advantage since we also have an architectural heritage with plenty of environment-friendly construction techniques and combining our old techniques with the new age ones is the ideal way to a sustainable future for us.

Along with this, we also need to strive towards re-establishing our diminishing green cover. A recent UN Food and Agriculture organization report says that the green cover of some South Asian countries including India has increased in the last decade. About 25% of our country’s land area is green and our target is 32% by the year 2012.

We also need to, like other high emitters such as United States and European Union, take other measures into consideration such as improving the fuel efficiency of our cars and energy efficiency of our buildings. We need to keep a check on other industrial emissions too, such as emissions from aviation and road transport. The need is to build a low-carbon energy system, which is sustainable most importantly, and put it into practise at the earliest possible.

Hybrid vehicles typically achieve greater fuel economy and lower emissions than conventional vehicles, resulting in fewer emissions being generated. These savings are primarily achieved by three elements of a typical hybrid design:

By relying on both the engine and the electric motors when most power is needed, this results in an engine which is more for average use rather than peak power usage. A smaller engine has lesser weight therefore lesser internal losses, which results in better consumption.

By having significant battery storage capacity to store and re-use recaptured energy, especially in stop-and-go traffic, which is how vehicular traffic is in a city.

By recapturing significant amounts of energy during braking that is normally wasted as heat. Regenerative braking converts the kinetic energy produced while breaking into electricity which can be recaptured and reused.

Other techniques that are not necessarily ‘hybrid’ features, but that are frequently found on hybrid vehicles include:

• Automatic shutting down of the engine during traffic stops or while coasting or during other idle periods.
• Improving the shape and aerodynamics of a car is a good way to help better the fuel economy and also improve handling at the same time. A box shaped car or truck has to exert more force to move through the air causing more stress on the engine making it work harder.
• Tires cause mechanical drag, which makes the engine work harder and therefore consume more fuel. Hybrid cars may use special tires that are more inflated and stiffer than regular tires with the rubber compound having lower rolling resistance while retaining acceptable grip. This improves fuel economy whatever the power source may be.
• - Powering the a/c, power steering, and other auxiliary pumps electrically as and when needed; this reduces mechanical losses when compared with driving them continuously with traditional engine belts.

These features make a hybrid vehicle particularly efficient for city traffic where there are frequent stops, coasting and idling periods. In addition noise emissions are reduced, particularly at idling and low operating speeds, in comparison to conventional engine vehicles. Although for continuous high speed highway use these features do not prove any more useful in reducing emissions.

The problem is that a Hybrid vehicles energy source is still gasoline or diesel fuel which means dependence on the world’s oil resources. On long distant, highway driving in a constant speed, a hybrid car is more dependent on its conventional engine and does not utilize the electric engine at all and neither does it create enough regenerative power, therefore utilizing the same amount of fuel as any other conventional car. But then Hybrids are the best solution available in the market today to save fuel while at the same time, save the environment and they are increasingly becoming very popular among those who are environmentally conscious or those who want to save fuel.

Infographics Source: www.wellhome.com

“Responsible Tourism is tourism which:

• minimizes negative economic, environmental and social impacts
• generates greater economic benefits for local people and enhances the well being of host communities
• improves working conditions and access to the industry
• involves local people in decisions that affect their lives and life chances
• makes positive contributions to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage embracing diversity
• provides more enjoyable experiences for tourists through more meaningful connections with local people, and a greater understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues
• provides access for physically challenged people
• is culturally sensitive, encourages respect between tourists and hosts, and builds local pride and confidence”

‘Learn from the locals’

Find a place where you can spend some time with the locals, perhaps stay with them and learn about their culture, their social practices—learn to respect these. You could even take up a short course during your stay, for instance a cooking, music or martial arts course in Kerala, India.

‘Help protect/conserve’

Get involved with a project while on holiday to help the locals protect their environment or heritage—you’ll go back feeling much more enriched. Use resources like water and energy judiciously during your stay.

‘Pay Fair’

If you can then try and pay a fair prices for the goods you purchase from the locals specially items like handicrafts; avoid bargaining. If the price is negotiable then pay what you think is fair.

‘To impact or not to impact’

Don’t leave behind anything but your footprints in the sand and affection in the hearts of the locals—that is all the impact you need to make.

‘Support’

Support the local tradesmen, merchandisers, artisans, etc. as far as possible. Try out the local cuisines and give the restaurants good business. You could even support a cause or project by contributing towards it in cash or services.

‘May I?’

If you’re photographing individuals or their property then seek their permission before doing so.

‘When In Jungle, Be like Jungle’

Follow safari and jungle rules when you visit a jungle or national park area. Become a part of the jungle; understand it and its inmates. Don’t do anything to alter their existent life. viagra