Together we can make the next 60 years greener than ever!

Here are 60 ways to get you started on the path to a cleaner future:

1. Turn off the lights: Save electricity.

2. Unplug: When electric gadgets are done charging and not in use unplug them. Even when turned off appliances still draw power.

3. Turn off your computer: Instead of leaving on your screensaver you could save 83% of your computers CO² emissions.

4. Print less: Reuse the other side of paper you don’t need.

5. Use compact fluorescent bulbs: CFLs use 1/4 the electricity and last several years longer.

6. Laundry: Only do laundry when you have a full load; using warm or cold water, not hot.

7. Dryer: Hang clothes to dry instead, this will reduce the CO² of your laundry by 90%. Over its lifetime a t-shirt will add 9 lbs of carbon dioxide into the air.

8. Vintage clothes: Try to buy vintage clothes, which do not use the energy concerned with producing and shipping. Try having a closet swap with friends, get some new outfits for yourself while recycling things you no longer use.

9. Defrost fridge/freezer regularly and dust the coils: Your fridge will work more efficiently and its temperature will be more accurate.

10. Fridge settings: Keep refrigerators set to 4^○C and freezers at -15^○C.

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We’ve neglected the blog for the past week and we’re sorry.  But we have a good excuse!  This past week Zalul team members participated in the 9th Annual Youth and the Mediterranean Conference in Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France (just 30 minutes west of Nice).  This year’s topic was global warming and Hannah Schafer gave the presentation on the impact of climate change on our small country.

It was an amazing experience connecting to environmental groups from Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon, Italy, France, Spain, and Greece.  It was our first year attending the conference and we were greeted with open arms by all the delegations.

It was a powerful and inspiring experience that reminded us once again that our work to end pollution to the Mediterranean is not just for us and the other 7 million residents of Israel, but for all the people who share a coast along the big, beautiful blue sea.

Though not exactly related to Zalul’s work, we are always on the lookout for the new,powerful and clever ways NGOs, companies, and goverments spread the message about environmental issues.

We were blown away by these ads by Diesel titled “Global Warming Ready”:

We also loved these ads from the Keep Australia Beautiful Campaign:

More great ads with a message can be found at Osocio.

This just in from the New York Times: World’s Largest Marine Reserve Declared.

The tiny Pacific islands nation of Kiribati declared the world’s largest marine protected area Thursday — a California-sized ocean wilderness that includes pristine reefs and eight coral atolls teeming with fish and birds.

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area, or PIPA, lies about halfway between Hawaii and Fiji and also includes undersea mountains. It will conserve one of the Earth’s last intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems.

It is a great example of long-term thinking. In the short-term, the Kiribati goverment will lose some revenue from foreign commercial fishing licenses, but in the long-term they will most likely increase their revenue overall with the increase in tourism.

”Kiribati has taken an inspirational step in increasing the size of PIPA well beyond the original eight atolls and globally important seabird, fish and coral reef communities,” Greg Stone, New England Aquarium vice president of global marine programs, said in a statement.

We agree. When can we go visit?

Visit their website: www.phoenixislands.org

Photo taken from the National Geographic feature on the Phoenix Islands.