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http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/catbook/index.htm
This site provides tips on how to reduce waste, waste reduction success stories, facts on why waste is such a major problem, and so much more.
http://www.wastefreelunches.org/
Basically, exactly what the title says. This site proposes that we trade the convenient, disposable tupperware and ustensils that America has come to rely on for reusable, sustainable ones. From packaging to actual meals, you can get dozens of different ways to be more sustainable during lunchtime. There's even a sample calculation that estimates savings of $246.60 in one school year just by laying off the disposable stuff. For the avid enthusiast, there's a monthly e-newsletter to sign up for too. =)
http://envhonolulu.org/solid_waste/discover_recycling.html
This is the page with info concerning the City & County of Honolulu sponsored Discover Recycling Fair. September 21-23, I thought it might be a good idea to involve Punahou in the Fair, either volunteering or as an excursion. Activities and booths are planned out to promote recycling in the community and teach about recycling both at school and at home. It is focused toward students in grades 5-7, student leaders, and service clubs.
http://envhonolulu.org/solid_waste/
This is Honolulu's Department of Environmental Services Refuse and Recycle branch. It focuses on opala (trash) and solid waste management. Links to the HI 5 redemption centers on O'ahu, info on Colby's Tour de Trash, collection schedules, Honolulu ENV homepage and more.
www.ase.org
The homepage's headline/mission statement says it all: "The Alliance to Save Energy promotes energy efficiency worldwide to achieve a healthier economy, a cleaner environment, and greater energy security. Energy efficiency is the quickest, cheapest, cleanest way to extend our world's energy supplies."
This is a large, active organization, and their website is an excellent resource where you can learn about saving energy, alternative energy, and what the Alliance is doing to help. Check out the "Countries" tab to find out the energy situations abroad and the "Programs" tab to see what is being done.
http://www.ase.org/section/program/greenschl
Green Schools is a national program of the Alliance to Save Energy. It helps member schools to become more sustainable by teaching faculty and children how to conserve energy, and it's funded "through grants from utilities, state energy offices, private foundations, or by school districts through an energy savings performance contract." Have Hawaii schools taken advantage of this program? If not, they should!
From the "About Green Schools" link:
How Does Green Schools Work?
Green Schools works on a district level to enroll 5-15 schools per district in the program at one time. A team of teachers, custodial staff, administrators, and students carry out the program at each school. An introductory workshop helps the teams work together to create a customized plan for teaching about energy, saving energy in school, creating school-wide energy awareness, and taking the message home and into the local community. Throughout the year, each school is supported by frequent school visits and receives information on their monthly energy usage. School teams come together again for a mid-year planning meeting in January and a celebration at the end of the school year.
SPALDING AUDITORIUM
UH Manoa campus
Sunday 7/30/06 @ 5pm
$3 students, $5 general
223-0130
Either "Hard Coal," a documentary about a "clean-burning coal" from Pennsylvania and the politics behind it, or a triple feature of "Biogas from the sea," "Water power," and "Hydrogen: The Safe and Clean Fuel."
I found these movie listings in the Honolulu Weekly. One page says it's the "Hard Coal" documentary and one page says it's the triple feature. Perhaps all films are playing. Either way, they all sound interesting and have to do with alternative energy. Call 223-0130 for more information. Spalding Hall is right off Maile Way at the northern end of campus (I assume Spalding Auditorium is in Spalding Hall).
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
This website is all about energy efficiency and alternative energy for your car. There are links to a fuel economy calculator, so you can see how much your family is shelling out for gas, as well as a list of the lowest gas prices in town. There are also links about hybrid or alternative energy cars. You can even find a list of models that run on ethanol! This website is pretty exciting, and it's one that your parents would no doubt be interested in too.
Automobile emissions are one of the many pollutants that contribute to global warming, and most of us are guilty of adding to environmental degradation through the use of cars. Although I'm sure plenty of families have good intentions, such as sharing a family car, using the car less, or buying a hybrid, daily necessities render the normal car irreplacable (for the time being). The role of the car is especially large in Hawaii, where the only form of public transportation is Da Bus, a slow and inconvenient alternative. Living in Hawaii also highlights just how costly gas is, as the high demand and isolation keeps consumers at the beck and call of gasoline and shipping companies and keeps us paying the high prices they demand.
That's why this website is great— it educates the reader about alternative fuels and vehicles AND provides tips and information about how to save money simultaneously. In most cases with cars and fuel, what saves you money saves the environment. A car that gets more miles per gallon keeps some extra cash in your parents' pocket and reduces the amount of gas you have to burn to get around town. Even what seems more expensive, such as buying a Prius instead of a Camry (which has a pretty high MPG as it is, by the way), is an investment that will save you money later on. So take a look at the gas- and money-saving tips and check out the new fuels being developed for a more sustainable way to get around.
Students in Economics/Community Service did research and analysis of the history and possible solutions to this problem. They analysized their research and presented possible solutions.
http://globalwarmingissues.wordpress.com
Students - Taylour Pua Chang, Mary Daily, Cory Nicely, and Cindy Lanzas, Edward Vause, Kevin Service - in Economics/Community Service course during summer school, researched the global energy situation and they have very thoughtful an useful research and recommendations. Check out their site.
http://iws.punahou.edu/user/JStevens/project/energy/
Look for the History of Energy by taylour Pua Chang
Current Situation. by Mary Daily
What should be done? by Cory Nicely
What CAN be done? by Cindy Lanzas
Also, there are biographical resources that are very useful for further research.
http://iws.punahou.edu/user/JStevens/project/energy/
Take action now! If you agree, sign this Petition to Congress to reduce U.S. carbon emissions. The goal is to get 15,000 signatures by 8/30/2006. You can read and add your name to the petition at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/303517468.
http://www.ngridenergyworld.com/eew/efficiently/index.html
This is a great site just to learn more about energy efficiency. It offers simple ways to reduce that we could all easily incorporate into our daily lives. There are also links to more research sites.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/business/businessspecial2/index.html
The New York Times put out a special section on May 17, 2006 called "The Business of Green." This is the website version, where you'll find many articles about sustainability from a business perspective. Food, waste, energy, transportation— many aspects of sustainability are covered. Since the skeptics of sustainability often use "the economy" as their excuse as to why they do not make sustainable choices, these articles are an interesting look at how business and environmental awareness really interact. You might be asked to set up an NYTimes account before viewing it, which is free and only requires your email address and a password.
Here's an excerpt from an article in "The Business of Green: A Special Section":
WHAT'S KIND TO NATURE CAN BE KIND TO PROFITS
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: May 17, 2006
GENERAL ELECTRIC would like you to know that it makes the world's most efficient electric generators, part of its Ecomagination program of clean technologies. BP, which used to be an abbreviation for British Petroleum but is now the company's official name, is promoting itself as "Beyond Petroleum," with solar cells and wind.
Ford, which before its profits fell off a cliff was promising to increase the fuel economy of its S.U.V.'s by 25 percent, still cares about the environment, company executives insist. Now it has found a way to paint cars that drastically cuts emissions of pollutants, and has patented technology that lets cars run on fuel from corn.
These industrial Goliaths want to be Jolly Green Giants. They have investors to impress and public images to maintain so that they can pursue high-profile projects that need government approvals.
They may also have profit motives; most of the green technologies that make money now are profitable only because of government tax incentives or subsidies. But if oil and natural gas become expensive enough, some technologies could become commercially viable on an unsubsidized basis.
Green is in fashion — the new black, the must-have, this decade's version of business imperatives like "total quality management" or "management by objective." How else to explain why the National Football League plants hundreds of seedling trees to offset the greenhouse gas emissions produced by Super Bowl events? Did it help sell out the stadium or make football a more popular sport? The last World Cup soccer championship was also carbon-neutral. So was the 2002 tour by the Dave Matthews Band.
Business is going green for many reasons, not just the most obvious one, public image. There is also competitive advantage........(cont'd)
This is an article about eating in hawaii completely local for a week. This site also includes links to other sites and articles relevant to eating local.
http://honoluluweekly.com/cover/2006/04/no-shoyu-no-milk-no-bread-no-rice/
If this link does not work, go to the home page and search for 2006 sustainability issue.
This page is part of a guide to sustainable living. What these people define as local is within 100 miles of wherever you are eating. For Oahu, it includes all islands from Oahu to most of Maui.
http://www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/visual-guide/index.html
This beautiful educational website takes a systems approach to considering foods we serve and eat in schools. This site suggest the community and school explore and rethink.
These are sections of the website:
Rethinking School Lunch - Looks at the many aspects of Food at School
Visual guide to Integrated Curriculum - looks at the potential for learning as a key aspect of the success and fun of health school food
Thinking Outside the Lunchbox - essays by pioneers in the field
Teachers can dowload many of their resources for free. Every part of this website is useful to educators and those who think our childeren need healthy food. Check out this site!
This site provides ideas and tips for a lunch that doesn't waste or produce any by-products. As summarized by the site: There are lots of ways that we can reduce waste at school. By thinking ahead and being creative, you can reduce your impact on the environment and save money at the same time!
Their aptly named slogan is the inspirational "if not you, who?"
ARTICLE:
Packing a no-waste lunch:
A "no-waste lunch" is a meal that does not end up in the trash. You can buy food items in bulk then put them in reusable containers to carry to school.
Example: Use a reusable lunch box or bag and fill it with your lunch in reusable containers. You could also include a cloth napkin – don't forget to bring it home so you can wash it and use it again. Another idea is to ask your school cafeteria to use items such as reusable trays, napkins and silverware.
Benefits: You create less waste by using washable containers to pack your lunch. Packing your food in reusables is typically less expensive than buying food that comes in disposable containers.
Thinking big: Resources for your school lunch program
The guide Getting an A at Lunch: Smart Strategies to Reduce Waste in Campus Dining is a terrific resource for school lunch programs that want to work to cut down on meal service trash. Although it's targeted at colleges, this is an information-packed tool for schools of all sizes. Download it free from the INFORM, Inc. web site.
This website is really interesting! It has a calculator that calculates aproximetaly how many earths we would need if everyone lived like you. (We would need two Earths to live like me :( -- I better shape up!)
ARTICLE/ ACTIVITY:
You can reduce the food component of your ecological footprint by bringing lunch from home that includes fresh ingredients and has minimal packaging. Fresh food with minimal packaging has a smaller impact on the environment than food that has been processed and packaged. Meat and dairy foods have a greater environmental impact than vegetable and fruit.
In this activity you will investigate the life cycle of your school lunch.
Draw up a life cycle table like the one available for download below. List what you have in your lunchbox or have bought from the canteen today. (include drinks and recess snacks as well)
Download the life cycle table (Microsoft Word file, 39KB)
For each food and drink item write down the stages of the life cycle and include all the environmental impacts. (land use, water use, energy use)
Select one item and draw a life cycle flow chart. (A life cycle flow chart is illustrated in the What is a lifecycle? section) Label the environmental impacts at each stage.
Compare the life cycle of your item with others in your class.
What foods and drinks could you bring to school that have less environmental impact? Consider items that have less wrappings and packaging.
Think about what a 'low environmental impact' lunch would have in it. Write down the items you would have in such a lunch.
This article is pretty rare amongst nutrition web-sites. It claims that School lunches are actually healthier than what parents can provide. The interesting thing that I noticed from this site is that it actually only bases nutrition on what the country's guidelines were, and the last I heard, those standards weren't very high. They also completely bypass the aspect of a healthy planet, a fact that many sites ignore as well.
ARTICLE:
No more mystery meat:
School lunch has had a major overhaul since Congress passed the 1994 Healthy Meals for America Act, a revision for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
In other words, no more tater tots passing for a vegetable serving.
Today things are much different from 10 years ago. During the 1991 to 1992 school year 71 percent of all secondary schools offered lunches that met the dietary guidelines for Americans, which provided good nutrition. By 1999 at least 90 percent of schools were meeting the guidelines, which include 30 percent of total calories from fat and less than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat when analyzed over a week.
Quite simply that means schools are innovating, with offerings such as veggie burgers and sushi to get children eat more nutritiously. However many hurdles remain. The most important hurdle is perception.
"When we were growing up, we had to take what we were given," says Gaye Lynn McDonald, former president of the American School Food Service Association (ASFSA). She points out that parents today have plenty of misconceptions about cafeteria food.
"Mystery meat arrived in a brown truck in the middle of the night," she says.
But reality is quite different. Registered dietitians and other health professionals tell parents that what's served in the school cafeteria actually may be more nutritious than the brown-bag lunch.
A study showed some surprising results. Even though cafeteria and bag lunches were similar calorie-wise, averaging 577 calories, lunches that Mom or Dad put together didn't measure up to school lunches on nutrition, according to a study by Eastern Michigan University.
But school lunches are required to meet one-third of a child's daily nutritional needs and follow the federal government's dietary guidelines. These meals provided more variety and better nutrition than luggable lunches from home, according to the study. Cafeteria lunches had twice as much fruit and seven times as many vegetables as brown bags, which included three times more snacks.
"People's perceptions are that school lunches aren't healthy," says Alice Jo Rainville, author of the study and an associate professor of nutrition for Eastern Michigan University. "If parents are busy, they aren't as attuned with health."
That means parents may not realize just how much nutrients, vitamins and fat a child needs every day. And they may not think about the nutritional benefits of what they pack, whereas the main job of the school food service director is to create the most nutritious lunch possible. That includes at least a serving of fruit, a vegetable and a protein source, which could be yogurt or cheese. These dairy food sources have similar high-quality protein as chicken does.
Nearly 96,000 public and private schools nationwide are in the National School Lunch Program but only 58 percent of children participate.
"School lunch is the ultimate convenience," Rainville says. "You don't have to shop for ingredients or pack a lunch."
Strong bones
The same study showed that most lunches from home included juice boxes instead of milk. Milk was a part of 87 percent of school lunches versus 7 percent of bagged lunches.
"Milk contains the most calcium and protein per penny and per 100 calories than any other food in the school lunch," says Ann Marie Krautheim, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the National Dairy Council.
When children drink milk instead of soft drinks, fruit drinks or tea at lunch, children consume more calcium for that meal as well as for the entire day, according to a study in the Journal of Child Nutrition and Management.
Children and teenagers are in a calcium crisis: Nine out of 10 girls and seven out of 10 boys do not get the recommended servings of dairy products essential for growing bones and bodies. Also, more than half of American adults are overweight or obese. And one out of every four children is considered obese, which reflects an upward trend. At an alarming rate, more children who have weight problems are developing adult illnesses such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, problems typically seen in overweight adults.
Fussy eaters
Another problem is getting children and teenagers to try foods that aren't as familiar as less nutritious French fries. Along with more traditional foods such as pizza, cafeterias also offer food such as a chicken salad with red peppers, pinto beans and green leaf lettuce.
Debra Smith, a food service director in Basking Ridge, N.J., says she is doing taste tests to encourage more children to buy lunch at school.
"So much of what children learn about food comes from home exposure," Smith says.
Successful school lunch programs depend on education, says McDonald of ASFSA.
Hanging colorful posters in the cafeteria showing food pyramids, urging parents to check out school lunch menus posted online, and encouraging nutrition lessons in the classroom are all ways to encourage families to choose school lunch as a nutritious option, she suggests.
A sporty irony
The school cafeteria has another obstacle: what is sold outside the gymnasium.
Ironically, in efforts to raise money for school athletic programs or other activities, schools have vending machines full of candy and soft drinks. Soda companies such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola offer lucrative contracts to schools.
Children who are unaware of their nutritional needs are dipping into their pockets for some liquid candy after school. Nutrient-empty foods are fueling their growing bodies.
"Schools that are bridging their budgets gaps by peddling soda and snack foods are doing so at the expense of their students' health," says Margo G. Wooten, director of nutrition policy at Center for Science in the Public Interest. "More school districts should be actively fighting childhood obesity and not encouraging it by striking deals with soda companies."
But the movement to crush soda machine sales at schools has taken a step forward as the Los Angeles Unified School District stopped the sale of soda.
Another solution may be to change what is offered in the machines. The dairy industry suggests replacing soda with milk, says Krautheim of the National Dairy Council. Flavored milk is a big seller these days.
"When milk tastes good, they drink it," Krautheim says.
Germany has worked hard to make one of the first almost entirely eco-friendly World Cup. With its huge popularity world wide, the World Cup attracts around 218 million people world wide, mainly from behind their TV sets. However, thousands of fans come from around the world in droves. To make up for the 100,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, Germany has done much renovation and funded other environmentally friendly projects around the world to make up for this fact.
ARTICLE:
Borussia Dortmund's football ground, as well as being one of the biggest and most formidable in Germany, is one of the centrepieces of the country's strategy to run an ecological World Cup.
The venue for six matches, including a potential Germany semi-final, is bristling with solar panels that generate 550,000 kilowatt-hours of energy a year.
For these days, hosting the world's premier tournament entails more than just a chance to showcase one's nation and to roll in the tourist euros.
Now there is guilt too - the guilt of knowing that for all the fun that is being generated, the world is paying a price.
The World Cup organisers estimate the tournament will generate some 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
But this admission is made not sheepishly, but with a hint of pride.
For not only have they gone to great lengths to keep down emissions, they say, but they vow that every molecule created in Germany will be neutralised by projects they are funding elsewhere.
"This needs bigger changes that governments and societies need to bring about - like schemes to make rail travel more affordable."
Mike Childs,
Friends of the Earth
It will, in short, be "the first climate neutral World Cup".
The organisers say the stadia used for the event have all been refurbished and offer state-of-the-art environmental features.
The ground in Munich, for instance, harvests rainwater from the stadium site, storing it in underground reservoirs.
All energy used at the stadia during the World Cup is being imported from hydroelectric plants in Switzerland.
There are also incentives for fans to use buses and trains rather than planes and cars.
Supporters with football tickets get free match-day transport, while a pass offering unlimited travel on the rail network for the month-long tournament costs 349 euros (£255).
At every stage - from the upgrading of stadia, to the hours of floodlighting provided for each match - the cost in greenhouse gas emissions has been calculated.
Cow dung-to-biogas projects will help neutralise CO2 emissions
The World Cup team say unprecedented efforts are being made to compensate for this pollution, through programmes in the developing world.
The main project takes place in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu - parts of which were devastated by the tsunami of 2004.
Half a billion euros are being invested in facilities to turn cow dung into biogas, which will be channelled through new pipes into homes which have previously relied on wood and kerosene to fuel cooking stoves.
The exercise will not just claw back carbon emissions - it could have a dramatic health benefit in a poor part of the world, where huge numbers of people die from respiratory infections caused by cooking on open fires.
Klaus Toepfer, former executive director of the UN Environment Programme, was drafted in to help with the World Cup's "green goal". He calls it "one of the widest-ranging programmes seeking to minimise the negative impact of a mass sports event on the environment".
But, as the organisers admit when pressed, there are holes in the plan.
The biggest is what it does not account for.
The largest contribution of greenhouse gases will have been made by hundreds of thousands of fans taking journeys by plane into Germany.
Transport concerns:
Thomas Hackbarth, a spokesman for World Cup organising committee, says negating the effect of emissions "outside Germany" was never part of the plan.
That would have meant making up for another 100-150,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases, he said.
The authorities say tourists are swarming onto public transport
There are other questions over the commitment to ecological standards.
Could each group not have been played out in a single city, to avoid fans travelling across the country? Do floodlights really need to be operated during daylight games, just to eliminate shadows for television viewers?
Is it right that Franz Beckenbauer, the head of Germany 2006, has been shuttling between virtually every game in a private helicopter? Or travelled to all the participating countries before the World Cup kicked off?
Mike Childs, of environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth, says Germany's efforts are "commendable".
"But transport is one of the greatest areas of concern - that's where they need to go the extra mile," he adds.
Many fans would have made the trip to Germany on cheap flights, because rail services were too expensive, he said.
"This needs bigger changes that governments and societies need to bring about - like schemes to make rail travel more affordable."
"Making sure that Beckenbauer doesn't zip around in a gas-guzzling helicopter" would also help, he said.
Setting standards:
Mr Hackbarth defends the decision to play group games in different cities, saying it is "very good for the football fans", giving them a chance to move around the country.
Nuremberg's solar panels make it one of the most advanced venue.
"Granted, [using the same city] would have been more ecological, but this is the world's biggest tournament, and you have to take care of the fans."
Mr Beckenbauer's trips to see all the countries play, he added, were "greatly appreciated by the nations".
These were "decisions that had to be made" for the good of the tournament, he said.
But Germany had made great efforts to minimise the effect on the environment, and had laid down a marker for future events, he said.
"This is an important first step for football, and hopefully the ball will now be passed on."
Mr Childs agrees. "The fact that the Germans have made this much effort makes you think 'why don't they do this much at every major sporting event?' "
http://www.stellaproject.org/
STELLA is a Thematic Network project of the European Commission’s 5th Framework Programme for Research and Development. STELLA is the acronym for Sustainable Transport in Europe and Links and Liaisons with America. It centres around common issues in Transatlantic transport research. The STELLA network started in January 2002 and ended in 2005. If you go to the NextGen link on the lefthand side, you will be able to read response papers from different groups of researchers.
Dr. Gerald Marten is an ecologist based at the East-West Center in Honolulu. Over the last several years he's done a lot of study in regard to what he calls "environmental tipping points," which are points at which small interventions can have large impact - positive or negative - on environment. His web site (www.ecotippingpoints.org) offers lots of explanation and examples of "success stories" in which communities have introduced small changes which have had large positive environmental effects.
Richard S. Lindzen, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, writes:
(emphasis is mine, not Lindzen's)
"...I must state at the outset, that, as a scientist, I can find no substantive basis for the warming scenarios being popularly described......To show why I assert that there is no substantive basis for predictions of sizeable global warming due to observed increases in minor greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and chlorofluorocarbons, I shall briefly review the science associated with those predictions."
www.hawaii.gov/health/environmental/food_drug/water/cleanwater/index.html
State agency that protects public health for residents and toursits who utilize coastal and inland waters. They also protect and restore coastal and inland waters for marinelike and wildlife.
They monitor, issue permits, enforce laws and sponsor public education. They implement several initiatives from the EPA.
State of Hawaii Department of Health has an Office of Environmetal Management with a section called Clean Water Branch and Safe Drinking Water Branch.
www.hawaii.gov/health/environmental/food_drug/water/cleanwater/index.html
State agency that protects public health for residents and tourists who utilize coastal and inland waters. They also protect and restore coastal and inland waters for marine life and wildlife.
They monitor, issue permits, enforce laws and sponsor public education. They implement several initiatives from the EPA.
State of Hawaii Department of Health has an Office of Environmental Management with a section called Clean Water Branch and Safe Drinking Water Branch.
On October 18th, citizens of the global community are asked to join in gathering information about our water. Four key indicators of water quality are collected: temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity. URL is http://www.worldwatermonitoringday.org
When you go to the website it tells you how to order water testing kits for 50 students and more information about how the program works.
Further resources can be found on www.globe.gov
The GLOBE program is a hands-on, primary and secondary school-based education and science program. Teacher guides, videos, and materials to help learn scientific methods for collecting data. Also reporting of data on this site is extensive. Useful in building curriculum in connection with the water monitoring day.
Interactive program that allows you to identify the location you want to restore and the program will identify the native plants that will adapt well to the location. Program is very fun to use and allows you to select locations and condtions by photos rather than descriptions.
This program is free and can be downloaded for the Bishop Museum website. http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/botany/riparian/ however it is only suitable for PC. They have a CD with the information and Luke Center will obtain one of these for future use.
It is called Riparian Plant restoration. "Riparian" means Steambed. This was designed for use by high school age people by Dr. Christopher Puttock. as part of the Hawaii Conservation Alliance. More programs like this in the works.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
A site made by the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and renewable energy. You can see different ways to save gas, and you can compare different car models and their efficiency. Good FAQ site for newbies to learn abou the basics of different energy alternatives, and sustainable info about their car.
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/altfuel/altfuels.html
This website explains a lot about different fuels and energies, their advantages and disadvantages. There is also a handy tool on the site to compare all the different fuel properties to help decide which one you want to support while the gas prices rise here in hawaii, and to help you keep your electric bill low.
http://www.wasteonline.org.uk/resources/InformationSheets/paper.htm
Did you know that office white paper, newspapers, magazines, telephone books, cardboard, mixed or colored paper, or computer paper could be recycled? Do you know how you can recycle paper? This website teaches you all about recycling paper, recycled paper, and everything associated with it. Punahou school science or social studies classes could definitely use this website, and people who just want to help the world by recycling and reusing could use this website. From everything from the 3 R's to the law of paper gets covered in this website.
This is a nice collection of links concerning water use in the U.S.
http://water.usgs.gov/watuse/
This is a site that is focused on informing the public about the issues we face today, and how they affect tomorrow. It is mainly targeted at young adults; educating us and teaching teachers how to educate us.
This site includes summarizations of global issues. Among these are population, environment, conflict, economy, energy, food and water security, governance, health, rich/poor gap, and possible futures. For each of these subjects, there is a longer version; about 3-4 pages long, and a "60 second" one; one page long. They also include an action center which has links to other organizations.