Madonna donates a song for a climate in crisis

Inspired by the Live Earth, Madonna has written a new song, "Hey You," which will be is now available to be downloaded in MP3 format from Microsoft, Live Earth's exclusive online partner. Go to http://liveearth.msn.com/green/Madonnadownload and download the song today! The first million downloads of "Hey You" will be free and Microsoft has pledged to donate $0.25 per download to the Alliance for Climate Protection for each of the first million downloads. Microsoft has relaunched their online experience supporting Live Earth, where you'll be able to watch all of the concerts online during and after the events.




Source: Live Earth
http://www.liveearth.org

Change Your Lightbulbs

By Maryanne Murray Buechner

The hottest thing in household energy savings is the compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL), a funny-looking swirl that fits into standard sockets. CFLs cost three to five times as much as conventional incandescent bulbs yet use one-quarter the electricity and last several years longer. They are available virtually everywhere lightbulbs are sold. Most labels don't say "CFL" (GE calls its bulbs Energy Savers), and in some cases the telltale twist is enclosed in frosted glass. The wattage gives them away: many 7-watt CFLs are comparable to a regular 40-watt bulb, 26 watts is the typical CFL equivalent of 100 watts and so on. Or just look for the Energy Star label.

CFLs have come a long way since they were first introduced in the mid-'90s (they don't flicker as much when you turn them on, for one thing), but because each bulb still contains 5 mg of mercury, you're not supposed to toss them out with the regular trash, where they could end up in a landfill. So the bulbs are one more thing for you to sort in the recycling bin.

Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs (see item 4), don't have this problem, but they can require a bit of DIY rewiring. LEDs work great as accents and task lights, and you can also buy LED desk and floor lamps. But if you're just looking to put a green bulb in your favorite table lamp, CFL is the way to go.

Source: Time Magazine "51 Things We Can Do to Save the Environment"Click here and learn what else you can do.

Province targets plastic bags

The provincial government wants Ontarians to cut in half the number of plastic shopping bags they use over the next five years.

Today, Environment Minister Laurel Broten will announce a partnership with the Recycling Council of Ontario and grocer and retail associations to come up with a system of consumer incentives to meet the target, the Toronto Star has learned.

"Each of us can help clean up our environment by doing little things like reducing the number of plastic bags we use," a provincial source said.

The program will be voluntary but if the carrot approach doesn't work, the province has the ability to drag out the stick in the form of mandatory per bag charges or outright bans.

The recycling council will work with all retail businesses – from large grocery chains to small corner stores – to provide incentives such as store points that can be redeemed for products, air miles or cash to customers who use reusable cloth or canvas bags.


Source: Toronto Star

Read complete article at:
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/211921