What is your idea for a do-it-yourself project that will improve our lives and help the planet?

The best do-it-yourself project that any person can do to help the planet is to change the way they perceive the world. Every problem mankind faces now, in the past, in the future, is the manifestation of a false premise or a mistaken idea about what is ‘reality’. We cannot change the world by changing ‘things’, even subtle things like ideas. It changes when we perceive the world in a new way, in a higher way, in a more accurate way. Einstein made the observation that a problem cannot be resolved at the level that it manifests. That is what I am reiterating.

We are spinning our wheels trying to come up with solutions which will all be made at the same level of awareness that have caused the problems we are trying to solve.

That is where meditation, the desire to understand, the realization that how we see the world is not accurate and that, in fact, it cannot be known accurately through the senses, comes in to play.

Good luck changing the world if you haven’t first change yourself. We’ve made no progress in 10,0 years doing it the way we’ve been doing it. Or do you think the world has changed for the better?

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Use it up, wear it out, make do, do without.

I refuse to let useful items in the trash go to the landfill. In my area, it is “against the law” to take things from the curbside trash. I’m not going through bags of garbage looking for information so I can steal someone’s identity. But if someone throws six perfectly good dining room chairs on the curb, I will collect them and redistribute. I consider it an act of civil disobedience. The things I collect go to local charities or friends/family who can use them.

I found an acoustic guitar in the trash when all that was needed were new strings, a wood art box filled with oil paints and brushes, tables, a mirror, lumber, a baker’s rack. I’m up to saving twelve chairs. I recently retrieved a stack of ceramic flower pots. Beautiful!

I don’t know why people are so lazy that they can’t call a charity or set useful items aside from the trash and put a sign on it that says “Free.” Someone will take it.

My favorite quote is by Margaret Mead~

“Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to

change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” —

If everyone does what they can, we can make a difference.

Julie Q

It separated people into blue and red factions and simply didn’t work, especially once the truth came out. But if we would lose the talk about climate change which DUH, is a natural occurrence, we could focus on arguments that both sides could get behind, like reducing dependence on foreign oil. We all want that, and the methods of achieving it fall in line with what the left wanted to do to affect climate change. The right can also get behind hurting terrorism, which is what reducing foreign oil dependence would result in. The left also needs to accept that the infrastructure of the U.S. and the world as a whole are driven by petroleum – there’s just no changing that in the short term. People simply can’t convert their cars to electrical or solar power overnight. A two-pronged attack – one focusing on tapping our own petroleum reserves while the other focuses on alternative and renewable energy – would get pretty much everyone onboard and would do more to help us all and save the planet than anything we could accomplish separately.

I can already hear people hitting the “thumbs down” button, but follow me a bit longer. It’s already been proven that “global warming” was totally false and that the earth has actually cooled each year over the past several years. It separated people into blue and red factions and simply didn’t work, especially once the truth came out. But if we would lose the talk about climate change which DUH, is a natural occurrence, we could focus on arguments that both sides could get behind, like reducing dependence on foreign oil. We all want that, and the methods of achieving it fall in line with what the left wanted to do to affect climate change. The right can also get behind hurting terrorism, which is what reducing foreign oil dependence would result in. The left also needs to accept that the infrastructure of the U.S. and the world as a whole are driven by petroleum – there’s just no changing that in the short term. People simply can’t convert their cars to electrical or solar power overnight. A two-pronged attack – one focusing on tapping our own petroleum reserves while the other focuses on alternative and renewable energy – would get pretty much everyone onboard and would do more to help us all and save the planet than anything we could accomplish separately.

Mine is very simple but highly effective if anyone will hear it all the way out. Tone down the global climate change talk. I can already hear people hitting the “thumbs down” button, but follow me a bit longer. It’s already been proven that “global warming” was totally false and that the earth has actually cooled each year over the past several years. It separated people into blue and red factions and simply didn’t work, especially once the truth came out. But if we would lose the talk about climate change which DUH, is a natural occurrence, we could focus on arguments that both sides could get behind, like reducing dependence on foreign oil. We all want that, and the methods of achieving it fall in line with what the left wanted to do to affect climate change. The right can also get behind hurting terrorism, which is what reducing foreign oil dependence would result in. The left also needs to accept that the infrastructure of the U.S. and the world as a whole are driven by petroleum – there’s just no changing that in the short term. People simply can’t convert their cars to electrical or solar power overnight. A two-pronged attack – one focusing on tapping our own petroleum reserves while the other focuses on alternative and renewable energy – would get pretty much everyone onboard and would do more to help us all and save the planet than anything we could accomplish separately.

I can imagine, without reading the responses, reduce the amount of people drive in cars, take the bus, clean up the park, or take the bus or ride a bike to work. Interestingly enough, even though we are driving more miles per capita, the pollution from cars have been reducing by the awareness of more efficient fuel systems, a greater demand of fuel efficient cars, either because a person is green or just wants to save a some money on gas.

The best thing one person can do as a project is to inform the public of why it is important to save energy and how to save energy. For example, use the efficient light bulbs. If one bulb was changed in every household to be energy efficient, it is the equivalent of taking thousands of cars off the street. Another example is recycling. There are many different and small things we can do like not topping off the car (i.e. when you are pumping gas and the you lock the gas, and it clicks indicating it is full, not to pump more gas in), accelerating not at a fast pace, using cruise control, etc and it does not have to be all about cars although transportation, if I recall correctly, is 32% of CO2 emissions in California. Everybody has the capacity to educate and be educated. Let us focus on this principle.

One person alone cannot change the planet, but if we all group together and show everyone how to save a buck and make the world a better greener place, then we together can change the world.

Source(s): I am an IDEAL Alumni as well as a CATAPULT alumni in my youth.

http://www.greatvalley.org/ideal/index.aspx

Windmills should be in everyone’s yard to generate electric power .

Leaves should be raked up and taken to the local ethanol plant in your area to make ethanol from them.

Plastic domes should be put over houses to provide insulation on the outside of the house and to enable you to sit in on your green lawn in winter when there is snow outside.

Everybody should ride the bus to work and other destinations as much as possible. There should be 24 hour a day bus service. This would not only be coconvenientut would prevent many automobile accidents. This alone could reduce gasoline consumption about 50% depending upon ridership.

Hydoponic growing of food (without soil) is a good do-it- yourself project, but also has potential for use where there is no agricultural land such as in the cities, and can help with reducing the cost of food tranportation by trucks.

This isn’t a project, but I’ve switched to using distilled white vinegar and peroxide to clean surfaces in the kitchen, bathroom, anywhere. I read online that this method kills as many germs as Lysol does, but it’s better for the environment and safe around kids and pets. I have designated kitchen towels that I use to wipe it up which get washed later – saves money because I’m not using paper towels. I use baking soda to clean the toilet and shower as well.

I bought that Scrubbing bubbles shower cleaner, and I read online how to get the top off. Now I fill it with vinegar which cleans the shower daily, instead of buying the refills, which saves money and helps the environment in many ways.

I also use the Swiffer Wet Jet, and you can get the top off of them too. Again, I use vinegar to clean the floors. Works great.

The smell of vinegar goes away when it dries. 🙂

I’ve only done this for a couple months now, but I estimate that I’ve saved $40 so far. That will really add up over the years.

Constantly look for and apply the next step !

I started with locating my local recycling drop off centers, since I’m outside the recycling pick-up

I also started bringing hazmat to the annual hazmat collection day, and,

I started buying local produce from the farmers market, “green” oriented products, like compact flourescent bulbs and plant based household cleaners, from the local department stores, and I started using the re-usable bags provided at the checkout counters.

I also started attending local events, like the annual earth day events, solar auto racing events and green oriented events sponsored by the local library and / or health food store.

These were all things I could do in the normal course of events, nothing that took extra time away from the things I needed to accomplish in my everyday life.

I also…

Started trying to spend at least one day a week not using the car at all or spending any money on fossil fuels or petroleum based products. That has since grown to several days a week.

This year, I’m spending some time greening up the yard and landscaping, all organically, of course.

I’ve noticed that, even though the things I do are passive and usually do not take up my valuable time, I’ve noticed that there is a huge positive impact, that we, collectively, as consumers, are providing to the green movement that is improving our lives and helping the planet at the same time.

I also keep up with and respond to current events related to “the greening” of our world that also keep me informed about the latest innovations and trends in the market. One of the latest stories I’ve heard about that I found exciting and encouraging was the program to encourage the painting of rooftops white, which shall reduce the absorption of heat into buildings during the warmer months and shall contribute to some much needed global cooling. Keeping up with the latest technology and national events helps to let me know about some of the things I’ll soon be seeing in my area…

The Green movement is very dynamic, so I do not limit myself to just one idea or project, but just keep plugging away at the problem at hand, even if it’s the smallest step, and as mentioned before, I constantly look for and apply the next step, and watch as eventually the problem is solved…

And that is my idea for my DIY project to improve lives and help the planet ! Just keep pluggin’ away !

Source(s): thanks for believing in the collective creativity and intelligence of the Yahoo! community, Yahoo! Green !!!

Tone down the global climate change talk. I can already hear people hitting the “thumbs down” button, but follow me a bit longer. It’s already been proven that “global warming” was totally false and that the earth has actually cooled each year over the past several years. It separated people into blue and red factions and simply didn’t work, especially once the truth came out. But if we would lose the talk about climate change which DUH, is a natural occurrence, we could focus on arguments that both sides could get behind, like reducing dependence on foreign oil. We all want that, and the methods of achieving it fall in line with what the left wanted to do to affect climate change. The right can also get behind hurting terrorism, which is what reducing foreign oil dependence would result in. The left also needs to accept that the infrastructure of the U.S. and the world as a whole are driven by petroleum – there’s just no changing that in the short term. People simply can’t convert their cars to electrical or solar power overnight. A two-pronged attack – one focusing on tapping our own petroleum reserves while the other focuses on alternative and renewable energy – would get pretty much everyone onboard and would do more to help us all and save the planet than anything we could accomplish separately.