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Environment I Greetings, The past few weeks we have devoted to the subject of pollutants. Rather a gloomy subject! Let’s see how we can do our bit to help the environment. One of the primary requisites for healthy and long life is clean and pure air. Unfortunately, this is one area that we sometimes have little control over. We can always choose the food we want to eat and decide when to exercise or fast, but the air we have to breath is what is given us. However, we are not entirely helpless. Here are a few suggestions that will help us live in a cleaner environment. 1- Reduce your fuel consumption and car dependency. 2- Use unleaded petrol 3- Have your car checked to see if it is emitting high levels of pollutants. 4- Allow no smoking in your personal environment 5- If you are moving home look for a house that is away from high traffic roads and highways. 6- Follow a non-toxic diet in order not to load the body with chemicals 7- Exercise away from heavy traffic areas. Do not run alongside cars while jogging, and save all heavy exercising for as unpolluted an area as available to you. 8- Purchase products, which produce little pollutants in their manufacture. Some of the worse pollutants are plastic industries and petroleum companies. Try to restrict the use of such products. 9- Plants and forests are our first line of defence against air pollution. Let’s help by planting trees in our gardens and preserve the existing ones 10- Minimise open fires and coal burning in winter. Every day of our lives we draw in 20.000 breaths. We have the right to expect that not a single one of these breaths endanger our health. The air and atmosphere are our common heritage and resource, and we must insure that they stay clean for us and our children. A FEW INTERESTING FACTS ON SOLAR ENERGY: -All energy on earth originally comes from the sun. All of our hydrocarbon fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas were originally produced by the action of sunlight on vegetation. -The concept behind solar energy use is not new. Legend has it that in 212 B.C. Archimedes set fire to an attacking Roman fleet by turning a "burning glass" composed of small, hinged square mirrors so as to reflect concentrated sunlight onto the ship. For years scientists argued about whether this was myth or fact, but in 1747 a Frenchman proved that it could have been done by burning wood from a distance of 200 feet with an array of 168 small flat mirrors, and then melted lead at 130 feet and silver at 60 feet. In the same century, an optician in France built polished iron solar furnaces that could smelt iron, copper, and other metals. Another investor used 2 lenses to achieve a temperature close to 1750 degrees Fahrenheit- far beyond any temperature attained by man up to this time. In the 1800s came many models of solar powered engines and solar steam engines. In 1871, a solar still in Chile provided 6.000 gallons of pure water a day for 40 years. In 1880, a solar engine was built in France that ran a printing press. Of course, foods have been sun-dried for ages, using solar power without the need for technology. In the early 1900s, solar oven appeared. Solar water heaters were known in southern California and other states in the 1920s and 30s. After World War II, solar sciences flourished in Europe and a boom in solar water heaters began in Japan and Israel. Heaters were installed by the 100.000’s in Japan. The advantages of using solar energy are numerous; it is renewable and limitless and promises freedom from dependency on non-renewable energy sources, thus freeing mankind from the threat of war over dwindling natural resources. It is clean, non-polluting and safe. At the moment about 80% of the world’s energy comes from fossil fuels, about 20% from dung and vegetable wastes, and about 1% from water power. A few rich countries, representing less than 30% of the world’s population, consume about 75% of the world’s energy Aside from the fact that non-renewable energy sources are in limited supplies, the main reason for not using them is the pollution, health and safety risks involved. Some say there are "three environmental time bombs": toxic chemical pollution, carbon dioxide (CO2) build-up, and acid rain. Makes us think doesn’t it? Until next week, take care, The Crazy Nut Team P.S. If you have missed any of the previous articles and would like to read them, please visit our archives at http://crazynut.theshoppe.com