Oil and the Environment
Learn about connections our government has to companies like ExxonMobil, who continually work to make the US more dependent on oil and who neglect to invest in researching cleaner fuel options.
Learn more about the environmental effects of companies like ExxonMobil, cleaner energy solutions and what you can do to make a difference.
Greener auto fuels: let the market find a solution
Read more about greener auto fuels
What Really Happened
The History The Government Hopes You Don't Learn
Recycling Impacts The Earth 
Every person and every business should be recycling. 84 % of all household waste can be recycled, yet only a small portion of it is. Learn interesting facts, statistics and information. Find out what can be recycled and where. Learn how anyone can start a compost pile and how it will benefit not only the environment, but your indoor and outdoor plants. This is a very helpful site!
A recent study by the U.S. EPA shows that electronics already make up approximately 1 percent on the municipal solid waste stream. Research indicates that electronic waste is growing at three times the rate of other municipal waste.
According to the U.S. EPA, over 20 million personal computers became obsolete in 1998 and only 13% were reused or recycled.
Electronic circuit boards, batteries, and color cathode ray tubes (CRTs) can contain hazardous materials such as lead, mercury and hexavalent chromium. If improperly handled or disposed, these toxins can be released into the environment through landfill leachate or incinerator ash.
In just one year, over 112 million pounds of valuable materials were recovered from disposed electronics for recycling and reuse. Materials includes steel, glass, plastic and precious metals.
*Above information from earth911.org
Oil can contain some chemicals that are suspected as causing cancer (carcinogens). If disposed of improperly, for example, if you pour it in the storm sewer or down the drain, used motor oil poses a very serious threat to the environment because it is toxic to fish and birds. When poured into water, one quart of motor oil can form an oil slick almost 9,680 square yards big. That is more than 2 football fields! Always take used oil to the recycling center, never pour it on the ground, in the storm sewer or down the drain. (EPA)
The amount of wood and paper we throw away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.
14 billion pounds of trash is dumped into the ocean every year.
It takes 90% less energy to recycle aluminum cans than to make new ones.
For every 2000 pounds of paper (1 ton) recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water free from chemicals.
Check out some more facts at PlanetPals
Paper cups consume trees, water, and chemicals, and dump them into streams and landfills- they are not recyclable. Paper cups are often wax-coated which reduces their bio-degradability further. Paper products make up over 40 percent by weight , slightly higher by volume - of this country's municipal solid waste, by far the largest contributor. Paper Recycling and its role in Solid Waste Management. Every year nearly 900,000,000 trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills.
There is a lot more to learn. Search the internet or visit your local municipalities. It's important!
THINK ABOUT IT!
We all need to stop and think about what we do to our environment on an everyday basis. It's important and there are a lot of little things you can do to help! Check out some of the info below!
Most CDs are sold as a "package within a package," meaning that the actual CD is housed in a plastic "jewel box," which fits into a cardboard box, twice its size. This is the prime example of useless packaging, just to make the consumer believe they are buying more. These cardboard boxes from CDs alone now add up to 23 million pounds of trash annually! Not too mention, is it really necessary to have three clear plastic safety seal stickers down the sides of these things? The packaging is not only wasteful when it is disposed of, but what about factory pollution when it is being produced? Think about how much waste CDs and DVDs create each year!
Visit Earth911 to see where you can recycle VHS, CDs and DVDs
Paper or plastic? How many times have you been asked this question in the grocery store? Environmentalists have often debated over the correct answer, which turns out to be NEITHER! To help the environment, you should purchase reusable canvas bags, which will never have to take energy to be recycled or take up space in a landfill. Purchase these bags once and think about how much you are helping reduce waste in our landfills!
Every year we throw away 24 million tons of leaves and grass. Leaves alone account for 75% of our solid waste in the fall. Think about starting a compost pile!
What is Acid Rain?
Acid rain is a result of air pollution. When any type of fuel is burnt, lots of different chemicals are produced. The smoke that comes from a fire or the fumes that come out of a car exhaust don't just contain the sooty grey particles that you can see - they also contains lots of invisible gases that can be even more harmful to our environment.
Power stations, factories and cars all burn fuels and therefore they all produce polluting gases. Some of these gases (especially nitrogen oxides and sulphur dioxide) react with the tiny droplets of water in clouds to form sulphuric and nitric acids. The rain from these clouds then falls as very weak acid - which is why it is known as "acid rain".
What can be done?
Reduce emissions:
• Burning fossil fuels is still one of the cheapest ways to produce electricity so people are now researching new ways to burn fuel which don't produce so much pollution.
• Governments need to spend more money on pollution control even if it does mean an increase in the price of electricity.
• Sulphur can also be 'washed' out of smoke by spraying a mixture of water and powdered limestone into the smokestack.
• Cars are now fitted with catalytic converters which remove three dangerous chemicals from exhaust gases.
Find alternative sources of energy
• Governments need to invest in researching different ways to produce energy.
• Two other sources that are currently used are hydroelectric and nuclear power. These are 'clean' as far as acid rain goes but what other impact do they have on our environment?
• Other sources could be solar energy or windmills but how reliable would these be in places where it is not very windy or sunny?
• All energy sources have different benefits and costs and all theses have to be weighed up before any government decides which of them it is going to use.
Read the complete fact sheet at Young Peoples Trust For The Environment
What does the EPA say about acid Rain?
Yet more in depth information about acid rain can be found here.
Paper makes up 36% of our solid waste! The burning of paper gives off air pollution, while the recycling of paper cuts our waste load over a third, and saves precious forests. Think about it next time you thow out paper. It is one of the easiest things to recycle so there's no excuse not to!
In every heaping landfill, there lies a storage of valuable resources--reusable glass containers, metals, recyclable plastic and paper, and waste that is high in organic content. Recycling can help us reuse much of what we throw out before it reaches a landfill. Before you go to throw something in the trash, find out if it can be recycled. You may be surprised! Think about the difference a little research can do! Recycle everything at Eart911.org
Landfills pollute our water supply!
On the average, the 140 million cars in America are estimated to travel almost 4 billion miles in a day, and according to the Department of Transportation, they use over 200 million gallons of gasoline doing it. Car pool or use public transportation and think about how much fuel and money you will save!
Every ton of recycled office paper saves 380 gallons of oil. Just think about that!