He’s got the whole world… in his hands.
Today is Earth Day, so we’re all supposed to take a moment to consider the impact that we are having on our planet. We’re supposed to take today to think about the pollution we emit, the energy we use, and the garbage we create. Realistically, we should be thinking about our environmental sins every day, because a single day of pensive thought and green avatars is not sufficient. What do you do to help our planet? What have you done to go green?
In the spirit of Earth Day, I’m dedicating today’s edition of What’s Up Wednesdays to environmentally-minded blog posts from around the Internet. If you’ve been following me on Twitter, you may have caught my shout-out for submissions. Following me on Twitter is the easiest way to get featured in a future What’s Up Wednesday. On with today’s “green” posts!
Gaming Gone Green with Wii
There is an opportunity to consider the environment even when you are blasting the Chimera to smithereens. Carl Nelson of HardCoreWare compares the power consumption of the three major home video consoles and, as you may guess, the Nintendo Wii comes out on top. It uses far less power than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with one noted exception. If you use WiiConnect24, the Wii in standby uses more power than the other two.
Turn It Off, Shut It Down
Sticking with the theme of power consumption, we turn to Ray Ebersole of Edutechation.com. Many office workers have the tendency to leave their equipment on overnight. This is largely unnecessary, wasting money and power. Leaving a 15-inch monitor on 24-hours a day costs $54 in power. Shutting it down each night, this figure drops to just $12, representing $42 in annual savings per monitor.
The Picture of the Planet
While this project certainly sounds promising, it’s almost encouraging energy use, isn’t it? Wow Legs tells us about an Earth Day initiative from EarthMosaic.org, putting together a massive photo mosaic. They want to collect hundreds of thousands of pictures, stitching them together in some creative way. The idea is that each of us has a relatively small impact on the world, but we can combine our efforts for something much larger.
A Stroll Through the Past
How did this whole Earth Day thing start in the first place? How has it changed in the last 30+ years? Celsias.com has a great video history of Earth Day, giving us a glimpse into how we have addressed environmental issues in the last few decades. We know about biofuels and solar power today, but these words weren’t always so commonplace. It’s good to see that the environment is finally an integral part of the political agenda.
Celebrate the Right Way
So, what can you do to help the environment? PsychCentral has put together a handy list of 10 ways to celebrate Earth Day. While these suggestions are perfectly apt for today, I encourage you to consider them every day. Step off the treadmill. Donate your old gadgets. Shop locally. We can all do our part, since we all share this planet.
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