You Can Help Save The Palnet

We're the Planeteers. You can be one too!
'Cause saving our planet is the thing to do!
Looting and poluting is not the way.
Here's what Captain Planet has to say:

The Power is Yours!!!

Ways YOU can help save our planet:
Recycle -
Find a program near you. Either the community will pick up your recyclables at the curb or look around super markets and in local ads. You can recycle:
- Aluminum Cans
- Newspapers
- Glass
- Plastic Soda Bottles
- Milk Jugs
- Toner Cartridges
- Steel Containers
- Telephone Books

Buy Recycled Products -
By purchasing recycled products you help to conserve natural recources and to protect the environment.

Don't Dump Down the Strom Drain -
Do not dump
- Oil
- Grease
- Antifreeze
- Pesticides
- Fertilizers
- Paints
- Cleaners
- and Other Toxic Household Products
Down the storm drains or gutters of sidewalks. These lead straight to rivers, lakes, and oceans! By dumping these products and toxic chemicals down the storm drain they become a great biological threat to marine life. If you wouldn't swim in it, don't dump it down the storm drain!

Stop Junk Mail -
The junk mail Americans receive in only one day is not only an annoyance but could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes. All the junk mail the average American receives in one year is equivalent to one and a half trees. That's 100,000,000 trees in the US alone. To help stop junk mail, you can write to:
Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association
PO Box 3861, 11 West 42nd St.
New York, NY 10163-3861
By writing to them you can reduce junk mail up 75%! Keep recycling the junk mail you already recieve!

Change Your Kitchen Habits -
- Use reusable containers for storing food instead of wrapping food in foil or plastic wrap.
- Use unbleached coffee filters. These do not produce dioxin, a deadly toxin, in its manufacturing.
- Use rags to wipe up messes and spills instead of paper towels.
- Use biodegradable wax paper and bags. - Replace paper cups, plates, and napkins with reusable, washable cups, plates, and cloth napkins.

Hang on to those balloons! -
You should never release helium balloons into the air. Balloons are the cause for countless deaths of sea turtles and whales. The balloons can cause them to suffocate or starve to death. Metallic balloons can also cause power outages if caught in power lines.

Use a Low-Flow Faucet Aerator -
This device, which attaches to your water faucets, can reduce water flow by 50% but actually makes the water flow seem stronger! If just 10,000 four-person households installed low-flow aerators, 33,000,000 galons of water would be saved yearly.

Use Low-Flow Aerated or Nonaerated Shower Heads -
These shower heads can reduce water output by 50%. An aerated shower head make the water seem as powerful if not more powerful than a regular shower head. A nonaerated shower head pulses and can also be called a massage shower head. If a family of four took 5 minute showers each day with a low-flow shower head, they would save at least 14,000 gallons of water a year. And if 100,000 families of four did the same, they would save 1,400,000,000 galons a year.

Check Your Hot Water Heater -
Your hot water heater accounts for about 20% of the energy used in your home. To save energy and money:
- Turn down your water heater to 130°. That is hot enough to kill deadly bacteria and save energy.
- Insulate your water heater with a pre-fab blanket. Be careful not to block off air vents. This can save 7%-8% of your energy usage.
- You can drain 2 quarts of water from your hot water heater every 2 months from the valve at the bottom of the tank. This prevents accumulation of sediment and prolongs the life of your water heater.

Check Your Refrigerator -
America's refrigerators consume 7% of the nation's electricity. To allow your refrigerator to run more efficiently:
- Clean the condenser coils anually.
- Raise the temperature of your refrigerator 10° and save 25% of your energy.

Replace Your A/C Filters -
Clean or replace your air conditioner filters once a month to save electricity and money.

Use Fluorescent Lighting -
Lighting consumes 20% of electricity used in the US. By using excess energy we contribute to global problems by forcing power plants and industrial businesses to generate more electricity, resulting in more polluting emmissions. A fluorescent light bulb, which doesn't flicker or hum, is much more efficient than an incandescent bulb. They last longer and use about 1/4 of the energy. A normal incandescent bulb lasts about 750 hours, but a fluorescent bulb gives off the same amout of light and will last about 7,500 to 10,000 hours with 1/3 of the wattage. Within a fluorescent light bulb's lifetime, it will stop about 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere when substituted for the traditional bulb. Even though fluorescent bulbs are more expensive initially, it would take 13 traditional light bulbs to last the same amount of time. Also, a fluorescent light bulb will cost about $10 for the electricity it uses, while over the same period of time an incandecent bulb will cost you about $40. If 100,000,000 homes in America used fluorescent bulbs over one year, they would save the energy equivalent to all of the energy that is generated by a nuclear power plant running full time over the course of one year.

Be Aware of Paint -
Use latex paint instead of oil-based paint. Oil based paint is highly toxic and in manufacturing produces many pollutants. Dispose of paint as you would hazardous waste. Don't clean your paint brushes outside, because it could contaminate ground water or run down a storm drain. Clean them in a sink. You can give excess paint to a school or someone who may need it.

Shopping Bags -
Plastic bags aren't biodegradable, and even if they say they are, they do not decompose all the way. The ink used on them is made of cadmium is highly toxic when it is released. Paper bags are reusable and biodegradable. You can also use your own cloth bags or duffle bags from home.

Inflate Your Tires Well -
In two weeks, Americans wear 50,000,000 pounds of rubber off their tires. That's enough rubber to manufacture 3,250,000 new tires from scratch! To help prevent this, inflate your tires well. This will preserve the life of your tires and also saves gas, which, in turn, saves money.


Carpool, Walk, or Bicycle -
Carpool, walk, or bicycle whenever possible to reduce the emission of polluting substances into the air.

Use Rechargable Batteries -
Batteries contain heavy metals, including murcury and cadmium. These have become a major source of contamination in dump sites. They either break apart and the contaminants are released into the soil, or they are incinerated and the deadly heavy metals are released into the atmosphere. The average annual use of murcury in batteries is over the limit of what the government regulates by four times! Use batteries that are rechargable and recycle alkaline batteries if possible.

Clean Up Your Beach -
Every year on September 23 there is a nationwide 3 hour clean up, sponsored by the Center for Marine Conservation. In 1987 around the nation over 2 million pounds of debris was picked up off our beaches. When you go to the beach you can help by bringing a trash bag and spend a little while picking up litter, or you can join a beach clean-up crew.

Recycle Your Motor Oil -
In the United States we use about 1,000,000,000 gallons of motor oil each year and about 350,000,000 gallons of it ends up in the environment. About 2,100,000 tons of oil are deposited up in our rivers and streams every year. Motor oil can seep down into ground water. One quart can contaminate 250,000 gallons of water. When you get your oil changed make sure they will recycle your oil. If you change it yourself, take it to a gas station of oil changing outlet that will recycle it.





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THE POWER IS YOURS

Our world is in peril. Gaia, the Spirit of the Earth, can no longer stand the terrible destruction plagueing our planet. She sends five magic rings to five special young people: Kwame, from Africa, with the power of Earth. From North America, Wheeler, with the power of Fire. From Eastern Europe, Linka, with the power of Wind. From Asia, Gi, with the power of Water. And from South America, Ma-Ti, with the power of Heart. When the five powers combine, they summon Earth's greatest champion, Captain Planet!