Plastic bags are most often thrown in landfills, but the majority is dumped in lakes and our oceans, especially in poorer countries where recycling is not an option.

Because of this, animals are dying due to entanglement, our oceans eco-systems are affected, and what we don’t realize is that since our waters are polluted with petro-polymers due to plastic, the fish we eat are also affected. Thus, in the end all were really doing is poisoning ourselves!

And to think, our only use for plastic bags is to transport goods back to our homes, so why not invest 1$ in a cloth bag that is reusable and safe for our environment!?

If we all start using eco-bags, we’d be saving approx. 6 plastic bags a week, which amounts to 24 bags a month, 288 bags a year and 22,176 bags a lifetime. If 1 out of 5 people did this within our country alone, we would save a total of 1,330,560,000,000 bags in a lifetime!

Start today!

* Health Benefits: People commuting by bike10 miles a day burn on average 110,250 calories, keeping off 30 pounds of fat each year! Biking releases endorphins, reduces stress levels, boosts overall physical health and will ultimately increase your productivity at work (which can result in a raise) and ultimately lower health care expenses which will save you money lots of many in the long run especially of you reside in the U.S.!

* Environmental Benefits: Taking your bike to work reduces CO2, on average; people who commute 10 miles a day instead of using their car will save 3,500 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year. Bicycling reduces water pollution as they don’t dip brake fluid, anti-freeze and transmission fluid. It reduces noise pollution, road wear, road kill, accidents, the demand for new roads, parking lots and paving the earth with asphalt and concrete which results in less tax payer money each year!

* Financial Benefits: If you drive your car to work everyday, it costs you approximately 100$ a week just in gas, which is 400$ a month. Considering that biking is free (for now) you’ll be saving 4,800$ / year not to mention reducing the use of gas, tires, fluids, insurance, maintenance, washing, parking, etc. which amount to over 8000$ a year!

As you can see, altering the way you commute to work not only has proven health and environmental benefits, but can save you lots of money down the road! So take your bike to work today!

Tania S.

Savetheplanet’s Top 10 advantages of why you should buy locally-

1. Buying locally will improve your health! Fewer pesticides are used on produce as they are usually picked that same day. They are of a higher quality as it stays on the plant longer, maximizing its nutrient content, appearance and texture, and of course, overall taste.

2. You directly support farming communities as the money farmers make goes directly to them and abolishes any intermediaries.

3. Purchasing foods grown and produced locally sustains farming in communities and keeps varietal products available.

4. Non-renewable resources are saved, as the food does not travel great distances to reach your plate, thus diminishing overall food miles.

5. You have direct contact with your farmers, allowing you to ask them any questions pertaining to how they grow their produce what pesticides they use and what they feed their animals.

6. Buying locally helps boost your economy by keeping your money circulating within your community, keeping wealth in your region.

7. Supporting local farms creates more jobs within the agri-food sector will be created if the demand for local products increases.

8. A strong local economy insulates your region from national and global recessions.

9. By supporting local agriculture, you help to protect your region’s farmland from urban sprawl and development.

10. Buying locally is great for our environment! It helps reduce dependence on foreign oil needed to ship food thousands of miles, thus cutting back on greenhouse gas emissions.

So, if buying local is nothing but advantageous, why do otherwise?

Source; http://www.foodroutes.org/whycare.jsp

Our current WOM strategies include but are not limited to;

A Savetheplanet Flickr Group
http://www.flickr.com/groups/savetheplanet/
We’ve invited members throughout Flickr to post their most dramatic pictures within our group. We encourage them to behave as Photojournalists; capturing and writting about shocking events they’ve witnessed for the public to see. The best images will be chosen and added to our www.savetheplanet.ca “Photo of the week” section. This tactic not only brings awareness to specific events, but adds a personal touch to each photo; which is exactly what WOM is really all about!!!

A Word Of Mouth Campaign will soon unfold;

One of the most emotional, yet disturbing realities in this world is the Chinese Fur Trade. As importing fur from Asia has become the norm, so has animal cruelty. What buyers don’t realize is that the majority of animals used for Fashion are skinned alive! So how do we raise awareness!? Word of Mouth!
On the contrary of what organizations like Peta and Greenpeace use to get their message across; we will be distributing a card depicting a beautiful woman wearing a fur coat to all passerby’s especially those wearing fur. This will undoubtedly grasp their trusted attention however, the flip-side will contain a few shocking facts about the Fur Trade. (see below) Our motive is to persuade the public in making educated choices using a friendly, discreet manner. This card will be available for download off of our website.

SaveThePlanet functions solely as a WOM organization! In fact, we don’t believe in paying for Marketing tools that may or may not attract “potential” users to our Site! We trust in our word of mouth tactics and believe that in the end, it will bring long-term, loyal users to STP! We’ve understood early on that the best way of communicating a message is through a credible, trustworthy source and that’s exactly what we strive to be!

“If what’s wrong with our planet is not permanent, then let’s at least try and change it!”

Simple. Recycling was introduced to the public a few decades ago and since then we have not received any newsletters or any documentation stating what is recyclable as opposed to not. Most residents make up their own rules as they go, and very few actually research it over the internet. So, I’d like to set the record straight; YOU ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO RINSE YOUR USED CONTAINERS!!! But heres why you may consider it!

Did you ever stop to think about who handles your old newspapers, cereal boxes, yogurt containers, glass pickle jars!? - Humans do! And guess what!? They sort through everything by hand. (don’t worry, they wear gloves! :P) Could you imagine working for a recycling company and having to go through all those half filled cartons of milk gone sour! - gross! And what about all that broken glass some people assume is recyclable!? - I think we’ve all been a victim of this one! FYI- BROKEN GLASS IS NOT RECYCLABLE.

Just think how clean your bin would be if you rinsed everything prior to tossing it. Other than the time it may take you to rinse your containers, there really isn’t any disadvantages to rinsing besides the fact that you’ll be making someone else’s job a little more tolerable!

Here are 5 recycling myths that I would like to clear up for you!

1. Theres no need to separate Plastic from Paper

Fact- The separation process occurs at the plant, but we can save our city millions of dollars a year by taking this extra step into our own hands!

2. Plastic Packaging is recyclable

Fact- No. The packaging that covers children toys and various products may seem recyclable but it’s not so try and avoid it at all costs.

3. Pizza boxes are recyclable

Fact- Only if the boxes are completely clean! In other words; make sure there is no cheese, olives or pepperoni stuck to the base of the box! (which are usually the last things anyone would leave hanging!) lol

4. Light bulbs are recyclable

Fact- No, standard light bulbs are not due to the fact that they are made up of various materials. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are recyclable at your local eco-centers for proper disposal. (These light bulbs are not to be tossed in the trash either)

5. Grocery bags recyclable

Fact- No. All traditional grocery bags are not recyclable as they are made of petroleum products.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have regarding recycling do’s and don’ts OR feel free to post some of your own!

The Fur Council of Canada is positioning themselves as a GREEN organization! I couldn’t help but laugh at the following statement…

“Nothing is wasted! Every day, we use animals in many ways: for food, clothing, companionship, medical and scientific research, entertainment, and transport. The Fur Trade accounts for perhaps one-quarter of one percent of the animals we use for food, clothing and other purposes each year. About twice as many unwanted pets are put down in humane shelters, ten times more animals are killed on Canadian highways. ”

O.k, let me rephrase their statement in proper terms; “We waste everything except for their fur! We use animals for clothing and some farm animals are used for food.  We should kill all animals and sell their fur solemly for fashion since most animals die on Canadian highways anyway!”

Do you have any idea how many types of animals are killed each year for Fashion only? Let me give you an idea;

I took the following animals from a Canadian website selling different types of pelts; http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/10574895/Fur_Pelts_MMink_Sable_Fox_Lynx_Beaver.html

Beaver, Mink, Muskrat, Fisher, Otter, Marten, Raccoon, Lynx, Bobcat, Coyote, Red Fox, Gray FOX, Silver Fox, Arctic Fox, Cross Fox, Ranch Sil Fox, Ranch BlueFox,  Rch Cross Fox, Wolverine, Timber Wolf, Opossum, Weasel, Squirrel, Skunk, Badger, Nutria, Dressed Mink, Dress Beaver , RchFox, Mutati, and Chinchilla.

Basically, they kill any animal they can get their hands on! I had no idea that you can buy a squirrel pelt until now! Pathetic and quite disturbing to say the least.

Did you know that animals are skinned alive, beaten, anal / vaginal electrocution, drowned, trapped,
stangled in order to preserve the fur for optimal resell value?

There’s definitely nothing GREEN about that!

*** LETS SAVE OUR ANIMALS INSTEAD OF WEARING THEM ***

I want to welcome you to STP, and thank you for checking out our Blog section! For many of you, STP’s motive is straightforward, “Save the Planet! ” But whats the inspiration behind such a site!? Simple, it all started when I accidentally fell onto a video displaying the horrific events of the Annual Seal Hunt. http://youtube.com/watch?v=WeYPM8ncsR8
I was not aware of this event prior and I somehow wish I had never stumbled upon it as it has forever changed my view of what we call Planet Earth. Being an animal lover, it was very hard for me to accept this as part of Culture. It is not a necessity and we are not obliged to kill innocent animals for their pelts. The last time I checked; we no longer live in the barbaric period where we need to kill animals for their fur to shield us from the cold! (Thank god) - But even then, atleast barbarians ate every inch of the animals they killed!
I quickly became interested in studying, not the animals whom are the victims of this atrocity, but instead the wrong doing of humans. Savetheplanet is all about posting content that you come across that you feel should be surfaced and shared amongst others who share the same interest. It doesn’t have to be animal related, au contraire! It can be anything and everything under the sun!  So perhaps your next question is; why bother knowing about these incidents if we can’t do anything about them. - Wrong! Shedding some light on various incidents not only allows us to know what’s going on, but it allows us to make better choices. For example; those who weren’t aware of the Seal Hunt may decide to refrain from purchasing fur solemnly for Fashion. “If what’s wrong with our planet is not permanent, then lets at least make an effort to change it!”That’s our slogan!

As a fellow vacationer myself, I couldn’t help but notice the amount of waste there was in a resort during one week! I was shocked by the amount of individuals over-stacking their plates with food! Of course our parents always taught us to be open minded when it came to food, but did they forget to teach us about moderation!? I have to admit that I am a victim of wasting food, especially on vacation but not because I am enjoy doing so but rather due to the fact I just don’t fancy the taste! All I could see are waiters running back and forth, attempting to keep up with the pace of their vacationers. I saw one family go up three times, and of course they didn’t finish their plate before going up for more! It just seems morally wrong to waste food in such poor countries especially when the staff working at these resorts are victims of poverty themselves.

The best part of a vacation for me are the Pina Coladas by far!!! Ever notice the plastic cups they are served in? Convenient right? Did you ever ask yourself where all those plastic cups go? The answer is; landfill sites! I would like you to consider the following example; On vacation; John Doe drinks an average of 25 drinks a day (which is very feasible as the cups are small).25 (drinks) X 400 (vacationers in the resort) = 10,000 plastic cups a day. - keep in mind that this is only one resort; some have more volume while others have less. So, now let me take this example a little further;10,000 (plastic cups) X 7 (1 week) = 70,000 plastic cups per week X 35 (# of resorts in Punta Cana) = 2,450,000 plastic cups a week!!!Now imagine how many resorts exist down South! If all the resorts recycled, this wouldn’t be an issue. Good for our planet? I think not.