|
 
5 EASY steps...
...to a cleaner, greener, healthier
environment!
1 Complete the Cleaner and Greener Home
Energy Savings Checklist and learn how to reduce your home energy use.
2 Look for the Certified Cleaner
and Greener® Seal (above) when you shop and ask the places that you shop to
become certified.
3 Ask your workplace to become Certified Cleaner and Greener.
4 Ask friends to
join Leonardo Academy's Cleaner and
Greener® Program.
5 Offset
the emissions caused by your energy use.
JOIN the
Cleaner & Greener® Home Program!
Download the Cleaner &
Greener® Program Brochure!
For more tips on how to incorporate sustainable actions into your daily life, download the Leonardo Academy
HOME SUSTAINABILITY ACTION GUIDE.
We All Cause Air Pollution!
How
Much Air Pollution Do We Cause?
An average family in the United States causes the following
amounts of air pollution each year:
Climate Change Pollution (CO2) = 56
Tons
Ozone-Causing Pollution (NOx) = 458 Pounds
Acid Rain Causing Pollution (SO2) = 374 Pounds
Particulate Pollution (PM10) = 63 Pounds
Toxic Lead Pollution (Pb) = 1.2 Ounces
Toxic Mercury Pollution (Hg) = 0.8 Ounces
Health
Effects of the Pollution We Cause
 Exposure to emissions of lead, mercury, sulfur dioxide,
particulate matter, carbon dioxide, and ozone-forming nitrogen dioxides are hazardous to
public health. Toxic compounds like mercury and lead poison organ systems and can lead
to brain damage and death. Fish consumption advisories have been imposed in parts of the
country where lakes and waterways have been contaminated with mercury from electric power
plants. Other pollutants, like ozone and particulate matter, cause respiratory and other
health problems, particularly in children and the elderly.
Environmental
Effects of the Pollution We Cause
Climate change on a global scale has been attributed to increased
emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas. Possible consequences
include melting of polar ice caps; an increase in sea level; and increases in
precipitation and severe weather events like hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves, floods,
and droughts. All of these effects put a stress on ecosystems and agriculture, and
threaten our planet as a whole.
Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds are precursors
to ground level ozone (urban smog) which causes health problems and reduces visibility.
Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides cause acid rain, which is detrimental to forests and
other vegetation, soil, and lakes. Acid rain also causes monuments and other buildings to
deteriorate.
How Do We
Cause Air Pollution?
We cause air
pollution when we  use
fossil fuel-based electricity, other home fuels, and fossil fuel-based transportation. We also cause air pollution indirectly,
when we buy goods and services that use energy in their production and delivery. Most of
this air pollution we cause results from the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil,
natural gas, and gasoline.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a good indicator of how much fossil
fuel is burned and how much of other pollutants we cause to be emitted. Using CO2 as an
example, the average family in the United States causes air pollution in the following
ways:
Since our own electricity use is only
responsible for 14% of our total emissions, using cleaner electricity will only address
part of our total emissions. If we want to clean up the environment, we need solutions
that address all of the emissions we cause. The Cleaner and Greener
Environment Program makes it easy to address all the emissions caused by both our direct
and indirect energy use!
Cleaner & Greener® Business/Organization Certification
Air pollution is a byproduct of the production and delivery
of the goods and services we buy. Some companies take action to reduce this pollution by
decreasing their emissions of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, lead,
mercury, and particulates.
Consumers can now identify these proactive companies by the
Certified Cleaner and Greener® Seal. As consumers, we can reward these
companies for their pollution reduction actions by showing a preference for buying goods
and services from Certified Cleaner and Greener companies. List of
certified companies.
More
Information on Cleaner and Greener Company Certification
Offset your emissions
In addition to using the Certified Cleaner and Greener® Seal to guide your purchasing decisions and reward companies for reducing their emissions,
we encourage you to offset the emissions from your own energy use. |
| Offsetting the emissions caused by your energy
use can be low-cost and painless, and not require any changes in your lifestyle. Simply
make a tax deductible donation to Leonardo Academy's Cleaner and Greener® Program. Your
donation will support Cleaner and Greener and will be used to buy and retire
emission reduction credits in your name that offset the air pollution caused by your
energy use.
We
Make it Easy for You to Lead the Way to a Cleaner Environment:
Simply make a tax deductible donation to the
Cleaner and Greener® Program and we will purchase and retire emission
reduction credits in your name that offset (cancel out) the air pollution caused by your
family’s direct and indirect energy use.
For only $7 a month, you can offset the
emissions caused by your family’s electricity use.
A donation of $20 per month lets us acquire and
retire emission reduction credits equal to the emissions caused by an average family's
electricity use, other home fuel use, and vehicles.
$50 a month will buy enough emission reduction
credits to offset all the emissions that result from your family’s home energy use
and vehicles, as well as the production and delivery of goods and services consumed by
your family—that's
56 tons of CO2, 458 tons of NOx, 374 pounds of SO2, 63 pounds of
small particulate matter,1.2 ounces of toxic lead, and 0.8 ounces of toxic mercury!
You can also offset the emissions of a school,
organization, or event.
The more you contribute, the more emission reduction credits
we can acquire and retire. Since the price of emission reduction credits varies, we will
send you a certificate recognizing you for the actual amount of credits purchased with
your donation. |
| Emission
Reductions Air pollution
sources that are able to reduce their pollutant emissions create “emission
reductions”. These sources may report and receive credit for their emission
reductions. Emission reduction credits (ERCs) reward those who take
action to reduce their pollutant emissions and therefore encourage pollution reduction
actions. Credits for emission reductions provide an incentive to find the most
cost-effective way to reduce emissions, since once an emission reduction credit is
created, it can be sold on the open market.
Emission reductions can be  created by increasing reliance on energy
efficiency and renewable energy, and switching to cleaner fuels. Emission reductions
produce health and environmental benefits by reducing CO2, SO2, NOx,
lead, mercury, and particulate matter emissions.
The Cleaner and Greener Program uses the
free market to reduce pollution by participating in the emissions trading system.  But when we buy an allowance or emission
reduction credit, we retire it, without emitting any pollution. Once retired, allowances
and credits can no longer be bought, sold, or used to offset pollution.
Your contribution to Leonardo Academy's Cleaner and Greener® Program will be used to buy and retire emission reduction credits. By donating, you are
reducing the amount of pollution that is discharged to the atmosphere, rewarding those who
take action to reduce their pollutant emissions, and helping to stimulate the development
of a market for emissions reduction. |
|
Contributions
are Tax Deductible
Leonardo Academy's Cleaner & Greener® Program is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit environmental
organization under US tax regulations. For this reason all contributions are tax
deductible to the full extent allowable by law. We welcome contributions from people in
other countries, but the tax effects for you will depend on the rules in your country.
Your
Contribution Helps Clean Up the
Environment
Your contribution to the Cleaner and Greener Program supports our work on cleaning up the
environment.
JOIN
Leonardo Academy's Cleaner & Greener® Program!
|
