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You want to know what the nine actions are before you sign up?
Fair enough.
 1. Skip a car trip each week
The average American drives over 250 miles each week. Replace a weekly 20 mile car trip by telecommuting, biking or combining errands and you'll reduce your annual emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by nearly a thousand pounds! Can't pull off a 20 miler? No problem! Skip what you can and report it -- we'll calculate your positive impact and add it to the collective effect of all Turn the Tide participants.
2. Replace one beef meal each week
Meat production is extremely resource-intensive - livestock currently consume 70 percent of America's grain production! Feedlot beef is particularly wasteful. For every 1,000 of us who take this action, we save over 70,000 pounds of grain, 70,000 pounds of topsoil and 40 million gallons of water per year!
3. Shift your shrimp consumption
Today, nearly 70 percent of the world's fisheries are fully fished or overfished, and about 60 billion pounds of fish, sharks, and seabirds die each year as "bycatch" - animals caught accidentally as a result of wasteful fishing techniques. For every 1,000 of us who stop eating shrimp, we can save over 12,000 pounds of sea life per year.
4. Declare your independence from junk mail
Surely we don't need to twist your arm to do this one! Begin by using the Center for a New American Dream's online form to get yourself off junkmail lists. For every 1,000 of us who succeed in halving our personal bulk mail, we will save 170 trees, nearly 46,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, and 70,000 gallons of water each year.
5. Replace four standard light bulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs)
Want a hundred bucks? Replace four standard bulbs with low-mercury CFLs, and you'll reduce your electricity bills by more than $100 over the lives of those bulbs! More importantly, you'll prevent the emission of five thousand pounds of carbon dioxide. Feel like replacing more than four bulbs? Go for it! Replace as many as you like and report it -- we'll calculate your positive impact and add it to the collective effect of all Turn the Tide participants.
6. Move the thermostat 3°F
Heating and cooling represents the biggest chunk of our home energy consumption. Just by turning the thermostat down three degrees in the winter and up three degrees in the summer, you can prevent the emission of nearly 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide annually. Feel like starting with a 1°F shift? No problem! Turn your thermostat as far as you feel comfortable and report it -- we'll calculate your positive impact and add it to the collective effect of all Turn the Tide participants.
7. Eliminate lawn and garden pesticides
Americans directly apply 70 million pounds of pesticides to home lawns and gardens each year and, in so doing, kill birds and other wildlife and pollute our precious water resources.
8. Install an efficient showerhead and low flow faucet aerators
Of all natural resources, water is the most essential. But available supply is diminishing rapidly as human populations swell and inefficiently drain precious aquifers. For every 1,000 of us who install faucet aerators and high-efficiency showerheads, we can save nearly 8 million gallons of water and prevent over 450,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each year!
9. Inspire two friends
Last but not least. No, check that -- Last and most important! There's an easy way for you to triple the positive impact you are making with these nine actions and that is to convince two friends to join you in your effort! Just pass a copy of this list to receptive friends or tell them to get their own personal workspace
Join the New Dream Community and start Turning the Tide today
If you'd rather not, is it because of one of the following reasons?
I can't possibly take all nine of these actions. If so, click here
I'm already taking most of these actions. If so, click here
These nine actions don't seem all that important. If so, click here
I still have questions that haven't been addressed. If so, click here
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