Category Archives: gaia

Cleanest Cities In America According To Travel Girl- Grrl I mean

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Travel Grrl, You know the superhero travel agent that flies faster then a speeding Concorde. Well she had a little help from CNN, but I am sure these places are clean. It is just a list however..from 2007 so some of them could have gotten dirty…

http://www.ranker.com/list/cleanest-cities-in-the-us/travelgrrl

Cleanest Cities in the US Cities / Towns

Cleanest Cities in the US

By TravelGrrl

Based on CNN and travelandleisure.com 2007 poll of over 60,000 Americans.
  • 1
    Hennepin County,Minnesota
  • Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome,Lake Harriet,Lake of the Isles,Meeker Island Lock and Dam,Saint Anthony Falls,Target Center,Armatage, Minneapolis,Audubon Park, Minneapolis,Bancroft, Minneapolis,Beltrami, Minneapolis,Bottineau, Minneapolis,Bryant, Minneapolis,Bryn Mawr, Minneapolis,CARAG, Minneapolis,Cedar-Isles-Dean, Minneapolis,Centr
    151.255305644
    Central Time zone
  • 2
    Multnomah County,Oregon,United States
    Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland,Mill Ends Park,Oregon Health & Science University,PGE Park,Pioneer Courthouse,Rose Garden Arena,Arbor Lodge,Argay, Portland, Oregon,Arnold Creek,Ashcreek,Beaumont-Wilshire,Benson Hotel,Brentwood-Darlington,Bridgeton, Portland, Oregon,Bridlemile, Portland, Oregon,Brooklyn,Burnside Triangle,C
    376.584271243
    Pacific Time Zone
    1851-02-08
  • 3
    California,San Diego County,United States
    Cox Arena,Mission Bay Senior High School,Point Loma Nazarene University,University of California, San Diego,Berkeley,Estudillo House,Allied Gardens,Balboa Park,Black Mountain Open Space Park,Black Mountain Ranch,Cabrillo National Monument,Carmel Mountain Ranch,City Heights,Clairemont, San Diego, California,College Area,Colombia,Core,Del
    963.734575856
    Pacific Time Zone
  • 4
    Texas,Travis County,United States
    Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium,Lake Austin,Lake Travis,Mike A. Myers Stadium,Town Lake,UFCU Disch-Falk Field,Arnold Bakery,Austin Community College,Austin History Center,Austin State Hospital,A. J. Jernigan House,Blanton Museum of Art,Brizendine House,Brown Building,Bryker Woods,Camp Mabry,Canyon Creek,Carrington-Covert House,Cathe
    767.283977687
    Central Time zone
    1839-12-27
  • 5
    King County,United States,Washington
    Ballard,Capitol Hill,Qwest Field,South Lake Union,Space Needle,University of Washington,Arthur Foss,Atlantic, Seattle, Washington,Beacon Hill, Seattle, Washington,Belltown,Bitter Lake,Brighton,Broadmoor,Bryant,Cascade,Cedar Park,Central District, Seattle, Washington,Cherry Hill, Seattle, Washington,Crown Hill,Dai Bai Zan Cho Bo Zen
    369.073305723
    Pacific Time Zone
    1851
  • 6
    Colorado,Denver,United States
    Cherry Creek Neighborhood,Denver Mint,INVESCO Field at Mile High,Pepsi Center,University of Denver,Washington Park, Denver,80204,Alamo Placita,Auraria, Denver, Colorado,Berkeley, Denver,Capitol Hill,City Park, Denver,Civic Center, Denver,Colorado Governor’s Mansion,Community College of Denver,Coors Field,CU Online,Denver,Downtown Aqua
    401.189158291
    Mountain Time Zone
    1858-11-22
  • 7
    Charleston County,South County
    Blackbaud Stadium,Charleston Southern University,Family Circle Magazine Stadium,Johnson Hagood Stadium,Market Hall and Sheds,Nathaniel Russell House,Charleston School of Law,Coming Street Cemetery,Dock Street Theatre,Gibbes Museum of Art,South Carolina Aquarium,College of Charleston School of Business and Economics
    461.276882451
    North American Eastern Time Zone
  • 8
    New Mexico,Santa Fe County,United States
    College of Santa Fe,Georgia O’Keeffe Museum,Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
    96.8655553266
    Mountain Time Zone
  • 9
    Hawaii,Honolulu County,United States
    Aloha Tower,Falls of Clyde,Hawaii Tokai International College,Les Murakami Stadium,Stan Sheriff Center,Waik?k?,Alewa Heights,Halawa,Hawaii Kai,Honolulu Zoo,Iroquois Point,Kahala,Kakaako,Kalihi,Kapolei,Makiki,Manoa,Moanalua,Moiliili,National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific,Neal S. Blaisdell Center, Honolulu,Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii,Salt L
    271.948751585
    Hawaii-Aleutian time zone
  • 10
    Cook County,Illinois,United States
    add comment
    Edison Park, Chicago,Lincoln Square,

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Do NOT, and I repeat do not ask me to explain this last choice… I was totally with it up until number 10. More tomorrow.

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The Cleanest Beaches Anywhere – I never expected there would be a website

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OK so I did the dirtiest beaches so now I have to reciprocate. Actually the dirtiest beaches were not all that dirty and were faulted mainly for not sending warning notices…though I know there are some in California where you are actually swimming in sewage. Then there are the people who swim off Long Island and New Jersey. Yuck.

http://www.cleanbeaches.com/index.html

CBC Releases List of Clean and Healthy Beaches
Gulf of Mexico Environmental Disaster Has Devastating Effect on Qualifying Coasts in Mississippi and Alabama

(Washington, DC) – The Clean Beaches Coalition released its annual list of beaches which have been officially certified as clean, healthy and environmentally well managed.  However, the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster has had devastating effects on past qualifying shores in Mississippi and Alabama. Walter McLeod, founder of the Coalition noted, “My family has vacationed in the impacted region for years, and will continue to support a “special way of life” we have come to love.”

This year beaches in nineteen states and U.S. territories, including American Samoa, California, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin, are on the list. (See complete list below).

For generations, American families have traveled to the shore for the simple pleasure of playing on sandy beaches, boating on the open seas, or swimming with our children.  Every year Americans make over 2 billion visits to ocean, gulf, and inland beaches.  Beach recreation and tourism are estimated to contribute over $640 billion annually to the U.S. economy. However, the environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico will have devastating effects on our coastal heritage for generations to come.

“The devastation in the Gulf of Mexico has crystallized the importance of clean beaches to Americans” stated Walter McLeod, founder of the Clean Beaches Coalition.  He pointed to the Blue Wave Program as a symbol of the need to protect our beaches.  Blue Wave is the first environmental certification program for beaches in the U.S.  Now in its 11th year, the program is recognized as a reliable benchmark for well-maintained beaches.

Press Release/2010 Clean Beaches List

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Check it out. More tomorrow.

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How About Cleanest Cities – Forbes is at it again

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http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/16/worlds-cleanest-cities-biz-logistics-cx_rm_0416cleanest.html

Urban
Which Are The World’s Cleanest Cities?
Robert Malone, 04.16.07, 12:10 PM ET

pic
In Pictures: The World’s Cleanest Cities

There is clean and then there is clean. In the world, as a rule of thumb, the North is clean and the South is dirty. Indeed only two of the top-25 cleanest cities in the world are below the Equator–Auckland, New Zealand, and Wellington, New Zealand.

The cleanest cities are largely located in countries noted for their democracy and their industrialization. The only Asian cities represented are in Japan. There are no top-25 clean cities in South or Central America, Africa and Australia. The U.S. has five of the top 25; Canada, a strong five, with the top spot its city of Calgary; Europe has 11 of the top 25; and Japan has three.

The 25 cleanest cities are located in 13 countries. It may not be accidental that these countries are among the highest in purchasing power parity according to the World Development Indicator database of the World Bank. Twelve are in the top 20, and only New Zealand lags in wealth, at No. 37 on the list of world’s wealthiest. So clean may also mean well-off.

In Pictures: The World’s Cleanest Cities

To be clean a city has to face and solve many problems that otherwise lead to unsanitary conditions and poor health as well as possible economic stagnation. Producing energy for industry, homes and transportation has to be planned and executed reasonably, and this means some form of regulation and control.

To be clean means organizing what is done with waste. Landfills are being closed or filled up. Recycling is the only long-range answer, but this takes civic discipline, a system and preferably a system that turns a profit. Green only works well when it results in greenbacks.

In addition a city has to look closely at its transportation infrastructure (roads, rail, air, subways) and their impact upon being clean or going dirty or staying dirty. The logistics infrastructure is also critical in terms of efficiency that can translate into money and fuel savings that in turn affect cleanliness (air quality, water quality and ground quality).

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More tomorrow.

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Cleanest Places On Earth – I promised I would follow up

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I had my doubts on Friday whether I would find any lists of the cleanest anything. But if a polluter advocate like Forbes has them, everyone must.

Environment

The Cleanest Countries In The World

Christopher Helman, 04.21.10, 12:00 PM EDT

Europeans getting a shower of ash might disagree, but researchers rate Iceland tops in environmental performance.

Iceland is the cleanest country in the world. This may be hard to believe right now, what with the clouds of volcanic ash grounding flights across northern Europe, but according to researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, the Nordic island ranks first out of 163 countries on their Environmental Performance Index.

Researchers ranked countries based on 25 indicators, including water and air quality, greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of the environment on the health of the population. (For more detail on the methodology, click here.) A score of 100 is excellent. Sierra Leone ranks at the bottom of the list with a score of 32. The U.S. ranks in the middle of the pack with 63.5. Iceland took top honors with a score of 93.5 thanks to ample clean water, lots of protected nature areas, good national health care and a plenitude of usually clean geothermal power.

Slideshow: The World’s 10 Cleanest Countries

Will Eyjafjallajokull wreck Iceland’s rating the next time the academics run the numbers in 2012? The answer is no. “We do not score natural disasters,” says Daniel Esty, a professor of environmental law at Yale who heads up the EPI and wrote the acclaimed book Green to Gold. The index is weighted to metrics that track how governments are performing relative to environmental policy goals, such as access to adequate sanitation and water, habitat protection and industrial emissions. The amount of sulfur dioxide released from fuel usage counts, not what’s put out by volcanoes.

There are two paths that can take a country to the top of the EPI rankings. First, a country could be gifted with a rich endowment of clean water, diverse biology and not have sullied it with rampant industrialism. That’s how Cuba, Colombia and Costa Rica placed so high.

Alternatively, a country could have industrialized and polluted its environment, but eventually gotten rich enough to start cleaning it up. That’s the case with the European countries that make up more than half of the top 30.

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More Tomorrow

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The Most Polluted Places On Earth – This from the Huffinton Post

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I am not sure if I agree with the list below, but if you can only pick 9 when there are that many in the Old Soviet Union alone. Well then:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/31/photos-most-polluted-plac_n_693008.html

9 Of The Most Polluted Places In The World (PHOTOS)

Huffington Post |  Barbara Fenig First Posted: 08-31-10 08:26 AM   |   Updated: 09- 1-10 01:55 AM

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From the highways of Los Angeles to the Citarum River of Bandung, Indonesia, earth’s most polluted city of Linfen, China to the streets of London, the world is laden with man-made pollution. Chemical, air, water and oil pollution ruin the environment, cause premature deaths, spoil the world’s resources and worsen climate change.

As the world’s population soars to nearly 7 billion, we here at HuffPost Green decided to take a virtual tour of some of the world’s most polluted places. Check out our slideshow of nine of the most polluted places in the world. Find out which city’s death rate surpasses its birth rate by 260 percent. Or which city has 50,000 people die prematurely each year due to man-made air pollution. As always, we want to hear from you. Tell us what you think in the comments.

Linfen, China
1 of 10

Linfen, China is the most polluted city on earth. According to Mother Nature Network, if one puts laundry out to dry, it will turn black before finishing drying. Located in China’s coal belt, spending one day in Linfen is equivalent to smoking three packs of cigarettes. 3 million people are affected by Linfen‘s coal and particulates pollution, which is residue from automobile and industrial emission

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Only one of nine. Please go see the rest. More tomorrow

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The Face Of Global Warming – World food shortages and fires

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It is jam band Friday – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD2zkvE_uQg

Well it has started. The SUN came back on and the nearly 3 year solar “quiet” has ended. The next 11 years could be some of the most fascinating and horrific witnessed since WWII, WWI, or the Civil War here in America. I am not jumping for joy or anything but we are going to get closer to the Sun at the same time and our tip towards the Sun…what we call summer is going to “tip” a little more, so it will probably get hot pretty fast. This isn’t bad for a warm up so to speak…But if you want to close your eyes and pretend it isn’t happening you can’t do better then Kelly Clarkson.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4sJMcgeDe0&feature=related

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http://www.theage.com.au/world/russia-bans-grain-exports-as-drought-consumes-crops-20100806-11ohl.html

Russia bans grain exports as drought consumes crops

ANDREW KRAMER, MOSCOW

August 7, 2010

Heatwave, drought and now the wildfires, like this one in the western region of Ryazan, are the worst in Russia's modern history. <i>Picture: AFP</i>Heatwave, drought and now the wildfires, like this one in the western region of Ryazan, are the worst in Russia’s modern history. Picture: AFP

RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has banned all exports of grain after millions of hectares of wheat have withered in a severe drought, driving up prices around the world.

Russia is suffering the worst heatwave since record-keeping began here, more than 130 years ago.

”We need to prevent a rise in domestic food prices, we need to preserve the number of cattle and build up reserves for next year,” Mr Putin said in a meeting broadcast on television. ”As the saying goes: reserves don’t make your pocket heavy.”

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Must take a music break.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ7FWZcwotM:}

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The abrupt ban – earlier this week, a deputy agricultural minister had said no such measure would be taken – shows Mr Putin retains the right to marshal state power in defence of Russian interests.

Russia’s emergencies minister has warned that the wildfires raging in the west of the country could release radioactive particles from land contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Sergei Shoygu said laboratories were monitoring a potential release of contaminants in Bryansk region, on the border with Ukraine. The region was sprayed with caesium-137 and strontium-90 after the Chernobyl explosion in 1986.

”In the event of a fire there, radionuclides could rise together with combustion particles, and a new zone of pollution will appear,” he said.

The wheat export ban is widely seen as a move to address rising resentment over the heatwave and the fires.

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Go to the article to read the rest. I can’t go on. More next week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svxP2LjBg_4:}

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The Intelligent Optimist – Who knew

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Pretty cool magazine and pretty cool article:

http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/64/passive-power-house/

Passive House: Super energy efficient housing

Ursula Sautter | June/July 2009 issue

The Smith House, in Urbana, Illinois, “has a simple, compact shape that conserves energy,” says its architect, Katrin Klingenberg.
Photo: Passive House Institute US

How a new kind of home which produces more energy than it consumes, can drastically reduce fuel bills and CO2 emissions. Governments around the world are scrambling to address the twin crises of our times—the recession and climate change—by investing in infrastructure and green energy projects. The Obama administration’s stimulus package, for example, contains billions in incentives for alternative power sources and energy-efficiency increases affecting millions of homes. The question is how to identify “shovel-ready” projects that can quickly deliver the economic boost and CO2 reductions we so urgently need. Rolf Disch, an architect and environmentalist in Freiburg, Germany, has an answer: houses that produce more energy than they consume.

“What if each house became a power plant, if it created even more energy than it used internally?” Disch, 65, first asked himself 15 years ago. To design that home, he built on the ideas of the “passive house” movement that started in Europe in the early 1990s. Instead of relying on the electricity grid for power, a passive house taps available energy sources—sunlight, the body heat of occupants, even the thermal gains created by ordinary domestic activities such as cooking, bathing and using electrical appliances. The building is well-insulated and airtight so it retains most of this energy and, through highly efficient heat-exchange ventilation technology, uses it to cool itself in summer and heat itself in winter. The houses are called “passive” because most of the power consumed is collected from ambient energy in the environment. When extra juice is needed, renewable power units supply it, like the solar array on the roof of the residential and commercial complex Disch built in Freiburg in 2004.

“I only ever had to switch on the heating once,” says Stefan Sattler, a 32-year-old lawyer who has rented a penthouse in the Disch-designed complex since October of 2007. Even then, Sattler only needed the extra heat—purchased from the local heating grid—for two or three hours. Since he and his fellow residents sell the surplus energy produced by the building’s solar panels back to the city’s utility provider at a profit, Sattler is one of the few people who opens his utility bills with real glee. He’s earning money from solar power rather than paying for oil or gas. The average unit in the Freiburg complex earns $5,075 a year this way instead of spending $4,625.

Passive homes can save consumers a bundle in fuel bills—and the planet even more in CO2 emissions. According to the German Passive House Institute (PHI), founded by physicist Wolfgang Feist, who co-created the passive house concept, energy consumption can be reduced by up to 90 percent compared to average homes, up to 75 percent compared to newer buildings. While an existing home uses some 160 kilowatt-hours in heating energy per square meter of living space (kwH/m2) annually, residences built to the passive house standard use a maximum 15 kwH/m2.

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More Tomorrow

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Gail Record And The Clarewood Farm – What a hit

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Springfield-IL/Clarewood-Farm-Bakery/122955644396840?v=wall

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http://www.sj-r.com/features/x487935616/Kathryn-Rem-Clarewood-Farm-Bakery-offers-healthful-baked-goods

Kathryn Rem: Clarewood Farm & Bakery offers healthful baked goods

Posted Jul 27, 2010 @ 10:09 PM

What you may not know, if you buy baked goods from Gail Record at either of Springfield’s two farmers markets, is that she goes to a lot of trouble to make sure the ingredients she uses are locally sourced and grown either organically or in a sustainable manner.

Although she lives in Springfield, some of her ingredients are grown at Clarewood Farm — her family’s 80-acre farm near Loami. Other ingredients, including eggs, come from area farmers.

“When I started working at the farm, I wanted an apple orchard and nut trees and vegetables and fruit and I wanted to bake. I had big ideas. But you have to have time to do it,” said Record, a grandmother who sells under the name Clarewood Farm & Bakery.

The first-year farmers market vendor and former food writer hasn’t given up on her dream of running a thriving sustainable farm, but she’s starting small.

Take flour, for example.

She wanted to grow an acre of wheat, which she planned to make into flour for her whole-wheat baked goods. But when she realized how labor-intensive and difficult growing wheat would be, she decided to buy wheat berries from an organic farm in Chenoa and grind them herself.

Her stand — Saturdays only at the Old Capitol Farmers Market and Thursdays at the Illinois Products Farmers Market — sells cookies, muffins, zucchini bread, granola, scones, whole-wheat tortillas and other goodies. Fruit pies will be offered in the fall.

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Try some:

Hey Springfield Area Locavores,

1)      The Illinois Specialty Growers Association sponsors the Farmers Market Tent at the State Fair.  They are looking for any volunteers to help out with sales. The hours are 11:00-7:00 with breaks as needed to walk around the fair, eat, etc.  Products sold include apple cider slushies, peaches, cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches, ice cream, salads and egg-on-a-stick!    Past volunteers almost always return as they enjoy working this tent.  You will be serving the produce and collecting money.  No rocket science involved, just good ole’ fun!  Thanks for considering.

Please contact Diane Handley by email or phone if you are interested. Diane Handley , Illinois Specialty Growers Association 309-557-2107, handley@ilfb.org

2)       If you have not heard yet, tomorrow night, August 29th, Augie’s Front Burner is hosting a bonus “Local Flavors Dinner” in addition to the regularly scheduled “Local Flavors” lunches and dinners. The menu for the dinner at Augie’s is attached. For reservations call, 217-544-6979.

3)      In celebration of National Farmers’ Market Week Illinois Stewardship Alliance will be distributing free bags of wheat flour at Springfield’s farmers’ markets. Illinois Stewardship Alliance is partnering with the Industrial Harvest project to distribute wheat flour that was purchased through the Chicago Board of Trade as part of a project to learn more about how commodities travel through the system and ultimately give the flour a story. Illinois Stewardship Alliance will distribute the flour at the Old Capitol Farmers Market on Wednesday, August 4 and Saturday, August 7 and at the Illinois Products Farmers Market on Thursday, August 5.  Both white and whole wheat flour will be given away in bags with 3 – 4 cups of flour each.  Stop by and get some free wheat flour!

Sincerely,

Wes King

Illinois Stewardship Alliance

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More tomorrow.

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Take The Energy Pledge – But check appliance and other claims carefully

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As has been reported the Energy Star Program has some fraud going on.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/nb_10153_12605_NB_showPledge?adCell=W4

I will do my part to save energy and help fight global warming. I pledge to:

I pledge to…

Switch out at least one energy-inefficient light in my home with an ENERGY STAR qualified one. lights (max. 50)

learn more >

If every American home replaced just one light with an ENERGY STAR light, we would save about $700 million in annual energy costs while preventing 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to the emissions from about 800,000 cars.
Switch out my energy-inefficient appliances with ENERGY STAR qualified appliances for my kitchen and laundry (select all that apply):

learn more >

Sears has the largest selection of ENERGY STAR qualified appliances. If every refrigerator, dishwasher and clothes washer purchased in America this year were ENERGY STAR qualified, we would save $640 million in energy costs while preventing 4.5 billion pounds of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the emissions of 385,000 cars.
I plan to switch out the above appliance(s) within the next (select one):

learn more >

Sears is the first national retailer that is recognized as part of the Responsible Appliance Disposal (RAD) Program in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Refrigerators and room A/C units contain freon and are recycled through the RAD program. If every refrigerator being replaced was recycled properly, Americans would prevent 8 billion pounds of GHG emissions, equivalent to the emissions of 700,000 cars.
Switch out my energy-inefficient electronics with ENERGY STAR qualified electronics (select all that apply):

learn more >

Sears also has a large selection of ENERGY STAR qualified electronics. If all electronics purchased in America this year were ENERGY STAR qualified, we would save more than $300 million in annual energy costs while preventing 4 billion pounds of greenhouse gases, equivalent to emissions from more than 350,000 cars.
Optimize the energy-efficiency of my home heating and cooling. I will:
Switch out my energy-inefficient heating and cooling equipment with ENERGY STAR qualified equipment (select all that apply):

learn more >

Sears provides both a wide variety of ENERGY STAR qualified heating and cooling equipment as well as servicing. If every American home optimized the energy efficiency of its heating and cooling system, sealed all obvious leaks and added insulation, we would save more than $15 billion in annual energy costs and prevent more than 75 billion pounds of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the emissions from more than 15 million cars.

learn more >

Sears will help you find and submit rebates available in your state to make sure you get the most money back on your purchase. Check out the Rebate Map on our website or ask a Sears Blue Crew Associate for information.

learn more >

Thanks to customers like you, Sears received the EPA’s 2010 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award. Everyday more people choose a Sears ENERGY STAR QUALIFIED product and join millions of Americans, who prevented 45 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2009 alone with the help of ENERGY STAR qualified products. With more ENERGY STAR qualified appliances than anyone, the Responsible Appliance Disposal program, and hassle-free rebates, Sears makes going green easy.

Tell Us About Yourself

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Would you like to receive quarterly emails from ENERGY STAR with energy savings tips?
Would you like to receive offers, updates and sale alerts from Sears?

Take the Pledge for a chance to win a suite
of Kenmore ENERGY STAR® qualified appliances.
See official rules See what you can win

By taking the Pledge, you acknowledge and agree that: 1) Your personal information submitted as part of the ENERGY STAR Pledge will be shared with both the EPA and with SEARS and 2) that EPA’s use of your personal information shall be governed by the EPA’s Privacy Policy, and Sears will handle your information in accordance with the Sears Privacy Policy.

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More tomorrow.

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