Do you realize that Year 2005 was full of weird natural disasters and Just Generally Bad News? Did you feel it was significantly hotter and uncomfortable throughout the year and even until today? Remember these?

• Hurricane Katrina
• Asian Tsunami
• Influenza
• Rising Oil Prices
• Reclining Animal Populations
• African Droughts

Earth is going overtime and getting overused. We have been taking too much and too quickly from it that our ocean food supplies are depleting, sea levels are increasing, energy prices are increasing, more people are starving and getting sick, more disasters occurring in the last decade than in the entire last century. Time is running out for us and our children if we want to continue our human existence on Earth.

Energy demand and supply is one of the root issues of the environmental problems. Because of our growing need of energy, the Earth and our wallets are exploited. Prices of transportation, food, healthcare, public services increase. At the same time, most of us have been ignoring alternative and renewable energy sources, such as solar and chemical recycling.

I drive an automatic petrol car in the city, the Honda City 1.5 VTEC. Among many other reasons, I chose this car because of its fuel efficiency (15KM/L average) and low environmental emissions. The next car my family will drive and what I’ll recommend to others to buy will be hybrid cars. Such cars use less petrol and emit less junk into the atmosphere, and will help in our monthly expenses.

Here are some tips on how you can save using petrol in your vehicles:

• Don’t run the engine idle for more than two minutes.
• Do pump fuel early in the morning or at night when the fuel is more dense.
• Don’t lose the fuel cap.
• Do practise engine braking, avoid braking and accelerating unnecessarily and maintain constant speed.
• Do clean and check the air intake filter and spark plugs regularly.
• Do maintain adequate air pressure in the tyres.
• Don’t carry extra weight, e.g. bags, bottles, boxes.
• Do choose a hybrid as your next vehicle.

On May 24 2006, an excellent movie is opening, called “An Inconvenient Truth”. I’ve watched the trailer and true to its taglines, it shocked me. The movie will reveal and promote awareness of the effects of global warming and how crucial it is for us to take action. Watch it (instead of Mission Impossible III) and do what you can to save our existence.

<URL:http://www.climatecrisis.net/>

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