Toyota | Congress | House of Representatives | U.S. Public Interest Research Group

Give power cords a tug. There’s still a little something surging through all those electric cords around your house after you turn off your appliances. “Between 10 and 40 percent of energy used is actually used when the appliance is turned off but still plugged in,” says Novacovici.
 

Take public transportation when you travel, or if you must drive, rent a hybrid vehicle. How much does a hybrid really save? A Toyota Prius emits four tons of greenhouse gases and uses 7.4 barrels of petroleum per year, while a Toyota Camry emits 7.7 tons of greenhouse gases and uses 14.3 barrels of petroleum annually.

Lend your voice to the earth by encouraging your local representatives “to support a national mandatory cap on ­global-warming pollution,” says Ben Dunham, staff attorney for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “The biggest step … an individual can take is to [ask] their member of Congress to support a science-based solution to global warming.” Two bills currently under consideration in Congress are the Safe Climate Act in the House of Representatives and, in the Senate, the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act.