Sustainability Survives

Sustainability was a big topic at our school last week Friday. We had a fair displaying all the different ways you can become more sustainable. It also had mind blowing numbers. Did you know if you wanted to power a T.V. with a bicycle it would take five people. Who would have guessed a hair dryer takes twelve times as much energy as that T.V.?
There are different methods to becoming sustainable, from reducing energy use to using alternative methods. One interesting alternate energy form was fuel cells. I'm sure you heard of this before, but just that day I really learned how it works. It takes hydrogen gases, H2 and separates them into two separate hydrogen atoms, creating energy in the process. The hydrogen then mix with oxygen, so the byproduct of fuel cells is water, not CO2 emissions.
It can be very easy to ease up on your CO2 consumption. Biking or commuting with someone 3 days for work would save one ton of CO2 from going into the atmosphere. What I find scary is that an average tree only absorbs 3-15 pounds of CO2 a year. Keep in mind how to keep the world clean, if you are trying to get somewhere close, do you really need to take the car? If you keep sustainability in mind, not only will you be helping the environment, but you'll probably save some money as well. Sure we have a lot of trees and resources on this planet, but with deforestation and increased CO2 pollution, how can the Earth keep up?