Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Green Teen: Clean Air Means More Money?

We've all heard that pollution negatively affects human health--and it makes sense. Things like smog are unnatural, clog your lung like black dust filling it from the inside.

However, efforts to regulate toxins in the air are always pushed back. The reason given for this is that "environmental safeguards will paralyze an economic recovery."

But a study done in 2011 done by the National Bureau of Economic Research makes a good care--that environmental standards can be beneficial for the economy, if you look at the effects of pollution on humans and how that affects their working ability.

The study shows the when the concentration of atmospheric ozone fall by 10 ppb (parts per billion) an agricultural worker's productivity will increase by 4.2%.

This reaches a logical conclusion: that "an investment in human health is an investment in the economy."


Eco-Tip:
With the holidays coming around, everyone's going on mass decorating time. Christmas lights outside the house as well as inside; on the tree, around the living room, etc. The holiday time is one of the times where we use the most energy and it's because sometimes people never turn off their lights until it's time to take them down.
To save some energy and some money, make sure to turn off your lights when it's daytime--no one's going to notice them anyways and you save money. Turn them back on at night, when you can notice them and appreciate them.

iPhone Apps that Help:
This iPhone app decodes al those "green" labels to tell you which products actually help and are green, and which don't. It's called Eco-Labels and lets you know which eco-products are the real deal and which products are just putting it for the good reputation. It costs $0.99, but it is definitely super helpful when shopping!
Also, you can visit Greenchoices.org to get try the alternate version of this app.

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