Keep McAllen, Texas Green!

The Initiative:
United Nations 1997 - More than 160 countries ratified the Kyoto Treaty with an objective of reducing greenhouse gasses that cause our climate change. United States and Australia are two that refrained from the ratifying the Treaty.

Determine Your Impact:
Calculate Your Carbon Footprint
or
Calculate your impact

What you can do at Home:

  • Keep damper closed when fireplace not in use. This minimizes the loss of conditioned air.
  • Keep blinds closed on sunny days to keep heat out (especially important on windows or glass doors receiving direct sunlight.)
  • Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. Just by moving your thermostats down 2° in summer, you could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.
  • Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)
  • Plant a tree - It's good for the air, the land, can shade your house and save on cooling (plant on the west side of your home), and they can also improve the value of your property.
  • See more tips

"Green" Travel Tips

  1. Did you know if people recycle 70% of the bottles they purchased for a year, greenhouse gases could be reduced by 20,000 metric tons of carbon equivalence.
  2. The seven number associated with recycled plastic each represents what that product can be recycled into [More information on the Plastic Identification Codes visit American Chemistry Council]
  3. Plan your route before driving can potentially minimize your driving time and save fuel consumption. UPS discovered that waiting for left-hand turns cost their delivery trucks additional 51,000 gallons of fuel than creating routes that led to an average of four right-hand turns for every left. UPS tested the same strategy with average citizens running frequent errands, and it still worked. So take some time to figure out the shortest and quickest route possible to your destination.
  4. Phones, computers, televisions, VCRs, copiers, fax machines, or anything with a battery or a plug are considered as E-wastes. E-wastes can release toxic metals such as mercury and lead into the environment when incinerated.
  5. Cell phones can be returned to your service provider to be reused or recycled.
  6. See more tips