As you know, millions of gallons of oil have been spilled in the Gulf after the BP incident. The New York Times estimates that 145 million gallons have been spilled based on government flow estimates. Maybe we can do something about it.
DoSomething, an organization to empower teens and youth to improve their communities, and SmartPower, a lead marketer of clean, renewable energy, are teaming up for the Weekend without Oil.
Next weekend (August 21-22), the two are asking that you cut your oil consumption to help offset the millions of gallons lost in the Gulf. The two also hope that by cutting down your oil for a few days, you will also see how much you use in daily products.
How are we supposed to cut down? During the Weekend without Oil, you are being asked to commit to doing 11 things. Those things are: walk or ride a bike (carpool at the very most), enjoy the outdoors (without rubber sports equipment because they contain oil), use reusable bags (and avoid plastic), watch what you eat (buy locally, eat less meat), no new make-up purchases, drink tap water (no bottled), no new electronic gadgets, go to the movie or stream them on Hulu (avoid buying DVDs or Blu-Rays), no new clothes (swap instead), go to the library and read a book or get news online (to avoid printing waste), and the last one is the easiest – spread the word. They ask that you get three friends to sign up to help raise awareness.
They hope to get 166,000 people to plead to hold to these actions for this coming weekend. Why the number 166,000? That would “offset 1 million gallons of oil,” said Director James Elbaor, with Special Projects at DoSomething.org. In the long run, they hope to educate young people in order to create a cleaner and healthier tomorrow for everyone.
So what do you think? Could you go a few days without buying a new DVD? With using reusable bags when you buy local produce? Go to the library for a book?
If you are interested in participating, go to Weekend without Oil and sign up.