THE WHITE ROOF PAPER

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Sweden is achieving a true balance between humans and nature.

THE WHITE ROOF PAPER
A single page of action you can print & share to help Mother Earth and People to get Along Better. Improve it, print it out and pass it on!
THE WHITE ROOF IDEA: For sunny climes: Install white or light roofs . Replace or repaint dark roofs. Dark roofs absorb heat. White roofs reflect heat off the planet. Paint things white.
THE THICK WALL IDEA: Build with thick walls able to withstand heat, cold & high wind.
THE LIGHT ROAD IDEA: In all climes, use light-colored materials for paving. Asphalt pollutes. Dark pavement acts as hot wires in car windows that melt ice—overheating cities and parking lots.
BURY UTILITIES: Bury utility lines & pipes, reducing outages from storms, live wire hazards & animal deaths, while saving tree litter and fallen trees costs. Ends need for wooden utility poles.
THE CISTERN IDEA: Have your city create covered cisterns to gather runoff water to provide drought insurance & water for public & private gardens, trees, game fields &parks.
THE RAIN BARREL IDEA: Provide strong, covered rain barrels for homes, apartments & buildings to collect rainwater for lawns, gardens, ponds, fountains, & pools.
THE PAPER PRINTING IDEA: Use both sides of the paper for printing whenever possible.
THE COLOR-CODE IDEA: Use color-coded sacks and containers to recycle, world-wide. Example: Red = dangerous materials (batteries, poisons, chemicals, etc.). Green = compostables.
INSTALL DOUBLE-WINDOWS: Require your government to allow only double-glazed windows & efficient insulation in new construction. Make cheap insulation kits available for older buildings.
INSTALL MODERN TOILETS: Install 2-button toilets (uses less water for liquid waste).
THE CO2 ABSORPTION IDEA: Make your city require all new construction & paving to set aside an equal area (on-site or close by) for trees and/or install adequate CO2 absorption towers.
GREEN ROOFTOPS: ALL urban buildings must cover 50% of rooftops with solar panels and/or plants.
THE FINANCIAL SUPPORT IDEA: Make a list of clean, green companies & buy from them.
SHOP & WALK: Have your city create free parking areas with handicap-friendly bike/walk shopping zones. Put bike lanes on roads & highways. (See below, for surface ideas.)
SMOKE EMISSION CONTROL: Smoke emissions from factories,trucks & cars will be fined.
THE AIR CONDITIONER IDEA: Have commercial buildings re-route heat from air conditioners into hot water heating systems & electric generators.
YOU CAN DO MORE!
(1) Use windmills and geothermal energy whenever possible. (2) Place pipes under long drives & pavement to heat water. (3) Duct heat from clothes dryers, freezers & refrigerators into water heaters. (4) Lay brick instead of pavement over utility lines and pipes buried under/across roads, thus easy to find & repair, reducing road repair time/repaving/traffic delays. (5) Boycott products raised on destroyed rainforest acreage. Boycott meat from mass feedlots. (6) Buy “free-roam” eggs & poultry. (7) Eat no big fish, incl. whale, shark & dolphin. (8) Set aside nature preserves in your area. (9) Protect natural predators for wildlife health & control. (10) Ban all wild animal products. (11) Buy organic foods. (12) Plant varieties of trees instead of uni-culturing them. (13) Teach ecology & conservation in schools. (14) Teach children how to grow organic foods. (15) Phase out coal use.
(16) Use big signs showing O2, CO2 & CO levels in high motor traffic areas. (16) Recycle chopped plastic & tire bits into low-impact pavements for sidewalks, bike trails, roads and filter runoff water through natural filters. For fun: use the ampersand (“&”) in informal printing to save paper. YOU CAN LEARN TO LIVE IN PEACE WITH ONE ANOTHER IF YOU CAN LEARN TO LIVE IN PEACE WITH NATURE.  PASS IT ON! Judyth Vary Baker
NOTE: COPY & PASTE THIS ARTICLE INTO MW OR OTHER DOCUMENT PROGRAM: IT WILL FIT ON A SINGLE PAGE. THEN COPY & PASTE INTO EMAILS & SHARE WITH EVERYONE!