Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.
Use the microwave to cook small meals. (It uses less power than an oven.)
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can.
Turn off appliances and lights when you leave the room.
If it seems Mother Nature is a bit angry these days, you're right. Scientists say extreme weather events have become much more common over the last decade thanks to global warming. Droughts, fires, floods, possibly even record numbers of tornadoes, can be blamed on what we've done to the planet.
Essentially there is a pattern. In fact, a number of patterns that scientists say explains why the weather has become kind of crazy.
It isn't just the heat from global warming. It's what the heat causes to happen.
"We have made a link between global warming and some weather patterns," said Jay Gulledge, senior scientist, Pew Climate Center.
The big one is rain. Warmer temperatures mean more evaporation and more moisture in the atmosphere.
"So you're likely to have more intense rain storms which is more difficult for people to adapt to," said Brenda Ekwurzel, climate scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists.
"When you do get a rain event there is a lot more water in it," said Gulledge.
That's likely why the Midwest has seen two 500-year flood events in the last 15 years, and possibly why there are so many tornadoes -- 1750 so this year -- few short of the record, and the season isn't over.
Scientists also see a link between global warming and those California wildfires because snow packs are melting earlier.
"It's more likely we've created a tinder box condition over the last several decades," said Ekwurzel.
And then there are hurricanes.
"Hurricanes are basically heat engines they are very simple," said John Copenhaver, former FEMA official.
Warm ocean water fuels big storms...And hurricanes have grown in intensity and number over the last decade.
There is no scientific consensus yet on whether global warming can be blamed for the hurricane problem.
But congress was told yesterday that extreme weather events are certainly getting worse.
