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- Public Support for Environmental Protection
- Americans' concern about the environment has
- grown and intensified since the initial outpouring
- on Earth Day, 1970. Public opinion polls show that
- the environment has become a core value for
- virtually every sector of American society.
- A recent Roper survey found that:
- 78 percent of American citizens think the
- government needs to make "a major effort" to solve
- environmental problems.
- Even before the EXXON VALDES oil spill, 62
- percent thought pollution posed a "very serious"
- threat to American society-up sharply from the 44
- percent who thought so in 1984.
- In 1989-for the first time in 16 years of Roper
- surveys on this issue-a majority said that
- environmental issues should take precedence over
- some other critical issues such as energy.
- The number of people calling pollution one of
- their pressing personal concerns has tripled
- during the 1990's. A 1991 study by Environment
- Opinion Study, Inc., found that 71 percent of
- the public agrees that "improving the quality of
- the environment can create jobs and help the
- national economy." And the Gallup Poll reports
- that 78 percent of Americans now consider
- themselves environmentalists.
- Public involvement in environmental activities
- is also on the rise. The Gallup Poll found that
- 89 percent of U.S. households report voluntarily
- recycling newspapers, glass, or aluminum.
- According to Roper, people who say they regularly
- return beer or soda bottles or cans to a store or
- recycling center increased from 41 percent in
- March 1989 to 48 percent March 1991. The
- percentage who recycle newspapers nearly doubled,
- while the percentage who sort trash to separate
- garbage from recyclable material more than doubled.
- Another example of increased involvement has been
- the growing participation by volunteers in beach
- cleanups. Since 1987, with EPA support tens of
- thousands of volunteers have spent time between
- early September and mid-October on National Beach
- Cleanups coordinated by the Center for Marine
- Conservation and COASTWEEKS. In 1991, more than
- 125,000 volunteers collected nearly three million
- pounds of trash along 4,000 miles of U.S.
- coastline. Information submitted by the volunteers
- on the kinds of trash they found was used to
- encourage U.S. ratification of an international
- ban on dumping plastics at sea.
- Skillful typing requires plenty of practices.
- Repeated exercises can improve your typing skill.
- Can you promise to type this memo by tomorrow?
- Sometimes even the best typists make mistakes!
- Touch typing means typing without looking at the
- keyboard. Many potential employers would love to
- see you, if you could type 50 WPM. Using a PC
- and a good typing program, you can reach this
- goal within 10 weeks, assuming that you spend
- about 30 minutes in practicing every day.
- The Clean Air Act
- Carrying out the mandates of the historic Clean
- Air Act Amendments of 1990 is a complex effort
- made all the more urgent because 74 million
- Americans still live in countries with unhealthy
- air. This number is down 10 million since 1989,
- chiefly because carbon monoxide and particulate
- emissions have been reduced.
- The new law requires EPA to issue 55 major
- regulations and 30 guidance documents and take
- many other actions within its first two years.
- This is a fivefold increase in the pace of
- regulatory activity in EPA's air program. By
- early 1992, EPA had proposed or issued rules
- that, when they take effect, will remove
- two-thirds of the 56 billion pounds a year of
- pollutants that the Clean Air Act promises to
- scrub from the air by the year 2005. This amounts
- to 224 pounds for every man, woman, and child
- in the United States.
- Words are sharper than the serpent's tooth.
- Words are the most powerful drug used by mankind.
- Vocabulary is the best single indication of IQ.
- *** Word Roots and Word Power ***
- About 95% of English words are derived directly
- or indirectly from Latin and Greek, which are
- root-based languages that used word roots to
- represent pictures 5,000 years ago. Just as a
- picture is worth a thousand words, studying words
- by referring to their word roots offers a great
- advantage.
- Linguistic studies have shown that a person can
- significantly improve his verbal skills by
- mastering about 200 word roots. Unfortunately,
- most dictionaries list word origins in the form of
- Latin or Greek words, which are obscure to most
- readers, rather than the actual word roots.
- PC Dictionary uses about 650 word roots and 150
- prefixes. Concise definitions, sense-development,
- and examples of words are presented in each entry.
- Individual word root definitions are also provided
- where appropriate. Great effort has been made to
- bridge the meanings of the root and the word. This
- enables the user to harness the power of word
- roots without any knowledge of Latin or Greek.
- *** The Importance of Word Power ***
- Word power plays an important role in many
- aspects of your life. It is essential that you
- enhance your word power.
- Almost all colleges and universities require
- students to take a verbal test as partial
- requirement for admission. When a student
- graduates from a college and applies for admission
- to a graduate school, he needs to take another
- verbal test.
- A good computerized dictionary can help prepare
- for these tests, if it has the capability to print
- out the selected group of words with definitions.
- Recycling -- the best way to conserve materials.
- Recycling is an easy, effective way for every
- citizen to do something for the environment. It
- helps achieve two important goals: preventing
- pollution and conserving natural resources. The
- portion of municipal solid waste handled through
- recycling and composting grew to 13 percent in
- 1988, the latest year for which information is
- available. The Bush Administration's goal is 25
- percent of the nation's total solid waste
- handled by source reduction or recycling.
- On October 31, 1991, President Bush signed
- Executive Order 12780, requiring all federal
- departments and agencies to procure products
- made with recycled materials wherever possible.
- The order also requires federal agencies to name
- recycling coordinators, whose job will be to
- boost recycling of items discarded by the three
- million federal employees. For its part, EPA is
- recycling 15 times as much waste material as it
- was in 1986. In FY 1991, EPA headquarters
- collected more than 625 tons of paper, 117 tons
- of glass, and more than two tons of aluminum.
- Here are a few tips on good typing habits:
- Place your thumbs slightly above the space bar.
- Use your right thumb to press the space bar.
- Use your right little finger to press 'Enter'.
- Always return your finger to the typing position.
- Capitals: To type a capital letter controlled by
- a finger of the right hand, as H, depress the
- left shift with the left fourth (little) finger
- without moving the other fingers from typing
- position. Hold the shift key down until the key
- for the capital has been depressed; then release
- the shift key and return the finger to typing
- position quickly. Use similar technique to depress
- the right shift for a capital letter controlled by
- a left finger, as G.
- Your fingers should always return to the home keys
- after pressing a key.
- EPA is also taking the following actions:
- Helping consumers understand claims made in
- product labeling and advertising. The Agency is
- working with the Federal Trade Commission and the
- Office of Consumer Affairs to develop national
- guidelines for use of such terms as "recyclable"
- and "recycled content" in product labeling and
- advertising.
- Highlighting the importance of recycling, which
- was the competition category for the first annual
- EPA Administrator's Awards in 1991.
- Cosponsoring a recycling advertising campaign
- with the Environmental Defense Fund and the
- Advertising Council. The 1990 campaign responded
- to 90,000 requests for recycling information.
- Comprehensive recycling programs are now in
- effect in 23 states, with more expected to follow
- soon. The Administration's national goal is 25
- percent of solid waste handled through recycling
- and waste reduction. Latest data available, for
- 1988, put the rate at 13 percent.
- Air pollution is a mist demeanor.
- All art is but imitation of nature.
- All cats are gray in the dark. - Benj. Franklin
- All great discoveries are made by accident.
- All serious daring starts from within.
- Always be sincere, even when you don't mean it.
- An Irish bull is always pregnant.
- A tyrant is worse than a tiger. - Confucius
- Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
- It takes two to make a bargain. - English proverb
- A journey of a thousand miles must
- start with the first step. - Chinese proverb
- Bare words are no good bargain. - John Clarke
- Be both a speaker of words and a doer of deeds.
- Be cheerful while you are alive.
- Better to kill time than have it kill you.
- Business will be either better or worse.
- Sooner or later your hard drive will fail.
- Don't count your files before they are backed up.
- Don't judge a software by it's price.
- California is a fine place to live --
- if you happen to be an orange.
- Committees do harm merely by existing.
- If you don't want to do anything, form a committee.
- A democratic government is of, for, and by the rich.
- Duty is what one expects from others.
- To kill a cock, why use an ok-knife? - Confucius
- Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness!
- Even a small star shines in the darkness.
- Even the boldest zebra fears the hungry lion.
- Every time I lose weight, it finds me again!
- Experience is an accumulation of mistakes.
- Freedom of the press belongs to those that own one.
- Genius is one percent inspiration and
- ninety-nine percent perspiration. - Thomas Edison
- Hawaii is as American as apple poi.
- How can you work when the system's so crowded?
- How do I love thee? My accumulator overflows.
- How many priests are needed for a Boston Mass?
- How many weeks are there in a light year?
- He who knows does not speak. He who
- speaks does not know. - Lao Tzu
- I cried because I had no shoes,
- until I met a man who had no foot.
- I do not fear computers.. I fear the lack of them.
- I don't even know what street Canada is on.
- I don't meet competition, I crush it.
- I don't mind lying, but I hate inaccuracy.
- If it ain't broke, don't fix it. - Ronald Reagan
- If no one uses it, there's a reason.
- If I don't get enough audience, I'll buy them.
- Ignorance transcends architecture.
- Knowledge without common sense is folly.
- Life is like a floating cloud.
- Memory serves wise commanders.
- Midwest farmers are just plain folks.
- Misfortune: The kind of fortune that never misses.
- Money is the best messenger. - Yiddish proverb
- The love of money is the root of all evil.
- EPA's Green Lights Program encourages the use of
- energy-efficient lighting by both companies and
- governments-curbing the demand for energy and
- electricity and curtailing emissions from power
- plants. Guided by the principle that energy
- efficient lighting is "a bright investment in
- the environment," Green Lights promotes energy
- efficiency, pollution prevention, and economic
- competitiveness. EPA estimates that if Green
- Lights were fully implemented, in combination with
- other lighting efficiency programs, companies and
- governments would save more than $18 billion in
- annual electric bills.
- By early this year, more than 400 corporations and
- nine states, the government of the U.S. Virgin
- Islands, and a number of cities and counties,
- hospitals, schools, environmental groups, and
- other institutions had signed up for Green Lights.
- These commitments cover two billion square feet of
- office space-more than the total office space in
- New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas
- and Detroit. EPA estimates that the commitments
- to date, when fully implemented, will save about
- $700 million a year in electric bills and reduce
- air emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide
- and nitrogen oxide by more than seven million
- metric tons a year. The carbon dioxide reduction
- is the equivalent of taking 1.6 million cars of
- the road.