Essential Skill #43: Reuse the News

"Paper can only be recylced three to five times before its fibers break down," writes author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook. "Each trip to the pulper only delays its ultimate date with a landfill."

So de Rothschild suggests Essential Skill #43 in The Handbook:

Reuse the news.

Of course, this Essential Skill need not apply to those of you who get your news exclusively through electronic media (i.e., the Internet, TV, radio, etc.). You're already way ahead of the curve. Problem is, old habits die hard and there's just something people cannot resist about the feel of holding the news in their hands, turning the pages, clipping the stories. Not long ago, The Watch Team was among them, though we're exclusively electronic-news now. (Though our paper newspaper-neighbors sometimes share theirs with us.)

If you do still get the daily newspaper, here's some of de Rothschild's creative recycling ideas. Use newspaper to:

• Protect fragile items in shipping boxes
• Make paper mache artwork
• Stuff it in your shoes to keep their shape
• Pick up after your dog
• Wrap presents

Click this link for paper mache directions and projects.

Essential Skill #42: Share the Driving

"The average commuter burns 340 gallons a year, creating a 3.4-ton cloud of CO2," writes author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook. "Ride with one extra passenger and you've cut that figure in half. Find one more and you've cut it by two-thirds."

So Essential Skill #42 is all-too obvious:

Share the driving.

Here in Phoenix, most of our freeways have HOV lanes just for carpoolers. If you don't qualify with at least two passengers in the car during specified times during the week, you're subject to getting pulled over. A couple of years ago, a woman argued she was justified, as she was pregnant. Apparently, it doesn't work that way. I'm pretty sure she had a fine to pay.

Getting to be in the carpool lane is such a treat here because so few people actually do it. If you're among them, you're zipping by at two or three times the speed of those unfortunate solo drivers in the other lanes.

Now I know that Phoenix is probably pretty average in terms of carpooling ratio, as 10 percent of Americans do so. That seems about right -- 1 vehicle in the carpool lane for every 10 in the others.

Though saving time getting where you're going is an important incentive for carpooling, it's certainly not the only one. "If one million people carpooled," writes de Rothshild, "1.7 million tons of CO2 would be eliminated per year."

And here's something we didn't know -- " 'Poolers can qualify for discounts of up to 20 percent on insurance ... and your employer may offer sweet incentives like free parking, shortened workdays, salary bonuses and ever cash rewards."

If you don't know anyone heading in your direction, check out CarpoolConnect.com to search for and find someone who is.

Essential Skill #41: Invest Wisely

"Not every profit dollar has to come at the environment's expense," writes author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook. "It is possible to do well by doing good. If you know where to invest, you can save the planet while saving up your nest egg."

It's Essential Skill #41 in the Handbook: Invest wisely.

De Rothschild suggests SocialFunds.com as a great place to start. They not only have investment news, but also two 20-page how-to guides that they'll email to you for free. Click these links to get your free copies of the Community Investment Guide and Mutual Funds Guide.

"By investing wisely," writes de Rothschild, "you will help support companies that are working to solve global warming.

"Turn those green values into greenbacks."

For more info, check out The Motley Food Goes Green and Green Money Journal.

Essential Skill #40: Retrofit Your Career

"Green doesn't mean antibusiness," writes author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook. "It means the planet needs new solutions."

You can be part of these new solutions with Essential Skill #40 in the Handbook:

Retrofit your career.

"Whether you start a company or join one, now is the time to get in on the ground floor of the green boom." Though the possibilities are plentiful, here's CareerBuilder's picks for the "Top 25 Green Gigs":

1) Hydrologist
2) Environmental Engineer
3) Pest Control Technician
4) Conservation Biologist
5) Science Teacher
6) Toxicologist
7) Pollution Control Technician
8) Fund-raising Director
9) Ecologist
10) Camp Counselor
11) Business Manager
12) Economist
13) Forester
14) Environmental Attorney
15) Community Affairs Manager
16) Environmental Health and Safety Technician
17) Landscape Architect
18) Waste Disposal Manager
19) Environmental Chemist
20) Corporate Waste Compliance Coordinator
21) Urban and Regional Planner
22) Agricultural Inspector
23) Wastewater Water Operator
24) Wildlife Biologist
25) Pollution Control Engineer

Click this link to find associated salaries and job openings for the "Top 25 Green Gigs" listed above.

Of course, if you're already in a career that you love, simply find creative ways of incorporating more eco-friendly choices, practices and policies.