Essential Skill #51: Dig a Very Deep Hole

"Is your gas-guzzling furnace robbing you blind each winter?" asks author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook. "Do you fear that your air-conditioner may be causing those rolling blackouts? Are solar panels not an option at your Scandinavian winter retreat?"

Then Essential Skill #51 in The Handbook is for you:

Dig a very deep hole.

From this hole comes geothermal energy, using the temperature of the earth to heat or cool your home! We'll warn you now though -- the initial investment doesn't come cheap at an estimated $7,500 or more. But you're going to be cutting down on your emissions by as much as 40 percent, which will inevitably be reflected in your bank account for years to come.

In the words of de Rothschilds, here's how it works:

"A geothermal pump brings water (or water and antifreeze) up through pipes sunk into the ground. In the winter, when the ambient air is cooler, the water absorbs the Earth's heat, which is then concentrated by unobtrusive in-house equipment to warm your environment.

"In summer, the system acts as a heat sink, taking heat from your home's ambient air into the cooler ground. You need only add energy to power a compressor and heat exchanger."

Ninety percent of the homes in Iceland run on geothermal power. And for every million homes that use it, we cut 4.4 million tons of annual emissions.

For more details, click the following for info on How To Heat and Cool a Home With Geothermal Power.

Essential Skill #50: Bamboo Your Life

"Bamboo and trees both sequester CO2 in their roots and branches as they grow," writes author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook. "But bamboo stores more CO2 and generates 35 percent more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees."

Thus Essential Skill #50 in The Handbook:

Bamboo your life!

From bamboo furniture, to bamboo flooring, to bamboo utensils, to fabrics for bamboo linens and bamboo clothes, this wood alternative is versatile too. And instead of the years it takes to grow a tree, bamboo is a grass that grows in just a matter of days -- as much as 2 to 3 feet in just 24 hours! So while chopping down trees means deforestation, chopping down bamboo means clearing the way for another harvest.

Benefits of bamboo include:

• Sequestering CO2
• Reducing rainforest deforestation
• No fertilizer or pesticides necessary
• Stabilization of the soil

"If we planted one million acres of bamboo, we would eliminate up to 4.8 million tons of CO2 per year," writes de Rothschild in The Handbook. If you want to help, cut down on your wood consumption and buy bamboo when you can.