Essential Skill #53: Skate on Old Tires

Every year, 290 million tires are disposed of in the United States. The problem is that it's illegal to send them to the landfill in 46 U.S. states. Why? Because tires can:

• Contaminate surface-water runoff
• Self-combust, emitting toxic fumes and taking months to burn out
• Attract rodents and insects
• Serve as a breeding ground for dengue fever and encephalitis

So what are we supposed to do with old tires? Follow Essential Skill #53 in the The Live Earth Global Warming Handbook:

Skate on old tires.

"In Washington, D.C.," writes Handbook author David de Rothschild, "the nonprofit East Coast Round Wall Foundation recovered tires from abandoned lots and National Parks, filled them with dirt, and laid them down as the foundation of the Green Skate Lab. After forming the walls of the bowl with tires, workers put down rebar and then poured concrete.

"The result: a 100% volunteer-built skate environment made entirely of reused and recycled materials."

Click this link for more info about how to build a skatepark in your community.

Essential Skill #52: Invent the Antidote

"If Thomas Edison knew how much his lightbulb would someday contribute to global warming, he probably would have kept on going until he invented a solution for carbon emissions," writes author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook.

"Alas, he was an inventor, not a soothsayer. That leaves you, ingenius reader, to solve humanity's biggest challenge."

It's Essential Skill #52 in The Handbook:

Invent the antidote.

Maybe you could alter biodiesel production so that it that doesn't require so much heat. Or maybe you can invent an electric car battery that's smaller, cheaper, less toxic, longer-lasting and faster-charging.

Or probably more realistically, maybe you can tell your representatives in Congress that you want funds allocated to programs in which scientists are already working to solve these and other alternative energy challenges.

More ideas de Rothschild hopes could one day help do the trick include:

• Releasing sulfur particles into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight and heat back into space
• Installing giant mirrors in space to deflect the Sun's rays
• Sink iron to the bottom of the ocean to absord CO2
• Sequester carbon dioxide at the bottom of the ocean

As far-fetched as some of these concepts may sound now, the same could be said of global warming itself, which took years for the world to understand and accept. Anything is possible, including inspired, creative solutions to climate change.