Cleaner Air and Environment

All fossil fuels that are burned to produce energy emit toxins and chemicals into our air that are not good for life on planet Earth. Some of these emitted materials are heavier than the clean air we breathe and so they come back down to earth again. Some fall from the pull of gravity, some fall when the rain washes out particles on it’s way to the earth’s surface. Either way the toxins end up as part of our soil and ground water systems, and eventually are ingested by living, breathing, eating, drinking creatures on the planet.

The chemicals and toxins that are lighter gasses remain in the Earth’s atmosphere where they can be taken into our bodies as we breathe or wreak havoc on the fragile balance of Earth’s protective and life-giving atmospheric layer.

The positive effects of driving fossil fuel powered vehicles less as we go through our daily routines is obvious. Less toxins and disruptive chemicals in our air, water, earth, plants, animals and US!  

'Green' Social Networking

We meet most of the people that become our friends through our work, hobbies and interests outside of our homes. By becoming part of a network of businesses, individuals and groups that are concerned with the health of our planet and it’s inhabitants, we extend our personal social boundaries to include new territory.

The DD1D group that is established at the workplace, gives workers and their families a way to socialize in a manner that is not ‘work-related’. A new level of personal bonding is in place that now includes people that may not have been inside of a ‘work-friends’ circle. The workplace enjoys an added level of positive worker interaction.

This same process also relates in the schools, civic groups and families as the shared “making a difference” efforts bond all participants in a new way that makes the previous bonds even stronger. 

Positive Health Benefits

The potential benefits to a DD1D participant in the areas of personal health are many and varied with individual. An increase in physical activity is known to help reduce excess weight; improve heart function, lung capacity; increase the sense of wellbeing and self-image among others. Arriving at a destination using mass transit involves walking from one’s home to the link-up point. The person who walks to work, a neighbor’s home to car pool or rides their bicycle will enjoy the benefits of even more physical activity. Most folks can do well to improve in some area of their personal health and those who are already in great physical condition can act as role models for others by participating. 

Obesity, diabetes, asthma and other maladies are reaching epidemic proportions in the United States. A cleaner environment and an increase in physical activity will bring all of these back under control.

Enhanced Community Image

When a business, agency, group or individual exhibits a concern for the well being of the place that they live and those that live there, the local population feels a increased level of compassion for that person, business or group.

   Companies, civic groups and others proudly display the symbols of the ‘good deeds’ and ‘helping hands’ they support in what they perceive as their communities. This community can be a neighborhood, city, region or even the entire human race. A positive image not only increases positive self-image but also the ‘bottom line’ for charities and businesses. As we all know, people are most likely to spend their time and money in a place where they feel appreciated and valued. A group that displays a commitment to, and acts as a  positive force in, the community, is always made to feel welcome and valued by its residents and visitors.

Lower Health Care Costs

Cleaner air brings a lower incidence of respiratory ailments such as environmental asthma. Cleaner water means the body doesn’t have to expend energy guarding itself from toxins or finding places to store them. The immune system can eliminate attackers, even cancer cells, when it does not use all of it’s energy protecting us from toxins in our food and water.

A person who exercises regularly (even just walking a few blocks per day) carries less body fat, experiences better circulation, lower blood pressure and increased lung capacity. This makes for improved over-all health, which means fewer doctor’s visits and medications.

Businesses who have a health-conscious approach to their employees, and offer healthier options to them, reap rewards in lowered health care costs / insurance rates. And, a healthier workforce is a happier workforce. People can unite in a positive way in the cause of making themselves, and the planet, healthier.

Smaller 'Carbon Footprint'

‘Carbon footprint’ has become a buzz-word these days. It essentially means how much natural resources you use and pollution you create in the course of daily activities. These activities can be anything from driving the kids to school to industrial manufacturing. Every time we start our vehicles, lawn mowers, water heaters, boilers, furnaces, room lights, computers some type of power in required. In today’s world much, if not most, of that power comes from the burning of fossil fuels ( coal, gas, oil, wood, etc.) that emit carbon and other elements into our atmosphere.

It is generally accepted that vehicles expel a huge percentage of this carbon, and other toxins, into our world each and every day. The math is simple. If you did not use your automobile, truck, motorcycle one day per week when you normally would. That lessens your contribution to the world’s vehicle pollution by a factor of 1/7, or almost 15%!!

Imagine a 200 lbs person who lost 15% of their body weight. That would bring them to weighing 170 lbs instead of 200, potentially the difference between mildly obese and at a ‘target weight’ for that individual. Perhaps taking them out of the ‘heart-attack prone’ population and putting them into a more healthy category. The same can be true for our home, everybody’s home, Earth.