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Conserve resources

The United States has just 4.5 percent of the world's population, but uses 19 percent of the Earth's energy resources.

A lot of the energy we use at home, at school and for our cars comes from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas. Most of our fossil fuel supply was created millions of years ago—much of it even before the dinosaurs were here. The Earth has only a limited amount of these fuels, and humans are quickly using them. By saving energy, the use of fossil fuels can be reduced to make our supplies last longer.

Saving energy conserves other resources as well. It takes a tremendous amount of natural resources (such as water, land, wood and other building materials) to build a power plant. Saving energy delays the need for new power plants and postpones the use of these resources.

You can help

• Use energy efficiently at home, at school and for transportation. Simple things such as car pooling and turning off the lights when you leave the room can make a big difference, if we all pitch in.
• Learn to use energy from renewable resources. Renewable energy is energy that doesn't get used up the way fossil fuels do. Renewable energy sources are sometimes called "green power" because they help keep our planet healthy. An example is solar energy, which uses renewable energy from the sun.