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NEWS FLASH	April 14, 1999

Many people care about reducing their adverse impact on the environment, but the right choices are not always clear. What's best: Paper or plastic? Cloth diapers or Pampers?

Now, a new study from the Union of Concerned Scientists is providing some answers. The nonprofit organization's researchers analyzed the impact of the choices made by ordinary Americans. And the results, described in a new book entitled The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, contain some surprises.

For instance, don't sweat about fanatically recycling everything or always choosing paper bags. Instead, according to study, the single most effective thing a person can do is keeping gas guzzlers off the road. "Driving less and buying a cleaner car are the best things people can do for the environment," says physicist Michael Brower, co-author of the study. "Because cars cause so much harm, even modest changes matter." Brower explains that cars are responsible for half of the nation's air pollution and a sizeable chunk of the greenhouse gases that are expected to bring global warming.

DIETARY BENEFITS. Next of the list: Eat less meat -- both beef and chicken. Far less land would be needed to produce food, and poultry farms would spew less waste into streams and rivers. In fact, the study calculates that cutting people's average meat consumption in half would slash the amount of land needed for food production by 30% and cut water pollution by 24%.

People can also help the environment by making their houses more energy-efficient and cutting back on lawn pesticides, wood fires, snowmobiling, and tooling around in large powerboats, among other things.

And as for those questions like paper vs. plastic or Pampers vs. cloth? Doesn't make a difference, the study found.

By John Carey in Washington

EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

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