On the 20th anniversary of Earth Day last April, green euphoria reigned. Pledges were made to protect or clean up the environment.

Nine months later, the euphoria has gone as flat as day-old champagne: Those promises didn't all fit into our life styles. Even the most ardent environmentalists have a hard time living what they preach.

In this column, we want to make that easier. Every week, we'll give tips on what you can do to help South Florida's environment.

Ecological issues often seem unmanageable. The solutions are rarely easy.

That's where you come in. We want to hear what you're already doing. We welcome your suggestions, questions and comments. It's time to revive those pledges and work toward them a step at a time.

In the last decade, the air on a handful of days in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties was unfit to breathe.

The biggest culprit was noxious carbon monoxide fumes from cars, and the state is about to try to fix that.

Beginning in April, Florida will require every automobile registered in the three counties and three others -- Hillsborough, Duval and Pinellas -- to have annual emission control check-ups.

Ninety days before a car registration expires, motorists must go to a state-sanctioned check-up center for a $10 test. Dade will have seven centers, Broward six and Palm Beach five.

If your car fails, it must be repaired and rechecked within 30 days. The retest can be done at certified repair stations.

If the repairs are not made, you can't renew your registration. The state will set up a toll-free hot line to answer questions later this month.

But why wait to clean up your car's act? There's a lot that you -- or your mechanic -- can do right now.

The two main culprits for nasty emissions are poor engine maintenance and the removal of emissions control equipment.

So make sure that equipment hasn't been tampered with -- and then, for cleaner emissions, inspect or replace common ignition parts such as points, condenser, distributor cap and rotor as well as spark plugs.

Also, check to see if your air cleaner is dirty or plugged.

Memories of Christmas are fading fast, as are some of the presents.

When your child's remote-control car loses its juice or the walking-talking doll goes on the blink, think twice about tossing the dead batteries.

Here's what's in them: cadmium, lead, lithium, manganese, dioxide, mercury, nickel, silver and zinc. Those toxic materials can leach out of dumps and contaminate ground water.

Forty schools in Dade County held an Assault on Batteries contest over the past few months to encourage children -- and parents -- to properly dispose of the potentially lethal power packs. They collected 6,194 pounds of batteries.

The batteries, along with letters from students, will be mailed to battery companies this month.

"We're going to ship them back to the vendors and tell them to keep them until they figure out a better way to recycle them," said Ed Benson, director of ARISE Foundation, which sponsored the contest.

ARISE couldn't find any place in Dade to recycle these small batteries. But three Broward Wal-mart stores (in Coral Springs, Miramar and Sunrise) have cardboard containers for used batteries in a test recycling program. Another suggestion: Hold onto the batteries until your community has a household hazardous waste clean-up day. If you know of other places, please write to let us know.

One of South Florida's hottest business trends: recycling office paper. Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties have set up programs to give private businesses a step-by-step start-up for recycling.

Steve Hiney, Broward's office paper specialist, estimates that 10 to 15 percent of businesses in the county have established programs in the past 18 months, saving about 9,000 tons of paper a year from the dump.

"Once a program is up and running, it runs like a top," Hiney said.

One potential drawback: Some waste paper recyclers will work only with businesses that have more than 100 employees. But each county has recycling tips for small businesses.

Looking for a manatee? They're watching out for you -- especially your boat.

A record 201 manatees died last year, and boat engines were a major killer. State and county officials are telling boaters to go slowly in manatee hot spots.

The manatees love warm, shallow water with an abundance of sea grasses, a favorite grazing meal for the vegetarians.

Keep an eye out for them in the Little and Oleta rivers in North Dade; the Coral Gables Waterway; Black Creek, near the Turkey Point nuclear power plant in Homestead; the mouth of Miami River near Dodge Island and Rickenbacker Causeway; and Port Everglades in Broward.

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