Green Was Never This Easy

Want to do your part, but not sure how? Incorporating even a few of these tips will help you do your part.

“Green,” “carbon footprint,” “organic,” “environmentally friendly” – these are all becoming popular buzzwords, and for good reason. Our effect on the environment is becoming  more and more apparent, and everyone should think about revising their lifestyle.

But before you sell your car, trade in your leather jacket for hemp and start reading by candlelight, consider this list of nine tips from MSN.com that make living green a cinch.

1. Save the bees. Habitat destruction, pollution and pesticides are steadily harming birds and insects that pollinate approximately 80 percent of the world’s food supply, says Rose Getch of the National Gardening Association. This equates to about one out of every three bites of food we eat! Help feed pollinators by planting a pollinator garden. Yellow, blue and purple flowers attract bees, while red and orange flowers attract hummingbirds. Check out kidsgardening.com for more information on wildlife-friendly gardening, and helpthehoneybees.com for more on doing your part to counteract decreasing honey bee populations.
   
   
2. Clean naturally. House chemicals can contribute greatly to both indoor and outdoor pollution, from our air to our water supplies. Make a resolution to use more natural cleaners. Try out the Greening the Cleaning line at imusranchfoods.com, or try making your own using common items like lemon juice, vinegar and baking soda. Check out eartheasy.com for some great tips on green cleaning.
   
   
3. Junk the junk mail. Picture how much junk mail you receive every week. Now picture how many trees you could save if you stopped receiving it. Stop being harassed and stop killing trees and remove yourself from the mailing lists of companies you don’t support. Contact the firms yourself, or visit subscription services like greendimes.com or 41pounds.org that can help you ebb the flow of junk mail. For more on junk mail, check out thegreenguide.com. At the very least, recycle the junk mail you do receive!
   
   
4. Air your clean laundry. Take advantage of nice, warm weather, and line-dry your clothes every now and then. You will save yourself money by not using the dryer, and you will also decrease your carbon-dioxide emissions. Along the same lines, run your washer on cold whenever possible, and only wash full loads.
   
   
5. Load up on veggies. According to the Cambridge, Mass., environmental-advocacy group, the Union of Concerned Scientists, meat production is very energy-inefficient. It takes about 16 pounds of grain to produce just one pound of beef. If you’re a meat lover, don’t worry! You don’t have to give it up completely. “You don’t have to be a vegetarian—just take a break once or twice a week,” says group president Kevin Knobloch. “If everyone tried to do something that simple, it could have a huge environmental effect.” Additionally, when you buy food, buy locally, as it is more fuel-efficient. Check out the search engine at localharvest.org to find farms and markets in your area. Finally, use reusable canvas or cloth bags when you shop for food so you can say no to the fateful question, “paper or plastic?”
   
   
6. Lower your energy. "Swap your incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs, and the will use 70 percent less energy than regular bulbs and will last 10 times longer", says Jenny Powers of the Natural Resources Defense Council. To help pick the best bulb for your needs, visit energystar.gov. Also, lessen your “phantom load,” the electricity your appliances use when they are plugged in but turned off, by plugging them into power strips. This way, you can just flip a switch to save money. You can also check with your utility company on whether it offers alternative power options, such as solar or wind power. The Department of Energy offers more information on green power at eere.energy.gov/greenpower.
   
   
7. Recycle electronics. Old electronics help to fill landfills, and they are very easy to recycle. Computer manufacturers like Dell, HP and Apple offer recycling options. You can also consider donating it to a charity – contact the National Cristina Foundation (cristina.org) to find out how. Old cell phones can also be recycled easily. Your cell phone provider may offer a program, or you can stop by your local Staples store to participate in a Sierra Club recycling effort (sierraclub.org/cellphones/). For more information on drop-off centers for rechargeable batteries and cell phones, visit the Call2Recycle program at rbrc.org. For other types of waste, there are community programs that handle hazardous waste or e-waste recycling.
   
   
8. Use the tap, not the bottle. Instead of spending your money on bottled water, and using more plastic in the meantime, drink water from your tap instead. “It takes a lot of oil to make and ship those bottles,” says Jen Boulden, cofounder or the online environmental community, idealbite.com. “And once they’re empty, most wind up in landfills or as litter.” If you’re unsure about your tap water (keep in mind that Americans really do have access to some of the best tap water in the world), buy a water filter.
   
   
9. Save trees. Do what you can to save trees. According to stopglobalwarming.org, the paper industry is the third largest contributor to global warming. If every household in America replaced one toilet-paper roll with a roll made from recycled paper, an astounding 424,000 trees would be saved! By the same token, if every U.S. household bought recycled napkins instead, we could save a million trees. If you want to do more, or you’re not so hot on recycled paper, plant a tree. The National Arbor Day Foundation says that the cooling effect of one healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day! Check out arborday.org to find out which trees are suitable for your climate. If you don’t have the room to plant a tree on your property, there are a lot of organizations that have tree-planting projects.

<< Back to Home