It's Easy Being Green

Here is a cool cheat sheet on the 50 easiest ways to help the Earth

There are many easy ways for you, your family and your classroom to go green. Below you can see many of these easy ways. Check the "attachments" area at the bottom of the page for a downloadable version of the "Be Green" tidbits.

Bring your own bag to the grocery store. Most stores now sell reusable bags to replace plastic. But, don’t just take them to the grocery store, every time you shop use reusable bags. VGs, Home Depot, Target and even Wal-Mart sell bags for around a $1 that you can reuse, and save the environment. This keeps plastic bags out our environment and helps save wildlife.

Keep plastic out of your grocery cart. Go for big containers – they create less waste that single serving packages. Choose the concentrate – it saves money, energy and waste. Juice and detergent are a good start. Wrap your meats in paper – catch the butcher behind the counter and wrap your meats in butcher paper. Avoid bottled beverages – water is better for you than soda anyway, so drink it from the tap. Skip the cleaning products – you only need one spray bottle if you make your own earth friendly alternatives. Let your veggies go naked – if you are buying 1 onion, do you really need it in a plastic bag?

Know where your food comes from. The food we eat has a huge impact on the environment. Eating locally produced food cuts down on carbon emissions from transportation. Eat food that is in season in our area. Eat lower on the food chain (more plants, less animals) because meat and poultry production requires higher inputs and creates more waste. If you pass a produce stand or "eggs for sale" sign on your way home...take them up on it.

Compost your food scraps. Small indoor composters are very inexpensive and save tons of waste from going into the landfill or down your garbage disposal straining your drainfield. The new ones don’t even smell and are cost effective at $40. See great options at composters.com

Use Biodegradable or compostable cups and silverware. Plastic utensils and cups are filling up our landfills. There are companies that make environmentally friendly alternatives. Vegware, a British company, creates utensils out of potatoes! www.vegware.co.uk/purchase/cutlery.html  Earth Cup makes hot and cold beverage cups that are completely made from recycled materials and 100% compostable. www.bdfs.net/products/earth_cup This will also keep Styrofoam cups from floating by on your next boat outing.

Run the dishwasher only when full. Make sure you have an Energy Star dishwasher and only run it when full. This not only saves energy, but also water and detergent.

Drink tap water. Bottled water has been shown to be no better than tap water. Save the environment by not purchasing all those plastic bottles. Last year, Americans consumed almost 30 billion bottles of water. Most of the bottles – about 80% - end up in landfills. Laid end to end, those are enough plastic bottles to circle the Earth more than 150 times!

Buy recycled toilet paper. They feel just as good as the other stuff, but save tons of chlorine and conserve millions of trees

Rotate your tires. Rotating your tires on a regular basis and keeping them inflated to the proper PSI saves fuel. This could save you some money to put down on a new hybrid vehicle!

Change your wash routine! Wash clothes only in cold water – they come out just as clean, and don’t waste the hot water. Use Eco Balls to clean laundry – they are cheaper and do not put detergents into the environment. One set can last 1000 washes, that is 6 cents per wash! Find them on Amazon. Go green with dry-cleaning – dry-cleaning chemicals are very harmful to the environment and are toxic to humans. Go to a “green” drycleaner who uses carbon dioxide or Green Earth methods. Line dry your clothes – dryers don’t even come with an energy star rating, that is how bad they are! Make safe all-purpose cleaners – combine 4 spoonfuls baking soda with 1 qt water and put in a spray bottle to clean almost anything. Vinegar is also an excellent cleaner.

Save water! Fix drips and install sink water aerators - saves money and water. Use a low flow shower head and a shower timer – Both save money and water, and a shower timer can be as cheap as $3. Use a barrel to collect rainwater from your downspout – then use it to water your plants. Get them at your local home improvement store or at composters.com   Be green on vacation – decline housekeeping; do you really need 6 new towels every day? Reuse towels and sheets like you would at home; save water, energy and detergents in the environment.

Green your home. Replace light bulbs with CFLs – compact fluorescents last longer and use less energy. When they finally do burn out, look for a recycling center in your area (Home Depot)…don’t throw them out.  Install a programmable thermostat – every degree you dial your thermostat down for 8 hours saves 1% on your bill! Unplug appliances/chargers when not in use. Turn off lights when you are not in a room. Replace weather stripping on doors and windows – keeps cold air in and hot summer air out. Insulate your hot water heater and pipes – it will keep the heat in your house down and help the heater work less. Plant native trees in your yard and invest in house plants – it will provide shade for your house and make oxygen! Install outdoor solar lights – save energy by using the sun. Use a push mower – for a small yard, grandpa had it right, use the old fashioned push mower. Seek a LEED rating for your home or business – a green home uses less energy, water and natural resources, creates less waste, and is healthier for the people living inside. Read more at www.usgbc.org/showfile.aspx?documentid=3356

Save paper! Stop junk mail from coming to your mailbox – go to Opt Out Prescreen or Catalog Choice online to stop the flow of junk mail. Use both sides of computer paper – cut up used paper into scrap paper for grocery lists and phone messages. Use wash rags instead of paper towels – reusing cloth rags to clean counters and messes saves a few bucks and some trees. Use online bankingRead the newspaper online – get an online subscription to your favorite paper or magazine and save money. – opt out of paper statements and use online banking. It is always up-to-date and saves paper.

Recycle! Check out our local recycling resources. Recycling saves natural resources, energy and takes very little effort.

-          The energy saved by recycling 1 soda can saves enough energy to run your TV all night long!

-          Recycling a ton of paper saves 17 trees and 7000 gallons of water.

-          If we recycled every plastic bottle we used, 2 billion tons of plastic would stay out of landfills

-          To make all the bags we use each year, it takes 14 million trees for paper and 12 million barrels of oil for plastic. The production of paper bags creates 70 percent more air pollution than plastic, but plastic bags create four times the solid waste – enough to fill the Empire State Building two and a half times, and they can last up to a thousand years.    Moral of the story – use canvas and bring your own bags to the grocery store!

Recycle electronic gadgets. The Consumer Electronics Association encourages people to recycle their e-waste. Log on to mygreenelectronics.org and find local recycling drop-offs. They also have a cool energy calculator to show how much juice each product uses. Check out the website of the manufacturer for specific recycling instructions.

Save Electricity. Put major electronics on power strips – even when they are “off” stereo equipment, computers and cable boxes continue to draw electricity. Turning off the power strip at night or when you leave reduces your energy use and saves money. Shut off your computer and monitor when you leave work – there is no need to leave it on, so save some energy. Unplug your cell phone once it is done charging – once the light turns green all you are doing is wasting electricity. Use rechargeable batteries – keep dead batteries out of the landfill and save money in the long run.

 

 www.goodmagazine.com/section/transparency/issue/issue008.html

 

The Go Green Website List

Green tips – www.g2bgreen.com     www.thegoodhuman.com     Read up on tips to be greener in your daily life.

Environmental Tips - www.nature.org/activities/everydayenv.html   Get The Nature Conservancy’s Everyday Environmentalist tips or contribute your own!

Eco-friendly products – www.evo.com  Check products that you use every day, or find the “greenest” products for hair care, cleaning, cosmetics and much more.

Green cleaning – www.lowimpact.org   Learn how to make your own green cleaning products.

Energy efficient products – www.iwantcleanair.com   Find energy efficient gadgets, batteries, filters, etc.

Get rid of junk mail – www.catalogchoice.org   Register and select the catalogs you would like to never receive  again!

Hunters and Anglers Confronting Climate Change – www.targetglobalwarming.org   Learn what anglers and hunters can do state-by-state and get the “catch of the day”.

Presidential candidates – www.grist.org   See how green your candidate is.

Web search engine – www.friendsgreen.com    Use this great search engine, and each time you search they will donate money to great organizations to protect the earth, like The Nature Conservancy.

Plant a tree - www.ecolibris.net    Plant a tree for each book you read!