Everyone living on this planet should do their part in helping our environment. If we Go Green, our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will all benefit from small steps we all take today. The lame excuse of "I'm just one person, so why should I try? Do you want clean air and water? Where will your garbage go when there is no more room in the landfill? Do you want to go without air conditioning when it is 100 degrees outside? That nasty carbon footprint each and every one of us leaves does not disappear when we are gone, and what we use now may not be there for our descendants.Go Green and your contribution, however small, will make a difference now and for future generations.
Simple Go Green Things You Can Do To HelpCut back on driving by pooling with others. Combine multiple trips into one by making a "round trip" with individual stops for necessities. Plan your route ahead, bank, grocery store, pharmacy, etc, so you can accomplish all your errands in one trip. If you commute, check the local news before you leave to avoid traffic jams. Emissions are eight times greater in slow traffic than at regular speeds.
Check your tire pressure. Soft tires lower your fuel efficiency.
Do NOT top off your gas tank when it is hot. The excess gas may spill out and fumes will add to pollution and waste fuel.
Sell the gas hog and get a hybrid. If you absolutely cannot live without your SUV or truck, use it only when absolutely necessary. Better still, ride a bicycle! The health benefits are worth it. Or, use public transportation.
Stop wasting food! Left-overs are not "bad" unless you forget to refrigerate them. A lot of resources go into the food we buy: water, land, fuel, minerals; and the food scraps we throw away take up nearly a quarter of landfills.
Famine is not just an "over there" problem, it can easily strike anywhere if climate, or even economic problems occur. Crops growing in California may not make it to your supermarket if diesel prices soar to the point of making tomatoes sell at $5.00 a pound. Locally grown produce, and produce you grow yourself is far more self sustaining. Do what you can to help feed yourself, the less you have to rely upon the grocery store, the more you are doing to help sustain our natural resources.
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Unplug electrical devices when not in use! Chargers for cellphones are a good example of power "vampires". They draw electricity, but if not charging the cellphone, the electricity is used for nothing. Same with televisions, computers, vcr's and other electric devices.
Purchase energy efficient appliances. Appliances older than 10 years are about 40% LESS efficient than new ones.
Use compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL's) whenever possible, they last up to 10 times longer, and a 60 watt bulb only uses 13 watts of electricity. CFL's do contain a small amount of mercury, so disposal should be done through your local recycler.
Go paperless. Many companies and utilities offer paperless billing, take advantage of this green idea. Also, get off the catalog mailing lists for all but those you can't live without. All that excess paper gets back into the landfill, or burned, which adds to the carbon problem, aside from what it takes to produce all that paper, trees, chemicals, etc.
Recycle that old PC. The electronics in old computers contain hazardous metals: lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals. About 40% if the heavy metals found in landfills comes from discarded electronic equipment and batteries. Unfortunately, what goes in the landfill doesn't stay there. Heavy metals leach out of the soil and into our water supplies.
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Compost your kitchen scraps. Put potato peels, apple cores, onion skins, etc in a bucket and allow to compost. Great for your garden, lawn, even house plants.
Egg cartons, empty yogurt containers, plastic cups are great to recycle as seedling starters for your garden.
Leave lawn clippings on the lawn. They will naturally compost and fertilize the lawn.
Take a shower instead of a bath. Baths use up to 70 gallons of water, where a typical shower uses only 10-25 gallons.
Save even more water whenever possible. Learn how to take "Navy Showers". Get wet. Shut off the water. Soap up. Rinse off. It may not be as satisfying as a long hot shower, but with less and less clean water available, the more we do now, the more we will have later.
Only wash a full load of clothing at a time. Top loading washers use about 40 gallons of water per regular load. A small load uses about 25 gallons. Front loading washers only use what is needed by volume. That same large load done in a front loading washer will, at most use 20-25 gallons of water, the same amount as a small load in a regular washer. They are also more energy efficient, and have the added bonus of being much gentler on your clothing, so clothing looks new longer.
Wait for a full load to use your dishwasher.
Fix leaky faucets.
Dryers that have dryness sensors are very efficient and use less energy. Better still, hang your clothing outdoors when possible.
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Don't run the water while brushing your teeth. Use a glass of water instead.
Catch "running water" in a dishpan. Use the water for your plants, for your pets, to rinse your hands, wash the veggies, or get a barrel and save it to wash the car. (Did you know a car wash uses about 37 gallons of water to wash your car?) There are all sorts of things that water can be used for, instead of being wasted down the drain.
Remodeling? Use as much recycled building material as possible.
Protect yourself from harmful UV light. Use a sunscreen with SPF 15 or better. If you already have sun damaged skin, use SPF blockers of 40 or higher.
If it's hot, set your thermostat to 75 degrees and use a fan to move air. You will feel cooler and use less energy.
Prepare for cold weather by caulking windows and insulating wherever possible. Set your thermostat to 68 degrees and wear a sweater.
Buy reusable shopping bags and skip the plastic/paper. Place the bags in your car or by the door so you don't forget them. Even the plastic and paper bags can be reused. Many grocery and stores like WalMart offer plastic bag recycling.
We all can do these things, with little impact on our lives, and have the satisfaction of knowing our footprint on the earth was a green one.
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