Tuesday, April 21, 2009

One Small Step For You, One Giant Leap For Earth-Kind

In honor of Earth Day, let's all vow to make just one small green change in the way we live. If everyone made just one change, it would make a huge difference. Once you start doing that one thing, it will feel so easy and natural, I know you'll go on to make other changes as well.

What are some cheap and painless things you can do to help the planet?

1. Change one lightbulb in your house to a CFL bulb.

2. Turn off incandescent bulbs every time you leave a room for more than 5 minutes.

3. Recycle a can or newspaper you would ordinarily throw away.

4. Buy a battery charger and some batteries to replace your disposables.

5. Walk or bike for one errand a week that you would normally drive for.

6. Start growing at least one vegetable or herb for your table. Tomatoes are easy, so is basil.

7. Start carrying your own water in a refillable steel or glass bottle.

8. Plug your appliances with a "standby" feature into a power strip, and turn off when not in use.

9. Use rags for cleaning instead of paper towels.

10. Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins.

11. Use handkerchiefs instead of tissue.

12. Compost your vegetable peelings, tea and coffee grounds, eggshells, etc.

13. Bring your own mug to work, Starbucks and so forth.

14. Start paying at least some of your bills online.

15. Use tupperware, thermos and a lunchbox rather than disposables for work and school lunches.

16. Wash out glass jars from pasta sauce, etc. and reuse to store rice, beans, and so on.

17. Buy staples from bulk bins and store in recycled containers whenever possible.

18. Choose the brand with the least packaging when grocery shopping.

19. Pass magazines on to friends and eventually donate to the library when done reading.

20. Cancel your junk mail at https://www.directmail.com/directory/mail_preference/.

21. Always do full loads of laundry, and wash on cold when possible.

22. Make sure dishwasher is full before running, and turn off heat dry setting and open the door.

23. Bring your own reusable bags to the grocery store.

24. Water your lawn and garden early in the morning or in the early evening to prevent evaporation and use less water.

25. Replace your expensive, toxic cleaning products with baking soda and vinegar.

Try adapting one or more of these ideas in your everyday life. I guarantee you will feel good about it, and you will be even happier with all the money you save as a result!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are some good ideas, most of which I do try to do. Another good one is to save energy cooking by just bringing potatoes, pasta, or eggs to a boil and then turning the heat off. Then leave them and they will continue to cook on their own just by using the heat of the already boiling water. It comes out perfect every time!

Banba said...

Betsy,
Great list! I actually do all of these. I recently added the taking my lunch in tupperware because I ran out of plastic bags and it's so much easier! The food doesn't get smashed like it can in a baggie, and there's no garbage or paper bag to throw away. I'm a teacher so I carry a tote bag full of misc. anyway, so I just throw it in. Of course, every time we save garbage we save money. Now I don't have to buy baggies at all!

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