Ok..Ok..I'm going all in...First the prius....then PBS....now I want to go "green" in my home and personal life. Can someone help me make a new life change? What should i start with? Light bulbs in my house? I may even switch political parties. I guess I have come to feel that there is more to life than making a big footprint and telling everyone "I am here". What is happening to me?.....I need to turn on some MMA and eat a cheese steak!
Definitely switch to Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs as a first step. EnergyStar appliances are another good move to make, but don't replace working appliances in order to switch over (since that will just cause more pollution with your old appliances in trash heaps). Standard tips are to raise the thermostat in the summer, lower it in the winter. If you buy bottled water, stop. Buy a refrigerator- or sink- mounted water filter and use that instead. I have a $50 countertop filter from Sears that will filter 3000 gallons before you need to replace the $10 filter inside.
recycle. cancel your newspaper subscription, get your news on the 'net. rain barrels. compost pile. http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Thumb-Guide-Raingardens/dp/B0015ZN510 if your yard is small, try a push mower. refuse receipts at stores if asked. carry a bag for small purchases at a store. avoid takeout food (styrofoam containers) read the posts in the environmental forum here.
recycle.. EVERYTHING.. Cans, bottles, paper, cardboard.. Find a place in your community that accepts a wide range of stuff.. In my pantry there's a trash can, a matching recycling can for metal, plastic and glass, A large paper sack for broken down carboard of all sorts and a big tub for paper (magazines, shredding, junk mail etc,) When we go to the grocery, we take paper and the metals et al... when we need to we take the carboard and other stuff to a larger recycling center. the other day, I pulled up in my Prius to recycle next to a woman in her Highlander Hybrid doing her recycling.. IT ALL HELPS (also, check your Home Depot or Lowes and see if they recycle old batteries) most of our household batteries are rechargeable now! The charger and a bunch of batteries were a xmas present from me to the husband.
Stainless Steel water bottles (love ours) Recycle everything Reusable grocery bags Increase/reinsulate your house Seal house air leaks Turn your computer off when not using it buy a Smart strip power switch Buy a Kill-A-Watt (and use it) I lowered my electric bill $55/mo by doing the above.
Become a vegetarian, or nearly so. That one change wil save more greenhouse gasses than driving a Prius. Plus it is good for your health in so many ways. Vegetarians will not get mad cow disease if it ever becomes epidemic.
We put in two 55 gallon rain barrels last summer, LOVED all the free rain water we get to water the garden. Hook it up with a soaker hose and use it for the lawn too. Recycled bags - a must have, we use it for everything from shopping at the groceries to carrying things into the office, weekend trips etc Green pans - purchased via hsn Unbleached paper towels made from recycled materials Have fun going green!
While recycling is mandatory, not using stuff in the first place is way better. It is amazing what you can do without if you try. I own 2 pairs of shoes for example, and they each last me ~ 2 years. A pair of work boots, and a pair of felt clogs for dress up! (Also gum rubbers, but they last 10years+) I just don't see the need for more. Same with clothes etc. Icarus
lol... like everything else in life.. In all things moderation. Some of us can more easily go earth friendly than others. Frankly, the fact that you are thinking and trying to do your part is an enormous help to the overall picture. Though I have to say... I'm really looking in to this whole rain barrel thing!
If you go out to eat, and frequently have leftovers, and need a "doggie bag," take a reusable container with you for the leftovers, so you can avoid the cardboard/plastic/styrofoam container the restaurant would otherwise give you. That, like the reusable grocery bags, cost you (essentially) nothing, and doesn't cause you to have to change your lifestyle or give anything up.
Ha! I bet your pond gets greener than a rain barrel, at least by September. We pretty much just let our grass go dormant in the summer. It always comes back to life with the fall rains (except in the drought of 2005 when some portions died away, but they pretty much regenerated the next year, although I did add some seed and water those sections). Luckily my neighbor on one side never watered his lawn and rarely fertilized it, so with my periodic organic fertilizer and cutting it higher, my lawn usually looked better than his. But they're selling their house now, and I'm not sure what the new people will do. My other neighbor has an in-ground sprinkler system and isn't afraid to use it, so I can't compare my lawn to his. I try to plant perennials (native mostly) to improve the landscaping and reduce the amount of grass I need to mow. An electric mower is next on my list, the one at Home Depot looks pretty good (Homelite) according to CR. We replaced the windows and furnace in our house, that reduced our heating and cooling bill by about 15%. Programmable thermostat of course. Efficient front-loading washing machine (super quiet too!). I figure the 3 of us go thru 40-some gallons/day each, which sounds like a lot but the average Illinois resident supposedly uses 160 gallons/day. I don't know how that happens. I rarely wash my Prius, not sure if that's a good thing or not. Getting the winter salt off periodically would be good, for instance, otherwise I don't see the need, particularly with the silver color.
You don't have to cancel your newspaper subscription, but please recycle the newspapers. There are just some news stories which are not available online -- even on the newspaper's own website. Besides, some newspaper companies are now offering subscription discounts if you recycle your newspaper.
Definitely switch to CF lightbulbs, and do it now, don't wait for your old bulbs to burn out. Turn the water heater temp as low as you can and still take a hot shower. Wash clothes in cold water. For recycling, I find it helps to get set up to recycle: ie have all the bins etc that you need for each type of recyclable item. That way it's less tempting to just throw stuff out. Make it a game to see how long you can go before the trash can is full (kinda like how far you can go without filling up the Prius). Unplug all chargers when you're not using them (they suck up electricity even when not charging anything). Pay bills online. I wish I knew how to stop all the junk mail I get. It's such a waste of paper. I also just started using reusable bags for the grocery store (got some cheapo canvas bags at Job Lot) and it's actually much easier than the regular bags, since the canvas ones have shoulder straps you can carry more. And I leave them in the Prius since I usually go to the market spur of the moment.
