Green Living

There are little changes we can make in our daily lives that can have an enormous cumulative impact on the environment. Everybody seems to agree that these little changes generally fall into three categories:

Reduce: Reduce your consumption of any goods. Sooner or later they very likely will end up in a landfill. Our consumer society often pushes us to purchase things we don't really need. Think twice before making the next purchase. Hold off until you are really sure. You might find out you never really needed that thing.

Reuse: Always think about the next possible use for your belongings, and if you can't come up with one yourself perhaps you can think of someone else who could.

Recycle: Know about your neighborhood recycling programs. Know which materials are being recycled and what are the requirements for their collection. Make sure that all recyclable items are properly selected and discarded.

To these three rules we would like to add a fourth: Participate!

Participate in the effort to promote greener living. Talk about it with your friends, family and co-workers. Learn from others and teach others about the consequences of our daily living on the environment and the ways to reduce our negative impact. Remember, it is not earth that is in danger, but our ability to continue living on this planet.

Following are 19 simple tips to start making a difference:

1. Turn off the lights.
Reduce your consumption of electric power by turning off the light in those rooms where lights don't need to be on. You'll save not only energy, but also money.

2. Use cloth bags or reuse your shopping bags.
Help reduce our oil consumption and our non-biodegradable waste output with reusable shopping bags made of cloth. Keep them in your car, or remember to bring them along when you go shopping. Reusing a plastic shopping bag instead of throwing it out every time is also a good place to start. Only an estimated 3% of the billions of shopping bags we throw away every year is currently being recycled.

3. Use cloth napkins.
Help reduce our consumption of paper and save some trees by using the more elegant cloth napkins rather than paper napkins. Cloth rags rather than paper towels are an alternative to consider.

4. Wash your clothes in cold water.
Washing your clothes in cold water instead of hot water saves a lot of energy and treats them more kindly.

5. Cancel subscriptions to catalogs you don't read.
When you receive unwanted catalogs in the mail call the senders and ask to be taken off their mailing list. This not only will save paper, but also will reduce the environmental impact related to their printing, production and distribution.

6. Pay your bills online.
If you have the option, request paperless billing and pay your bills online. It's a good way to save paper, postage and time.

7. Use both sides of the paper.
Sheet paper has two sides, print on both or use the clean side of printed paper as notepaper.

8. Turn the faucet off while you brush your teeth.
Keeping the faucet open while brushing your teeth wastes gallons of water every day. Keep the faucet shut until it's time to rinse.

9. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs are three times more efficient than traditional incandescent ones. Since they last as much as ten times longer than traditional bulbs, their higher purchase cost is amply recovered over time and through energy savings.

10. Use rechargeable batteries.
Disposable batteries are a serious threat to our environment and fall into the category of toxic waste, which requires special disposal. Rechargeable batteries are a convenient and cost-efficient alternative to this toxic problem.

11. Buy in bulk.
Whenever you have a chance, buy in bulk (as long as you need the goods and are not overbuying). Buying in bulk not only gives you access to special discounts, it also usually means less packaging, and therefore less waste, for each single item.

12. Stop drinking bottled water.
Bottled water is not only a threat to the environment because of the discarded bottles, its production, transportation and distribution, especially when shipped over continents, also translates into burned fuel and therefore atmospheric pollution. Try drinking filtered water and water in reusable bottles as a green alternative.

13. Use a faucet aerator or a low-flow faucet.
If installing a low-flow faucet is a hassle and expense you want to postpone until it is time to replace the one you have, try aerators. They are easily installed on almost any faucet and are an excellent low-cost way to save water.

14. Turn down the thermostat.
Most households spend 50 to 70% of their energy budgets on heating and cooling. Reducing heat and air conditioning will save you up to 3% on your energy bill for every degree you adjust.

15. Water your lawn in the morning.
Mornings are the best time to water your lawn or garden. It reduces water waste and promotes healthier greenery. Watering in the middle of the day results in higher waste due to evaporation, while watering in the evening promotes the growth of fungi and bacteria.

16. Fix water leaks.
Leaking faucets and pipes are the number one cause of water waste. Check your plumbing regularly and make sure that any leak is readily repaired.

17. Shut the refrigerator door.
Keeping the refrigerator door open unnecessarily means that the appliance needs to work twice as hard to restore and maintain the set temperature, resulting in a lot of wasted energy.

18. Give to charity.
Don't just throw out your unwanted belongings, especially if they are still in a good shape. Donate old clothes, furniture, and whatever else the charity accepts and bypass the landfill. You also might end up helping a good cause or making some needy person happy in the process.