I was wondering about little tips people have for helping out with the environment.
For example, I don't run the water when I brush my teeth. I only water my lawn when it starts to turn brown. I re-use Safeway bags at the dog park. I space heat my bedroom instead of heating the whole house.
What are some things you do that help?
Leslie, try walking to the store or work - make sure you look both ways when crossing the street :0) It is good for your health adn the environment all in one.
One of the simplest things I did is switch to Compact Fluorescent light bulbs. I changed almost every bulb in my house to compact fluorescent. The benefits are enormous: longer light bulb life (less changing of burnt out bulbs), brighter and whiter light instead of the yellowish incandescent light, savings on our personal energy bills and most importantly saving emissions of greenhouse gases by using less electricity.
The only downsides I see (and these are tiny) are the higher cost to buy the bulbs, the lack of bulbs for every application (like refrigerator lights), the inability to user dimmer switches with CF bulbs and the few seconds it takes for the light bulbs to warm up and come to full lighting power. It seems every year or two more 'form factors' of bulbs are available ... I use the outdoor ones in my yard and for porch lights, there are track light style for use in recessed fixtures and there are a couple sizes of the spiral compact bulbs I use instead of standard incandescent bulbs.
See what even the government's Energy Star web site says about compact fluorescents:
"If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars." - From http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls on 12/13/07
They work great! They save you money and time! They are good for the environment! It seems pretty rare that all those things come together in a single product.
I'm an avid freecycler. If I have an item I no longer use, that might be useful to someone else, I will probably list it in the Free section on Craigslist. There are also excellent local Freecycle groups - see www.freecycle.org. Keeps stuff out of landfills and puts them into the hands of someone who can appreciate and re-use it.
(Although I am a World of Good, Inc. employee, these opinions are my own.)
Some of the things I do:
- Use compostable or recycled materials
- Buy organic/wild/fresh foods
- No fires in the fireplace
- Take Public Transit to work
I also re-use plastic bags for use with my pet. Last night at a volunteer event to sort food for Second Harvest Food Bank, there were lots of extra plastic bags leftover as we removed the food that had been donated. I took a bunch of extra bags home to use with my cat's litter box.
I also take the bus to work instead of driving. It's ironic that i recently moved further away from work, but now drive less as i am almost always carpooling or riding the bus given the distance.