10 Tips to Green Living
Everyone seems to have a "10 ways to
go green' list
these days, but I thought I would give you some simple things you can do
that I did not see mentioned 'everywhere' to help you green up.
1) Use Bill pay
Most banks offer bill-pay nowadays. Using your banks billpay or an
online bill pay service helps to reduce paper waste and will also help
to save fuel from your mail service having to deliver your bills. Paying
your bills online also saves energy since your bill does not have to go
through the sorting processes at both post offices.
2) Water Filter
Buy a water filter from your local store and fill up your own bottles or
refill purchased bottles, instead of buying bottled water. By refilling
a bottle a few times before discarding it you will be cutting back on
the amount of plastic going into your local landfill. On average, one
person uses 166 disposable plastic water bottles each year and Americans
add over 30 million plastic water bottles to our nation's landfills ~
everyday!
3) One man's junk is another man's gold
Instead of throwing out that usable 'junk' donate your reusable 'junk'
to a second hand store, saving it from the landfill and helping out
someone else who may need it. The salvation army as well as many other
places take used stuff to resell to their customers, many of them needy,
or use the parts from your stuff to repair broken stuff they have.
4) Use public transportation
Use public transportation at least once a week. It is not so bad, I have
been car-less for almost 2 years now. There is times I could use one of
course as well as times I wanted one, but overall public transportation
works just fine. Try it for just one day a week.
5) Inflate tires to proper pressure
This is one of the easiest ones to do, but quite often overlooked. Just
drive to your local tire shop they will check and air up your tires for
you. If your tire is under inflated your car has to work harder to move
itself, this uses more fuel, costs you more money, and pollutes our air
even more.
6) AC filter
It is mid-summer now, by now your AC filter is probably full of dust and
lint. Cleaning or changing your furnace / AC filter regularly helps you
save money on your electric bill. Most new filters are under $10 if you
shop around (hint - compare filter prices online).
7) Sprinkler Systems
If you have an underground sprinkler system, you probably have at least
one sprinkler that is leaking or is not functioning properly. Spend a
few minutes on a weekend and fix it! Also, check those hose connections
if you use regular sprinklers, hose ends tend to leak after you hookup
and unhook them several times, buy some new gaskets or new hose ends and
replace them.
8) Reusable plates and silverware
Did you know they can use corn starch to make reusable 'paper' plates
now? Use biodegradable, disposable dishes instead of paper plates for
your barbecues this summer. Using these will help in tree cutting for
paper purposes and save the landfill from filling up with more paper
waste. Shop online for these.
9) Plant trees
You can order 10 free trees from arborday.org and plant them, last I
checked you only had to pay a small shipping fee. The trees come as
seedlings with planting instructions. Put your order in now, some of the
trees they offer can be shipped and planted in the fall, while others
have to be shipped and planted in the spring, depending upon where you
live and what zone you are in (they have a zone map on the website for
you to use). If you order trees, make sure you PLANT the trees!
10) Volunteer
Spend some time doing some community service projects. Volunteer with
your city/county/state for litter pickup, tree planting, park projects,
etc...
I hope I have given you a few things to consider and that you will take
action. Living green completely these days is probably impossible due to
our technology driven lifestyles. No one expects you to go completely
green, but even if you just did a couple of these things it will help!
About the author
Ron Chamberlain is the owner and webmaster of EcoBlogs.net. EcoBlogs.net is a newly launched free blogging community based on wordpress, where green bloggers are invited to join and create a blog to post their stories, tips, articles... on the subjects related to living green, sustainability and the environment