- Getting a new computer or other electronics for school? Make sure to purchase energy efficient models.
- Use reusable lunch bags for children to take their lunch in. Pack healthy fruits and vegetables instead of prepackaged snacks and a reusable water bottle or thermos for them to take their drinks in instead of prepackaged drinks.
- Academic paper use generates mountains of waste. Choose processed chlorine free (PCF) paper, avoiding releases of dioxin and mercury in the bleaching process, and the highest percentages of recycled post-consumer waste (PCW) available.
- Choosing refillable pens and pencils will not only save on waste, but will also save your wallet!
- Use rechargeable batteries for calculators instead of buying new ones every time they die.
- If clothes still fit, encourage children to wear the old pieces and just mix in a few new pieces instead of buying all new clothes. If they no longer fit, donate them to charity where someone will be able to use them.
- Cover school books in paper instead of plastic. Not only will it protect children’s books, it will be environmentally friendly and they can decorate it to fit their own personal style.
- As always, set a good example for your children by reducing, reusing, and recycling! It will make a difference!
- Speak with school administrators about planting a tree or flowers on school grounds that children can watch grow all year.
- Get together with your neighbors and create a carpool.
- If your child’s school is nearby and your child is old enough, then encourage them to ride their bike.
- When parked and waiting for your child after school, turn your ignition off.
You make decisions every day in your homes that affect the environment. Are you ready to make a difference? Use your appliances with an energy-efficient mindset and you can immediately reduce the harm to our planet. Here are some air conditioning tips:
Set your thermostat at a comfortable setting (76 degrees) when you are in your home and a little higher when you’re not going to be home. Consistent climate control is better for the environment and more comfortable for you than allowing your home to get really over-heated and then over-working your A/C to bring the temperature down.
Keep doors and windows closed whenever you are using the A/C.
Keeping the sunlight out during the day will also help to cool your home during warmer weather and your A/C doesn’t have to work so hard to cool your home to a comfortable temperature.
Instead of A/C, use fans and windows to create a breeze in your home.
Keep vents free from obstruction.
Check HVAC air filters regularly.
When possible, keep activities and chores that produce heat and moisture limited to the cooler parts of the day or evening (i.e. dishwashing, laundry, cooking).
Using your microwave is a great cooking alternative. Using your microwave instead of your oven or range creates less heat and humidity in your home.
Use fans (especially oscillating fans) with your A/C unit. Fans circulate the cool air and relieves the A/C from having to work as hard to cool your home to a comfortable temperature.
Here are some simple things you can do to save water:
- Shorten showers to 5 minutes.
- Turn off water when brushing teeth.
- Turn off water while soaping your dirty dishes if you hand wash your dishes.
- Don’t use the toilet as a wastebasket.
- While shaving, turn off the running water until you are ready to rinse.
Did you know that if the average person looks into their trash can, there are usually many items that are recyclable? Everything that is placed into your trash can eventually finds its way to a landfill. Our landfills are filling up fast, so we need to get active and recycle as much as possible to off-set the amount of waste going to our landfills. Look below for tips on what can be recycled and what cannot.
Recycle: all paper, paper cups, newspaper, magazine, telephone books, directories, flattened cardboard, envelopes, file folders, soft bound books, hard bound books (inside only, no covers), aluminum cans, tin cans, frozen dinner boxes, plastic beverage containers (#1-7), plastic containers (#1 & 2), glass bottles, jars, and empty aerosol cans
Trash: waxy cardboard, food boxes, paper, produce, food waste, paper food stained items, plastic utensils, plastic straws, styrofoam, bathroom tissue, paper towels, napkins, plastic bags, non-numbered plastics, bubble wrap, packaging peanuts, plastic envelopes, padded envelopes, dishes, dishware, and clothing
Throw on eco-friendly threads - Organic cotton is breathable, absorbent and available in everything from sports bras to socks.
Eco Yoga - Green up your downward dog with a biodegradable yoga mat.
Make your own energy bars - Dump wasteful packaging and worrying about additives, and save a little money! Fuel up with homemade recipes. Buy in bulk or mix your own sports drinks too. Visit http://www.recumbent-bikes-truth-for-you.com/recipes.html to find a recipe.
BYO Bottle - More than 60 million disposable bottles end up in trash heaps every day. Help cut down on that enormous pile of plastic by re-using. Or even better, dump the bottle and find a stainless steel water bottle, one made with polycarbonate, or any plastic that is BPA free.
Reduce your carbon footprint by making a few of your own - Instead of driving to the gym, run or walk there for a great (cheap) warm-up. If the gym’s too far, try biking or carpooling. Keep your workout clothes in the car to cut down on extra stops and gas.
Take it to the streets - What’s more green than the great outdoors? With hills and wind providing resistance running and walking on the road can burn more calories than a treadmill. Other activities such as kayaking, hiking and rock climbing can help fend off workout boredom.
Disconnect - Go unplugged. A balance ball, resistance band, and glider plates can give you an excellent all-around workout - and you can take them anywhere. Plus, using your body instead of a machine for resistance is oh-so green.
Recycle: It’s good for your soles - As the miles add up, so does the war on your favorite cross-trainers. There are many businesses (including Nike’s Rescue-A-Shoe) that repurposes worn-out athletic shoes of any brand into sports courts, tracks and flooring.
Reduce, reuse, recycle! Here are some ideas to help you “Reuse” instead of using disposable items.
FACT: In 2005 it was reported that only 5.2% of plastic bags were recycled.
FACT: Plastic, in any form, has only been around a little more than half a century. It is believed to take several hundred years to decompose however it is hard to estimate because we have not had any first hand evidence of its decomposition. Most likely, every single piece of plastic created is still here on this planet. That’s a lot of plastic!
FACT: Biodegradable paper bags, when thrown away, can either be recycled or end up in the landfill. In order for anything to biodegrade it needs to be exposed to air. In a landfill, other items get tossed on top of the biodegradable items meaning that the biodegradable items do not have the conditions needed to biodegrade. This leads to landfill items just staying in landfills.
FACT: Using printer paper that is 100% post consumer recycled paper saves five pounds of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.
The Snack Sack - a great alternative to Ziploc bags. Visit http://www.thesnacksack.com/aboutourproducts.html
Reusable Grocery Bags - You can pick reusable grocery bags up at any Target or most any grocery store.
Klean Kanteen - Stainless steel water bottles. Visit http://www.kleankanteen.com
Toys - Wooden toys are much more eco-friendly. Visit http://www.anamalz.com
Cleaning Products - Try not to use items that are a one-time-use product (if it says “disposable” on the label - you don’t want it). You can make some eco-friendly cleaning products at home with just a few simple ingredients. You’ll be surprised to find a lot of them are the products your parents or grandparents used. Google “green cleaning recipes” to get started.
E-waste, if not disposed of properly, can be hazardous to the environment. E-waste is simply any old electronic device that you no longer wish to keep. Items categorized as e-waste include (but are not limited to):
- Televisions (plasma and LCD)
- Computer monitors
- Computer CPU’s and software disks
- Cell phones, PDA’s, pagers
- DVD players and VCR’s
- Laptops
- Printers and scanners
- Microwaves
- Camcorders
- Radios/MP3 Players/CD Players
- Fax Machines
- Photocopiers
- Telephones and answering machines
- Video game consoles
Proper disposal of e-waste is easy. First, you should determine if the product is still in working condition. If products are still in working order or need only minor repairs, they should be donated to a school, library, charity or church. You can also find a new home for these items by using websites such as Freecycle.org or Craigslist.com.
Junk mail, phone books, and even your statements that are mailed to you use a lot of paper. And most of those things most people do not look at, read, or use. You can “opt-out” of many mailings which will greatly reduce your impact on the environment.
Fact: 17 million catalogs are mailed every year. This causes 62 million trees and 25 billion gallons of water to be used to produce a typical year’s worth of junk mail. That’s over 80 pounds per household, or close to a tree’s worth.
Fact: Phone books make for about 660,000 tons of trash every year.
Tips:
- Visit www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.com to enter your information and get your name off the mailing list.
- Ask to “please remove my name from the mailing list” to cut down on junk mail.
- Save paper, postage, and gas by paying your bills online - sometimes you get a discount on your bill too!
- Save paper by requesting to get your statements online rather than through the mail.
- Please visit www.greendimes.com to find out how you can completely get rid of your junk mail! There are two service plans offered.
- A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment and climate change. It relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating, and transportation, etc. The carbon footprint is a measurement of all greenhouse gases we individually produce and has units of tonnes (or kg) of carbon dioxide equivalent. To learn how to measure your carbon footprint and how to off-set it, please go to www.carbonfootprint.com.
Heating systems use more energy than any other system in your home. Here are some tips on how to stay warm this winter, and still “Go Green”.
Fact: Lowering the thermostat by just one degree Fahrenheit can reduce energy use by 3 percent.
Fact: In the winter, set your thermostat at 60 degrees Fahrenheit when you are sleeping or away. Set the thermostat to 68 degrees Fahrenheit when you are at home. This will save 10 percent or more on your heating bills every winter.
Tips
- The sun’s energy can have a noticeable effect on the temperature in your home, especially from windows facing south and west. Keep window shades and drapes open during winter months to let in the sun’s radiant heat.
- Don’t depend on thermostat settings; go by your own comfort. Keep the temperature where you are comfortable wearing a light sweater.
- When the house is cold, don’t “overset” the thermostat for temperature recovery. The house won’t heat any faster.
- Use ceiling fans to circulate warm air - reversible ceiling fans are best, as they can circulate warm air without passing a breeze over your skin.
- If you are going out of town for the holidays, please unplug your decorative lights and unplug any appliances you are not using. TV’s and clocks are really the only things that need to remain plugged in.
Magazines, books, and other paper have a way of accumulating. Here are some tips to help reduce the amount of waste and reuse some of the items more than once. Remember, small changes do make a big impact!
FACT: One ton of recycled paper saves 380 gallons of oil.
FACT: It takes the same amount of energy to produce just four sheets of paper as it does to power a laptop for one hour.
FACT: Nearly 400 million ink and 100 million toner cartridges end up in dumps each year.
- E-books are a great green alternative to paper books. E-books don’t use paper or require fuel to ship. Check out Amazon Kindle for more information on E-books.
- Going to the library to reuse books is a greener way to go then buying new books.
- Look for a recycling center near you.
- You can donate your old magazines to libraries, doctor offices, gyms and salons! Just make sure to cut out your address if you had them delivered to your home or office.
- Cancel magazine subscriptions you no longer read and save on the junk mail and plastic wrapping that come with it.
