|
1. Bring a Dish to Pass.
Have a potluck get-together with your
neighbors. Developing a sense of community can lead to many other
eco-friendly activities such as carpooling, low-impact entertaining,
and resource sharing (such as borrowing a leafblower instead of buying
a new one.)
2. Pack the Bags.
Keep a bag full of reusable bags in the car for
planned and unplanned trips to the store.
3. Join a Farm.
Community-sponsored agriculture (CSA) is a wonderful
solution to the problem of corporate mega-farming. Although each farm
is slightly different, the main concept is that you buy a "share" in
the farm and then you receive a 'share' of the harvest throughout the
growing season. Most of these small farms are organic, and some of
them offer other products such as eggs or organic meat. CSAs are a
great way to support sustainable agriculture and get local,
chemical-free produce.
Click Here for more information and to
find CSA farms in your area.
4. Make Friends with a Thrift Shop.
Many of us already donate our
excess "stuff" to charity-run secondhand shops. Now, find one and
familiarize yourself with what they have. We love our local Goodwill
store - it has great children's books and work jeans. Keep a list of
things you need that can be easily found at a thrift shop, for example
a pair of metal tongs or Tupperware. Then make periodic trips with
your list. Not only will you save money, but you will help reduce our
overall consumption. After all, is it really necessary to have new
metal tongs to pick up hot vegetables?
5. Switch to Cloth Napkins. Start with a few nights a week at first,
saving the paper napkins for the really messy meals. It will become
second nature in no time! Cloth napkins are widely available, and are
easy to make if you are so inclined - perhaps you can even find some
at a secondhand store!
6. Give Organic. Since you are going to buy a certain number of gift
items every year, why not divert some of that money to companies that
are environmentally and socially responsible? You could try organic,
fair-trade coffee, handmade soap, or even a solar battery charge.
Co-op America's Green Pages (http://www.greenpages.org) web site is an
excellent source for environmentally-friendly gifts.
7. Recycle Your Newspapers. Recycling is an easy habit to develop and
many trash companies now offer curbside recycling. An estimated
500,000 trees are wasted each week because Sunday papers are not being
recycled. You may also want to consider switching your subscription to
one day a week. Try it for a month and see if you feel any less
informed.
8. Avoid Using Bleach. Yes, bleach is toxic to the environment. Before
using it, ask yourself if you really need it, and then see if you can
substitute a more safe alternative product.
9. Test for a Leaking Toilet. Add a few drops of food coloring to your
toilet water tank. After 30 minutes, if the color has reached your
toilet bowl - you have a leak. A leaky toilet can waste up to 20,000
gallons of water a year - enough to fill a swimming pool!
10. Lighten the Load. Remove unnecessary articles from your car. The
less your car weighs, the less gas it consumes. Each additional 100
pounds reduces the fuel economy by 1 %. This includes the dark sludgy
ice blocks that cling to the wheel wells in the winter.
11. Share Your Coffee Grounds. Instead of tossing your coffee grounds
in the trash, march them outside and spread them around your flowers
and bushes. They make an excellent slow-release fertilizer.
12.Proper Inflation.
Maximize tire life by maintaining proper tire
pressure. According to the book, Chose to Reuse, by Nikki and David
Goldbeck, this can almost double a tire's life span. Also,
underinflated tires increase a car's rolling resistance which
decreases its gas mileage by up to 5%!
| 
