A puppet frog once said, “It isn’t easy being green.” And, while we salute Kermit for his emotional honesty, there are several fairly simple ways to becoming a greener you.
- Teach your kids to brush their teeth after every meal – so why not teach them to shut off the tap water while they’re brushing too? The average person would save up to 8 gallons of water a day if they did this!
- Is your food a world traveler? If so, you might wanna’ look elsewhere. Two words: buy local! In doing so, you not only support the local economy, but you also cut down on carbon emissions and transportation costs.
- Reading the daily paper is often a sacred tradition in many a household. So, why not extend that tradition to recycling that newspaper… that is, unless you read it online.
- Remember that scene in American Beauty with the plastic bag being tossed around by the wind? Next time you see a plastic bag, recycle it instead of filming it. Americans toss 100 million bags a year, and they usually just clog up streams and fill up landfills instead of serving as central metaphors in Academy Award Winning movies.
- Anyone like water out there? Of course you do – if you didn’t you’d be dead. But, did you know that 1.5 million barrels of oil are used in the US to create disposable water bottles? So, save some oil and a little cash by carrying around your own reusable bottle!
- Being described as “bulky” is rarely a good thing, but buying in bulk is a great thing! It saves money and leads to less garbage in landfills!
- It’s pretty obvious why they call it junk mail – it’s all junk. But, they should really just call it “waste mail.” That’s because every year it destroys over 100 million trees and wastes 28 billion gallons of water. But, what can you do? Start by contacting the companies sending you the mail and opt out of receiving it (yes, you can do this). Or, you can use a company like 41pounds.org and have them take you off the mailing lists for a small fee.
- Get new appliances! Newer, Energy Star appliances like washing machines, A.C. units and refrigerators really conserve energy and might knock a zero off your next bill. In fact, if your fridge can remember holding Crystal Clear Pepsi from the early 90’s, then buying a new one could save enough electricity to light your home for over four months!