Going Green 101

None of us are going to pull a Thoreau and give up our Earthly possessions, so we have to make an individual choice on what recourse we want take and how much pollution and trash we want to give back to our planet. How do we Go Green?

The below environmental tips are just those, tips. To be honest, don’t follow them all. But I do some of them, most of the time, and I’d like to think that I’m not making an impact (Pun intended).

I’ve written a short version and a long version of this articel… this is the short version which includes tips to reduce home carbon emissions, water use, trash reduction, as well as the benefits of using these tips. If you want more detailed information, here is a great place to find it.

We all know what “Greenhouse Gases” (CO₂) are, right? That’s the bad stuff. The planet produces too much CO_2, which causes not just the big “G.W.” (Global Warming), but a host of yucky stuff. But how is CO₂ measured? How much bad stuff are we putting out there? And how can we burn a gallon of gas, which weighs about six pounds, but release 20 pounds of CO₂?

Water – How to conserve energy with your water heater and lowering water consumption:

· Turn down your water heater from 140° to 120° — this saves about 1200 lbs a year. The majority of water heaters come with a factory default setting of 140° which is hot enough to burn you! Turning it down by 20 degrees takes a screw driver and less than 5 minutes.

· Put a water heater blanket around your water heater. Water heater blankets cost $10-$20 dollars and save about 300 lbs of carbon dioxide per year.

· Use the microwave instead of the stove top to re-heat liquids — it is actually more energy efficient.

· Heat only as much water as you need – (If you drink a lot of tea, and don’t have a microwave, why heat a gallon of water, when you’re only going to use a cup?).

· Use low-flow shower heads. Showers account for about 20 percent of total indoor water use. By replacing standard 4.5-gallon-per-minute shower heads with 2.5-gallon-per-minute heads (which cost less than $5 each), a family of four can save approximately 20,000 gallons of water per year

· Put the dishwasher on the short cycle (if you have a dishwasher, less than 10 years old), and don’t use the heat or air dry feature. A dishwasher is more energy efficient than hand washing.

· Wash full laundry loads in cold water, (clothes are just as clean when cold water is used vs. hot), and “Cold Water Laundry Detergent” is not necessary. Better yet — you could save 750 lbs of carbon and lower your gas bill!

· Water grass only in the morning or evening.

· Turn off the water when washing the car between rinses. As much as 150 gallons of water can be saved by turning off the hose.

· Collect rainwater and use it to water your flowers, vegetable gardens and wash your car. You can buy or make all sort of cool water barrels!

Heating and Cooling the home – How to save and keep from using it:

· In the fall and spring, set your thermostat at night for 55° and during the day 68°. During the summer, set you’re A/C at 78°. For every degree you adjust, you could save 6% of your total energy use and save 820 lbs

· Install weather stripping around doors and windows. Weather stripping works not only in the winter but for keeping summer A/C inside.

· Plant a tree — for their beauty and energy conservation (they shade your home and low summer A/C bills).

Energy, how to keep from using too much of it:

· Change furnace filters every month, this saves up to 5% off the average energy bill as well as 175 lbs of carbon

· Put your lights on timers. (Do you leave your porch light on all day during the winter, because it’s dark when you get home?)

· Use Carbon Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs). One CFL lasts 10-15 times longer than a traditional incandescent light bulb and uses 75% less energy. Too expensive for ya, you say? One CFL saves $30.00 in energy and 1500lbs. Some US cities and counties, and Canada may soon be outlaw incandescent bulbs. (Interesting fact, Microsoft Word recognizes incandescent, but not CFL).

· If everyone changed 1 light bulb, enough energy savings would result, to theoretically light 2.5 million homes for a year; save 550,000,000.00 in energy; or take 800,000 cars off the road. Laura and I have replaced all the bulbs in our home. It cost us about $40.00 and will around $200.00 bucks in energy bills.

· Set the refrigerator to 37° and freezer to 3°. Refrigerators use up to 20% of home electric use.

· Clean out dryer lint traps after every load

· Dry heavy items (jeans, sweaters, towels, etc.,) and light items (socks, underwear, washcloths, etc.,) separately.

· When you buy a new appliance, replace it with an energy star appliance.

· Hook T.V., Cell Phone chargers, VCRs, DVDs, Play Stations, and stereos into power strips. While on standby, TVs use energy (30 percent less than when turned on). Cell phone chargers, on the other hand, use the same amount of energy, with or without the cell phone (as long as they are plugged in). Power strips are easy to use, however, it is hard to get up and push that little red toggle switch vs. turning off the TV via the remote control. But it’s worth it. Oh, and if you invent a remote control for a power strip, can I get a percentage for the idea? Because it’s only a matter of time, until someone else invents it. (Since this was written, this has been invented.)

· Screen saver versus sleep mode: a computer’s “sleep mode” reduces energy consumption by 60 to 70 percent, versus running a screen saver. On a National scale, if Americans got rid of their screen savers, and let their computers hibernate, or (God Forbid!) turned them off, this country could save enough electricity each year to power Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine combined! As well as, cut national electric bills by $2 billion, reducing CO2 emissions by the equivalent of five million cars.

Petrol (oil and gas)

The big one, I’m not even going to get into, because this one makes me mad. Let me just say, don’t drive more vehicle than you need. Ten years ago, people may have been impressed but now, you just look like an ass!

· Buy groceries once a week (if you can), instead of every couple of days.

· Ask local auto garages if they recycle their used oil — if they don’t, request that they do.

· Fifty to eighty percent of cars tires are under inflated — under inflated tires can cost 5% in fuel savings.

· Turn off the A/C and roll down the car’s windows, it increases fuel efficiency, because the engine isn’t working as hard. Lowering car windows does not cause drag on the car, costing fuel efficiency.

• Organics and food:

· Twenty percent of waste in landfills is organic (food, yard waste, lumber, etc.,). The US throws away more food than any other nation in the World, we also create more yard waste and construction debris.

· Leave grass clippings on the lawn or compost.

· Don’t purchase new mulch from the local box store, pick it up free from your city or county.

· Don’t buy dyed mulches.

· Bring your lunch to work (it will save you around $120 a month as well as use up leftovers).

· Buy food items from bulk bins, instead of individually packaged items (peanuts, grains, sugars, and candy)

Pesticides, chemicals:

· Buy earth friendly cleaners (7^th Generation is a good brand)

· Utilize Green Dry Cleaners

· Use unbleached coffee filters

· Don’t over fertilize your lawn

· Use organic pesticides

· Read “Silent Spring”!

Paper / plastic:

· Use a canvas bag to shop with instead of using paper and plastic bags (if you have to pick up small stuff)

· Paper or Plastic? Plastic Grocery Bags: Consume 40% less energy, generate 80% less solid waste, produce 70% fewer atmospheric emissions and release up to 94% fewer water born wastes, than paper bags.

· Uses for plastic grocery bags for: waste basket liners, car trash cans, snow boots, trash bags for hikers, freezer food organizers, lunch bags, and packing material, instead of peanuts or bubble wrap.

· Use recycled paper in your printer. You can purchase 30% post recycled paper for the same price as virgin wood paper.

· Shred your paper and recycle it

· Don’t use paper towels: it uses less energy to wash a washcloth in a full load, than it does to cut down the trees, transport the wood to the mill, manufacture the towels and ship them to market. Use cotton rags to clean up spills, if you have to have paper towels, buy recycled towels.

· Get off of national mailing lists by writing a letter to Mail Preference Service, c/o Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512, including your name and address.

· If you don’t have a recycle bin or you’re Waste Management Company, doesn’t take paper, paper bags, or newspapers, etc., take it to either one of those city recycling areas or if you’re lucky like me, take it to work and drop in the paper recycle dumpster. (I actually talked my boss into getting it, and we fill it every two weeks with cardboard boxes and office paper. We even throw trash bags of shredded paper in it.

· Buy glass drink containers instead of paper (if you can), Laura and I sometimes shop at an organic market, and have gotten our milk in old fashion glass milk jugs.

Recycle:

· Recycle printer cartridges

· Recycle glass, plastic, metal, and paper. Plastic containers have a symbol on the bottom — it’s a triangle with a number inside of it. If the number is 1 – 3, it can be recycled. You would be amazed at what can be recycled — plastic egg cartons, laundry detergent bottles, and many more items.

· Use reusable containers, instead of aluminum foil or cling wrap, to store food.

· Return metal hangers back to the dry cleaners.

Community:

· Buy local dairy, fruit, vegetables, and meat. Have you ever noticed how the price of fruit and vegetables go up and down in accordance with gas prices? It’s called Miles to Market and there is an article on it on this site.

· Purchase needed items at family owned not superstores (if possible). Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Barnes and Noble….

· Eat at family owned restaurants not chain restaurants. (Ruby Tuesdays, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse…..)

Global:

· Educate yourself —Read. If you would like a list of good books both right and left, please let me know.

· Don’t use plastic cutlery — the US produces plastic pellets and ships them to China; China manufacturers the plastic cutlery and ships them back to the US; where the cutlery is used only once and thrown away. We really do that?????? Bring a metal fork and spoon to work!

· Check the country of origin for fruit and vegetables. DDT is illegal in this country right? Yup, but where do your Grapes come from? Things that make you go “hmmmm…”

· Join an environmental organization that you believe in or donate to it. Like The International Wolf Center, Rails to Trails, River Clean-up, Three Eyed Spiders… there is a cause out there for everyone!

· Buy products you can re-use. Napkins, plates, silverware, cups, shouldn’t be disposable. Spend a little bit more money on something and it will last you longer. I know, the “Insert thing here” is cheaper at Wal-Mart. Notice how we don’t use the term “less expensive” anymore. We use “Cheaper” because that’s exactly what it is.

· Maintain and repair durable products instead of buying disposal and inexpensive items.

· Buy Organic whenever you can.

If you like information on the impact of your individual footprint, how to make it smaller through offsets, and a lot of more stuff let me know if you have interest. Also, I’ll include a list of companies you should boycott and why.

Keep up the Good Fight!

Adam

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