Green Tips
Office
Always use both sides of a piece of paper and always make double-sided copies.
Turn off lights in unoccupied rooms and always unplug appliances not in use.
Recycle all electronics when you have no use for them anymore and never dispose of any hazardous material without first finding out if that product can be recycled.
Bathroom
Turn off water while brushing your teeth or shaving. Running the water continuously for just two minutes can waste three gallons of water! Fill a cup with water when brushing your teeth and fill the sink bowl to rinse your razor instead of running the water.
Save old, tattered towels and t-shirts for cleaning. Cut them into squares and they become useful rags that can replace store-bought rags and paper towels. Old Sheets make great drop cloths.
Home
Microwave cooking and reheating is faster and more efficient than using the stovetop or oven.
Arrange furniture to take advantage of natural light from windows. Place desks and reading chairs next to windows to cut down on the need and use of supplement, artificial light during the day.
Switch to fluorescent bulbs in areas where extended lighting is required. Though the initial price is higher than for incandescent bulbs, fluorescent lights produce four times as much light per watt, last up to ten times as long and therefore cost one-third as much to operate. Visit this page on how to dispose of fluorescent bulbs.
Install ceiling fans to save money on cooling and heating and reduce energy waste. In the summer, use them in place of a central air conditioner. In the winter, a ceiling fan with a motor that runs in reverse can push warm air down from the ceiling and thus conserve energy.
Dispose of expired medicines by calling your pharmacy or local hospital to find out if they have a collection from which a company picks up expired medicine and sees to its safe disposal or destruction. If neither do, contact your local hazardous waste disposal center for instructions.
In the Yard
Don’t use a hose to clear dirt and leaves out of the garage or off sidewalks, driveways and patios. Use a broom to conserve water.
If it’s okay in your area, install rain gutters and rain barrels to collect rainwater from your roof for use in your garden and for other chores like washing the car. Using collected rainwater eliminates the wasteful use of potable water for outside chores and protects waterways from excessive stormwater runoff.
Eliminate mosquito breeding grounds by making sure there is no standing water on your property. Check and empty trays beneath flower pots, rain gutters, barrels, pails, bird feeders, etc. This will cut down on the need to use repellants.
Check the weather forecast before automatically watering your lawn. There could be rain in the forecast.
Never water with a sprinkler on a windy day. Wind will carry away much of the water before it hits the ground.
Plant native grasses, plants, trees and shrubs in your yard. Since they are adapted to local insect species and weather, they won’t require extra watering or pesticides. Your local nursery can help you select the species.
Water your yard or garden in the early morning or evening when it is cooler. This will discourage excessive evaporation.
Wash your car on the lawn, not in the driveway or street. The rinse water will water the lawn and be diverted from storm drains. Make sure you use an earth-friendly, biodegradable soap and use it sparingly. Or, take your car to a car wash that collects and recycles its rinse water.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Never throw a cell phone into the trash – see that it gets reused or recycled. Cell phones have a toxic waste stream including lead, mercury and cadmium. When discarded improperly, these toxins are released into the environment.
Buy a paper shredder and use it to shred nonrecyclable paper. Then use the shredded paper as packing material.
Donate used art supplies to a local school or day care center.
Use crumpled newspaper as packing material instead of polystyrene foam (such as Styrofoam) peanuts. The production of polystyrene depletes the ozone and it takes several hundred years to degrade in a landfill. Divert just enough newspaper from your recycle pile so that you’ll have adequate packing material on hand when you need it.
Buy a thermos mug or ceramic mug and keep one at work and/or in the car. Every time you visit your favorite coffeehouse, use that mug instead of the paper or polystyrene cups they provide.
When asked to choose between paper and plastic bags, say “neither.” Buy durable cloth bags and take them on all your shopping trips – not just to the grocery store. Keep some in the car or in your carry-all at all times so you won’t be without them when you need them.
When buying plastic bottles and jugs, try to buy those that are labeled with a 1 or 2 within the chasing arrows symbol; these two types of plastic are widely recycled. Avoid buying plastics with numbers 3 through 7.
Transportation
If your errands cover a three-mile radius, leave the car at home and ride your bike. A good backpack or pull cart makes transporting smaller things easy. If you can get to where you’re going in 20 minutes or less on foot, walking is a better alternative to driving as well. Use good judgment and bike or walk only where it is safe to do so.
Turn your ignition off when you will be stopped or parked for more than 30 seconds. Idling for more than 30 seconds burns more gas than it takes to restart the engine or than if the car were moving, and thus produces more toxic emissions.
Drive slower. For every mile per hour you drive under 65 miles per hour, you improve your car’s fuel efficiency by about two percent. So, if you’re driving 55 miles per hour, you increase your car’s fuel efficiency by up to 20 percent.
Check your tire pressure once a month and before long trips to keep tires at their optimal pressure for better gas mileage.
Travel
Unplug appliances to save energy while you’re away. Many small and large appliances continue to draw electricity even when turned off.
If your home will be vacant while you’re traveling, turn down your thermostat in winter and up in summer to a temperature only necessary to protect houseplants or pets left behind.
When visiting a park, never leave paths (nor allow children to) and do not disrupt or remove anything (e.g., rocks, flowers, etc.). Leave them for the next person and everyone after them to enjoy as you have. Most importantly, leave them for the species that depend upon them.
If you will be camping, leave the campsite and park better than you found it. Carry all trash out with you; do not burn or bury garbage of any kind, and check your campsite thoroughly to make sure nothing gets left behind.
Pets
Always pick up after your pet. The density of pets in urban neighborhoods combined with the fact that urban surfaces (including lawns) are hard, leads to significant runoff during heavy rain, causing bacterial contamination of urban water.
Provided by “It’s Easy Being Green, a handbook for Earth-Friendly Living” by Cassy Trask, Gibbs Smith Publisher, copyright 2006