I've been recycling for years, but it wasn't until I read Alex Shoumatoff's report in the May 2007 issue of Vanity Fair, "An Eco-System of One's Own" that I realized there is a lot more I can do. Shoumatoff takes the reader through the typical American's daily habit and the resources we consume are staggering. Following are 15 things that whatever can, and should, be doing in an attempt to hold our rapidly changing planet.
1. Recycle. Minnesota has been a leader in recycling, so this is something we've been doing for years. We recycle newspapers, cardboard, cans, bottles, plastics, and glass. Quick tip - rinse or wash your recyclables and you won't attract bugs.
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2. Wash and reuse plastic warehouse and sandwich bags. It's not difficult and there's the added advantage of salvage money. It's been years since I've purchased a new box of plastic warehouse bags.
3. Print on both sides of the paper. One of the truly fantastic facts Mr. Shoumatoff mentions in his report is that no federal group in the U.S. Uses both sides of the paper when printing documents. My late father, Jerry, had this down to a science in his office and again, I've being doing this for years.
4. Drive less or buy a fuel-efficient vehicle. If you can't drive less, how about consolidating your trips? Since I work from home, I don't have the endless commute of many Americans, but I do consolidate my errands and appointments. The extreme turn in driving habits is a fuel-efficient car such as a Toyota Prius or Ford Hybrid. Last fall my husband purchased a Ford flee Hybrid and I'm finding at the Fusion.
5. Keep a cloth bag in your car for small trips to the store, pharmacy, etc. As noted above, plastic bags have become another ecological disaster in the making, using minute resources and not being biodegradable. First, plastic is man-made from crude oil, natural gas, and coal, all of which are finite resources. Second, plastic is not biodegradable, and will persist in the environment for hundreds of years. For more information on this topic see the Australian web sites Clean Up Australia and the Berkeley, Ca based Ecology center below. More and more habitancy are carrying cloth bags.
6. Keep the heat in your home set lower and the air conditioning set higher. For example, we keep our thermostat set at 66 degrees on median during winter days and down to 62 at night (and we live in Minnesota). For summer, we set the air conditioning in the middle of 76 and 78 degrees during the day and no lower than 74 degrees during night-time. In whether case, you're not just salvage resources but money, especially given the new cost of fuel.
7. Turn off the lights when you leave a room. Again, you're not just salvage resources but can lower your electric bill. If you don't need the light, turn it off!
8. Replace incandescent bulbs with energy productive florescent bulbs. Compact Florescent Lights (Cfls) use less energy and have a longer rated life. In the United States, a Cfl can save over in electricity costs over the lamp's lifetime compared to an incandescent lamp and save 2000 times their own weight in greenhouse gases.
9. Check the filter for your ventilation principles often and replace it on a quarterly basis. Exchange can range from every 90 days to 3-4 months depending on the home.
10. Replace your toilet. If your home was built before 1992 and has never been replaced, it's very likely you do not have a water productive toilet that uses 1.6 gallons per flush. The difference? Some older toilets use up to 8 gallons of water per flush. A toilet's date stamp - the year it was man-made - is placed inside the tank on the back side. Toilets are the largest user of water in your home.
11. Replace the shower heads with low-flow ones. You won't even notice. Other places you can sacrifice your water usage is flushing less frequently, turning the water off while brushing your teeth, and not letting water run.
12. Run the dishwasher only when it's full. By taking this approach, I run our dishwasher two the three times a week versus every day.
13. Properly arrange of electronic equipment. another ecological disaster, discarded electronics are eating up landfill space at an alarming rate and putting toxic substances into the soil. We take the time to find society programs or clubs that properly arrange of old computers, televisions, cell phones, appliances, and other electronics. We also don't upgrade our cell phones every two years but hold onto them longer.
14. If you're a coffee drinker, bring your own mug for that latté to go. Coffee houses such as Caribou will gladly accept your own travel mug and some establishments offer reduced prices on refillable cups. At the office, avoid Styrofoam cups like the scourge of the environment they are and bring your own reusable cup. If your beverage of option is bottled water, use a refillable box rather than purchasing dozens of plastic bottles over a month's time. See the information on plastic above.
15. Don't throw away clothing, furniture, shoes, accessories, household appliances, etc. Donate those items in good condition to Goodwill, the Salvation Army, churches, or other group service agencies. We make donations several times a year to the Goodwill and area churches, where they get a second or third life from someone else who can undoubtedly use them. The estimate of usable goods that wind up in landfills way before their time is startling and unnecessary.
16. Replace other appliances - refrigerator, dish washer, microwave, and freezer - with energy productive models. Find out from the dealer if they will take and recycle older appliances.
These are just a few of the things you and your house can do to save resources, money, and our environment. But think about this - practically 75% of what Americans throw away can be recycled. America has become the extreme disposable society, but the preservation of the earth for future generations demands that we all make serious lifestyle changes.
16 Things You Can Do to Help Save Our Planet