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40 Tips to Go Green
Here's a list of 40 ways you may
help preserve the environment,
courtesy of the Earthworks Group and
the California Department of
Conservation:
1. Buy
products made of recycled content
materials.
2. Report
scavengers, who take recyclables
from county curbside recycling bins.
It is against the law for any
unauthorized person to take items
from curbside bins, and those who do
are robbing counties of the revenue
from recyclables that helps pay for
curbside programs.
3. Have
a garage sale. Other people may be
able to reuse your old stuff, so it
doesn't have to be thrown away.
4. Start
a compost pile to recycle leftover
food like bread scraps and fruit and
vegetable leftovers. Throw away
fatty foods like meat and cheese,
which can create unpleasant odors
and attract pests.
5. Use
a clean, low-phosphate or
phosphate-free detergent in your
laundry. Phosphates ultimately can
damage streams and rivers.
6. Recycle
glass. The energy saved from
recycling one glass bottle will
light a 100-watt light bulb for four
hours.
7. Recycle
old newspapers. If we all recycled
our Sunday newspapers, we could save
more than 500,000 trees every week.
8. Recycle
aluminum. The energy saved from one
recycled can will run a television
set for three hours.
9. Instead
of plastic bags, use reusable
containers to store leftovers or
when packing lunches. If just 25
percent of American homes used 10
fewer plastic bags a month, we'd
save more than 2.5 billion bags a
year.
10.
Take a reusable cloth or mesh bag to
the grocery store, and never again
answer the question "paper or
plastic?"
11.
Plant a tree. If every American
family planted just one tree, more
than a billion pounds of "greenhouse
gasses" would be removed from the
atmosphere every year.
12.
Drive less. This is a challenge in a
society that loves its cars, but
consider taking mass transit or
riding a bicycle whenever possible
-- even if its just once or twice a
week.
13.
Carpool to work. If every commuter
car carried one more passenger, we'd
save more than half a million
gallons of gasoline.
14.
Over the long haul, rechargeable
batteries will not only help the
environment but will save you money,
too. Americans use approximately 2
billion unrechargeable batteries
every year.
15. Call
your electric utility company and
ask about the availability of an
"energy audit." The company may be
able to show you how to save energy
and money on your monthly bills.
16. Use
latex paint instead of oil-based.
It's easier to dispose of and has
fewer toxic chemicals.
17. Don't
start your dishwasher or clothes
washer and dryer until you have a
full load.
18. A
household can save up to 20,000
gallons of water a year by not
leaving the faucet running when
doing things like brushing teeth,
shaving, washing dishes in the sink,
or washing the car at home instead
of a self-service car wash.
19. Keep
your car tuned up. A well-tuned car
uses approximately 9 percent less
gas than a poorly tuned car.
20. Set
your lawnmower blade on the highest
setting, leaving grass 2-3 inches
long. This encourages healthier
roots and protects the soil better
from the hot sun meaning less
water is necessary to keep the lawn
green and growing.
21.
Ever been to a beach and seen it
strewn with garbage? Next time you
go, take a garbage bag and take out
not only what you brought in, but a
few things left by someone else as
well.
22.
Put a plastic bottle in your toilet
tank to act as a displacement
device. You will use less water --
from 15-40 percent for most
households.
23.
When you buy things, ask yourself,
"Is it recyclable?"
24.
Americans receive almost 4 million
tons of "junk mail" every year; if
only 100,000 families stopped their
junk mail, we could save up to
150,000 trees every year. Write to
Mail Preference Service, Direct
Marketing Association, 6 East 43rd
St., New York, NY 10017. (212)
768-7277. Let them know you want
your name removed from mailing
lists.
25.
Start a "save-it" drawer with
containers for things like
rubberbands, paper clips, buttons,
twist ties, nails and other reusable
or easily tossed-out items.
26.
Recycle plastic "PET" bottles (those
with the number 1 inside the
three-arrow recycling symbol) and
plastic HDPE (those with the number
2) if they are recycled in your
town.
27.
Buy in bulk when grocery shopping.
It saves money and uses a lot less
packaging.
28.
Use cloth diapers to cut down on the
18 billion disposables used by
Americans each year -- enough to
stretch to the moon and back seven
times.
29.
Insulate
attics, walls, doors, windows and
water heaters to cut heating and
cooling use and save money.
30.
If
your city or county has a curbside
recycling program, participate! If
you don't have a curbside program,
in California you can call
1-800-RECYCLE to locate your nearest
recycling center.
31.
Avoid styrofoam at all costs. It
completely unbiodegradable and
simply won't go away.
32.
Use "low-flow" faucet and shower
heads to reduce water usage by as
much as 50 percent.
33.
Recycle your old motor oil. It can
be reprocessed and sold as fuel for
ships and industrial boilers.
34.
White office and typing paper is
easily recyclable -- and most
recyclers will pay you for it! The
average office worker throws away
more than 100 pounds of high-grade
recyclable paper each year. Making
one ton of recycled paper uses about
60 percent of the energy of making a
ton of virgin paper.
35.
If
every U.S. family reduced it's
average heating temperatures by 6
degrees Fahrenheit, we'd save about
half a million barrels of oil a
year.
36.
Help protect the ozone by not buying
aerosol spray cans containing CFCs
(check the label).
37.
Replace incandescent light bulbs
with fluorescents, or use one
100-watt bulb instead of two 60-watt
bulbs. You'll get more light and use
less energy.
38.
Bring a coffee cup to work instead
of using styrofoam.
39.
Be
a smart shopper and buy things that
last. Metal, wood and thick plastic
are likely to last a long time.
Items with a lot of small parts tend
to break easily.
40.
Lead by example and spread the word.
Recycle, reduce and reuse whenever
possible.
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