Earth Day is Thursday and in honor of that this week’s Ten on Tuesday topic is 10 Ways to Be Green. I think we’ve done variations on this before but you never know when someone will come up with a new idea that might make all the difference to someone else. So, while I may risk repeating some of these things, it’s for a good cause.
- Use reusable bags at the grocery store. I have some from Winn Dixie that I love to confuse just to confuse our local grocery store clerks.
- Get yourself a Sigg bottle. We all have them and use them constantly.
- Recycle everything possible. Our town trash is “pay as you throw” so we have a great incentive for recycling as much as we can.
- Switch to CFL bulbs. They take a tiny bit longer to warm up but they last and last and last.
- Ride your bike for local errands. It’s a great way to get some exercise, too.
- Install a programmable thermostat. We did this a few years ago and, even with out wood stove, it made a big difference in the amount of oil we use.
- Hang clothes on a clothesline. I still think sheets dried in the sunshine have the best smell in the world.
- Buy local food whenever possible. We will be participating in a CSA for the 3rd year this summer and I can’t wait. We also buy local eggs and beef when we get the opportunity.
- Speaking of food, try a vegetarian meal now and again. I sneak one meatless meal in every so often and, while Dale may not be thrilled, he has adjusted.
- Tell someone else something that you do. If we all spread the word then the word will spread!
Great list! I’m not sure I could improve on this one…
Love the list! I have wonderful re-usable bags that I got at our grocery store – I loved them so much I gave them to my MIL and SIL for Christmas. They thought I was a little odd but I thought it was a great gift to give.
I do as many things as I can. But we can all do more.
I have a plethora of reusable bags. I struggle, however, with remembering to take them from the car to the market. Invariably I have to run out and get them. Guess that’s my marketing aerobics!
Instead of gift wrapping, I’ve been using re-usable bags. Sort of an added ‘little’ gift and no waste. There are so many nice choices out there.
Go green!
Just read a funnyism in the Fake AP Stylebook: don’t do 10 lists, because people feel compelled to make their additions, as IF ANYBODY CARES. Heh.
Here are my two new faves: Make your own yogurt and make your own seltzer. So.much.less.plastic.
My list would pretty much be the same. With the exception of the bike riding. I live at the bottom of a huge hill and by the time we biked up, well, we would be dead.
My only addition would be our compost bin. Best thing the hubby ever did. It cuts way down on the trash and does wonderful things for the garden.
Great list! Steve was just talking about cutting back on bottled water. We don’t buy it often but it seems like we always have lots of plastic bottles in our recycling bin.
Great list! I would add making your own compost to the list- I compost all of our lkitchen scraps as well as some paper towels, coffee grounds, coffee trays from DD’s, garden clippings, leaves and our old shredded documents. The veggie garden loves it.
Great list 🙂 I missed the deadline for signing up for the CSA this year, darnit. Next year!! I love using my reusable shopping bags … but I just have plain old Trucchi’s bags … it still confuses them sometimes, they still ask, “What kind of bags would you like?” Um, yeah, the ones I brought and put on the belt first??
Great list. I love using the reusable bags. Ours are mostly from Trader Joe’s since they’re kind of stylish.
I have to admit that we just changed back to traditional bulbs in my living room because the CFL light is different. i do use them in other places though.
I work in chemistry labs, so my jeans always have holes in them. I repurposed them by making them into reusable grocery bags – I really love them and get a lot of comments on them everywhere I use them.
One of the best things about them? If something spills or if they have been rolling around the car too long, I just toss them into the washing machine. Viola! All clean.
This was a great list today!
I’m trying to think of ten things that I do so I can write my own blog post today, but I don’t think I can improve too much on your list. Except for……
Wonderful list!
Good suggestions, but you’re better off with a stainless steel water bottle than aluminum, and you need to be careful about Sigg bottles because the epoxy liner in bottles produced before Aug 2008 contained BPA, the same type of plastic contained in plastic water bottles that we’ve moved away from because of the Bisophenol A leach problem (http://www.bisphenol-a.org/about/faq.html).
Sigg bottles info at Sierra Club:
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/greenlife/2009/09/getting-rid-of-your-old-bpa-bottles.html
Eddie Bauer makes a good, reusable stainless steel bottle
http://www.eddiebauer.com/catalog/search.jsp?N=0&Ntk=IALL&Ntt=water%20bottle&Nr=REG%3aY&Nty=1&Ntx=mode+matchpartialmax&D=water%20bottle&Dx=mode+matchpartialmax&cm_se=water%20bottle_All&init=1#ppl={type%3A%22hide%22}
The liners of some of these reusable aluminum water bottles flake and peel off after repeated use.
As anyone who has ever used aluminum pots like Magnaware from the 1970s or the early 1995 versions of Calphalon hard-anodized aluminum know, continuous washing or contact with water or even rubbing aluminum to aluminum when stacking pots of some aluminum surfaces causes a blackish surface discoloration, and wiping a finger or towel across that discoloration transfers the substance to the finger or towel. (Think hard back to the 1960s when “modern” windows had aluminum frames. The frames were shiny the first few weeks after construction, but once put into use and exposed to the weather, the shine was gone and the dull, charcoal-soot-coated appearance reigned.)
I don’t remember what the by-products of this chemical reaction are, but I’m not sure that it would be good to constantly ingest them.
Read more about the BPA liner issue here:
http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/siggs-bpa-confession-you-arent-going-to-like-it-any-more-than-we-do/
I do some of these, like the reusable bags, but completely forgot to put them on my list! All of them are good. Good for you.
Great list! Hope you don’t mind a few extra. Always have a small plastic bag in the pocket of your coat. Knit or crochet shopping bags from otherwise useless yarn (I’ve given away a few as presents as well). If you need something, pass the word around, there might be someone who’s got it lying idle in the attic!
Love the idea of eating a meatless meal once a week. I like my spot at the top of the food chain just fine but eating all veg every once in awhile is nice. Enjoy the Cape!