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These Top Ten Green Tips (arranged in no
particular order) are so powerful that,
even if you only adopt one or two of the practices suggested
here, you can still have a profound impact on the
environment.
It's All About Carbon -
Acid rain, the hole in the ozone layer, water pollution,
species depletion, bulging landfills, nuclear waste,
shrinking rainforests, over-harvesting of the oceans... the
litany of challenges facing our planet seems to go on
forever. But there is one environmental crisis whose
enormity dwarfs all the others: global warming.
Environmentalists everywhere must focus on reducing
emissions of greenhouse gasses before climate change plunges
the entire planet into a state of permanent chaos. This will
force us to make some choices we might not make otherwise.
Nuclear energy is currently the only technology available to
replace carbon-fueled electricity, yet many people refuse to
allow its proliferation for reasons that are more emotional
than rational. Harvesting old-growth forests and replanting
with new trees reduces atmospheric carbon, whether we - or
the wildlife - like it or not. People who live in
high-density urban locations have a much smaller carbon
footprint than suburban and rural dwellers, yet we cling to
the romantic notion of an idyllic lifestyle. And in spite of
its other advantages, organic farming practices contribute
more carbon to the atmosphere than traditional farming. As
stewards of the planet we have a lot of tough choices to
make, and if combating greenhouse gasses isn't our top
priority, all the rest will seem trivial by comparison.
Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce -
People used to think that the main reason we should recycle
was because we were running out of landfill space, a
response to an imaginary "landfill crisis" that was
conceived by alarmists and ill-informed activists several
decades ago. Nowadays environmentalists don't point to a
landfill crisis as a reason to recycle, but to a much more
important reason instead: global warming caused by fossil
fuel consumption. The simple truth is that it takes much
less energy to make products of glass, plastic, metal, and
paper from recycled matter than it does to collect the raw
materials from nature. This same logic also means that we
should favor reusable products over their disposable
equivalents (kitchen towels, plates and cups, shopping bags,
pens, razors, lighters, diapers, batteries... the list goes
on and on) and that we should buy products with as little
packaging as possible. Reduce the amount of disposables you
buy, reuse as many products as you can, and recycle the
disposables you can't avoid buying - the three R's of green
living.
Think First, Drive Later -
This isn't about carpooling or telecommuting, although those
are worthy topics for future tips. This is about how readily
we hop in the family car and fire it up without giving it a
second thought. Couldn't you go to the supermarket once or
twice a week rather than three or four times? Do you really
need to make separate trips to the bank, video store, and
gym (or barber shop, or beauty parlor, or dry cleaners, or
soccer practice, or... you get the idea) when you could do
them all in a single trip? The next time you head out to run
an errand, ask yourself if you couldn't put it off for a day
or two and do several errands in a single outing. Automobiles and
light trucks account for a huge percentage of greenhouse
gasses (the exact percentage is disputed, but "huge" is a
safe estimate), and even a small reduction in the amount you
drive can have an enormous effect on the environment. Please
think before you drive, and then drive less.
Spread the Word -
So you've replaced all your incandescent light bulbs with
compact fluorescent lamps (you have, haven't you?), you
recycle everything you can, and you generally lead a pretty
eco-friendly lifestyle. Good work. But there is one more
thing you can do to make a significant impact on the
environment: become an advocate. You can double your impact
by persuading another household to adopt the same green
principles that you practice. If saving up to 15 percent of
your electric bill (by switching to CFLs) is good for the
environment, then so is saving 15 percent of someone else's
electric bill. Help your friends and relatives understand
the impact that even small changes in their lifestyle can
have on the environment, and help them make the transition
to a greener way of life. Then ask them to spread the word,
too.
Turn to the Tap -
We are quick to complain about the price of gasoline, but
many of us are happy to pay twice that amount for a liquid
that is practically free. If you have access to a computer
and can read this page, the chances are almost 100
percent that you also have access to safe and inexpensive
drinking water. Then why pay up to $10 a gallon for bottled
water that is, in most cases, nothing more than filtered tap
water? And it's not just about money, either. Think of all
the fossil fuels that are needed to run the bottling plants
and fuel the vehicles that carry the water, and then
consider all the plastic bottles that are made from
petrochemicals and are clogging our landfills. Bottled water
isn't chic and stylish the way it used to be, so get with
the times and get green - turn on the tap when you want some
water.
Organic Isn't Always Green -
Whether to choose organic or locally grown foods is one of
the liveliest debates in the food world today. Organic
farming is eco-friendly because no chemical fertilizers or
pesticides are used, but this benefit to the environment can
be more than nullified if those products are shipped great
distances. So what is a socially responsible consumer
supposed to do? There is no easy answer. It is generally
(but not universally) acknowledged that buying locally-grown
foods has a smaller impact on the environment than buying
organically-grown foods that have been shipped from distant
suppliers, but the equation is complicated and involves many
factors in addition to the distance they are shipped. (Mode
of transportation, for instance, is also a factor.) There is one rule of thumb
that will never fail you though: buy local and
organic whenever you can. Seek out local farmer's markets,
tell your supermarket that you prefer locally-grown foods,
and buy organic locally-grown products whenever possible.
Buying organic and local is the greenest choice
possible.
Find organic farms near you at
LocalHarvest.org and look for local farmer's markets at
the
Agricultural Marketing Service of the USDA.
 Look
to the Stars - Wouldn't it be nice if there was some
easy way to tell which appliances, electronics, and lighting
products were the most energy efficient? There is. It's a
joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
and the U.S. Department of Energy called Energy Star. It
rates household products, new homes, and even businesses for
their efficient use of energy, and awards the Energy Star
label to those that meet their stringent requirements.
According to the Energy Star program, consumers and
businesses can save up to 30% on their electric bills by
using Energy Star approved products. Naturally, this also
translates into reduced carbon emissions. Energy Star makes
it easy to make the green choice when shopping for household
products, so always look for the star.
Learn more about the Energy Star program at the
official website.
Measure Your Footprint - You
wouldn't start a weight-loss diet without weighing yourself
first, would you? The same concept applies to living a
greener lifestyle: how will you know if you have made any
progress if you don't know where you started? There are
several good carbon footprint calculators on the web, some
simple, and some more detailed. Naturally, the more detailed
the questionnaire and the more precise the information you
provide, the more accurate the results, so don't be afraid
to spend some time to do it right. Then make a note of your
results and repeat the process occasionally to measure your
progress. Before you know it, yours will be the greenest
house on the block.
Here are some carbon footprint
calculators you might like to try:
The Nature Conservancy Carbon Footprint Calculator
The Environmental Protection Agency Personal Emissions
Calculator
CarbonFootprint.com
Nature.org
ClimateCrisis.net (The official website of An
Inconvenient Truth)
Learn a New Acronym - If I told you a way to save
up to 15 percent of your electric bill, would you be
interested? There is a very simple way to do this and reduce
your carbon footprint as well, but oddly, few people have
jumped on the bandwagon so far. I'm talking about compact
fluorescent lamps here, or CFLs for short. Sure they cost
more than old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, but they only
use between 25 and 30 percent as much energy and they last
up to ten times longer. (Imagine not having to replace a
light bulb for ten years!) Don't wait for the old bulbs to
burn out before you replace them - do it now. You'll begin
saving money and benefitting the environment immediately.
Visit the
CFL Store at Amazon.com.
Less Can Be More - So you're
driving a fuel-efficient hybrid car, you replaced your
carpeting with sustainable bamboo laminate flooring, and you
wear clothes made only from eco-friendly natural fibers.
What more could you do? Maybe you should ask yourself how
you could do less. Consider all the energy that went into
the mining and the harvesting of the raw materials for your
car, flooring, and designer duds, and add to that the energy
required to manufacture and transport them. Then ask
yourself if you couldn't have done without those things, if
not forever, then at least for a little bit longer. Sure,
your old gas-guzzler isn't as eco-friendly as that shiny new
hybrid you've had your eye on, but at least we don't have to
mine the metals, fuel the foundry furnaces, and run the
automobile assembly lines every time you start it up, so put
off buying the new car as long as you can. Ditto with the
bamboo flooring and designer jeans. As an earth-conscious
consumer, sometimes less is more.
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