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Making Your World Greener – Easy Steps
By Mark Schauss | March 27, 2008
I know I harp on this a lot, and have blogged on it as well, but the bottom line is you can make small changes that add up to a big improvement in your life and the life of our planet. Here are a few tips that may save you money as well as being better for the environment.
- Don’t use plastic or waxed paper bags. They aren’t good for you or the environment. They both use petrochemicals, they aren’t easily recyclable, and they aren’t economical. Use reusable containers and stop filling our waste dumps unnecessarily.
- Stop using chlorine bleach. This stuff is nasty and releases carcinogenic dioxins into the atmosphere eventually getting into our food and water then into us. Use chlorine free products like Bi-O-Kleen Oxygen Bleach Plus, Ecover Non-Chlorine Laundry Bleach, OxiClean, Oxy-Boost, or Seventh Generation Chlorine Free Bleach.
- Don’t use air fresheners. They contain harmful phthalates and they do nothing more than cover up bad smells.
- Drop fabric softeners and dryer sheets. Use baking soda in the rinse cycle instead and it soften fabrics and eliminate static cling.
- Don’t use paper napkins, switch to cloth only.
- Lower your thermostat in cold weather to 62 degrees when you aren’t at home and/or at night (at least to 65 at night).
- Stop wasting food. The average family throws away 14% of their food. Yikes.
- Think about what you can do driving wise to save 1 gallon of gas a week. At $3.25 per gallon that adds up to $169 a year. Not bad when you think about it.
- Accelerate slower
- Drive at 65 mph max. Some say 55 other 60, but the speed limit set at 65 is smart. For every 5 mph over 60, you lose 5-10% gas efficiency.
- Plan your trips so you travel shorter distances and don’t track back and forth.
- Make sure you aren’t carrying extra unnecessary weight in your vehicle. Every 100 pounds of unneeded weight cuts you fuel efficiency by 1-2%.
- Go one day a week minimum without eating meat. It takes a lot of energy to produce meat. Also, you’ll save money in the mean time.
Topics: Environment, Health, Solvents, Toxicity | No Comments »