I%26#039;d love to hear any serious suggestions or tips out there in the collective-
I%26#039;d also appreciate any good resources on concepts like:
recycling
pest control
produce
diet
power
transportation
the value of staying local
social responsibility
or anything else you can think of...
Thanks!
Additional Details
5 months ago
skaizun: Thank your very candid response to my question. Maybe I should specify a little more so there are no more misunderstandings.I am looking up many resources at the moment, one of which is Yahoo!Answers. My assumption is that by going to a forum where people who are actively concerned about %26#039;Green Living%26#039; will be actively looking for ways to alter their living practices in order to %26#039;Go Green%26#039; and presenting my request to them, I may discover resources or suggestions that I have not already found on my own.
If you would like to contribute to my goal of sharing this information with a large group of people, then I will love to hear any productive input you have.
5 months ago
correction:%26#039;Thank you for your%26#039; We%26#039;re trying to do something similar in terms of creating one place where eco-minded folks can discuss what works and what doesn%26#039;t. Beyond product pages and reviews, we also have forums and wikis (and much more). The following suggestions are from a few of our wikis. If you get any other good ones, I do encourage you to add them. The more knowledge shared, the better!
For energy conservation:
1. Replace your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). CFLs will save you up to 75% of lighting costs and will save the environment from approximately 1,3000 pounds of carbon dioxide over the course of its lifetime. This is because CFLs use one-quarter to one-third as much electricity as incandescent bulbs and last up to ten times longer.
2. Turn off lights when you leave a room. Turn off lights that you don’t need (for example, if you are sitting at a desk reading, use a desk lamp instead of the overhead light).
3. Unplug electronics and battery chargers when you are not using them. Even when these items are turned off, they still draw electricity. This is called vampire power and all your small household electronics can draw power as your refrigerator.
4. Get an energy audit. Hire someone to come find the %26quot;weak spots%26quot; in your home and figure out how to improve them to save energy and save money on your energy bills. Try RESNET to locate a rater (NHER if you’re in the UK) or U.S. Department of Energy for instructions on how to perform a DIY energy audit.
5. Install low-flow showerheads, faucet aerators, and high efficiency toilets. This will of course save water, but it will also save energy in the pumping, transporting, and treating of your water.
6. Lower your thermostat a few degrees in the winter. An ideal temperature for a home is 68 degrees. If you leave the house for a prolonged period of time in the winter, turn the thermostat down more. This can save you between $10 and $30 per month on your heating bill. By turning your thermostat down 10 to 15 degrees for 8 hours, you can save about 5 to 15% a year on heating bills. If you have an air-conditioning system, turn your thermostat up in summer (78 degrees when you’re home, 85 when you’re not). Install a programmable thermostat to schedule changes in temperature according to your schedule. These can save up to $115 annually on your energy bills.
For water conservation:
1. Don’t leave the tap running while you brush your teeth (or shave, wash your face, etc). Turning off the water during teeth-brushing can save up to two gallons of water every time you brush.
2. Fix leaks – this can save up to 10 gallons of water a day from one faucet. Fixing a leaky toilet can save about 200 gallons of water daily.
3. Install low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators. This can save both hot and cold water (aerators can save up to 40%).
4. Take showers instead of baths. A bath typically requires 70 gallons of water, while a five-minute shower uses 10 to 25 gallons.
5. When you need to run the washing machine or dishwasher, make sure the machines are full (and when you need to replace them, go for high efficiency).
6. When you need to water your lawn or garden, do not water between 6 a.m. or 6 p.m. Some estimates say that more than 50 percent of landscape water is wasted through evaporation or runoff caused by over-watering.
7. If you pour yourself a glass of water and don’t finish it, instead of pouring it down the drain, find another use for it such as watering a plant.
Local food has a lot of great benefits. Local produce is much fresher because it doesn%26#039;t travel long distances to get to you (it is picked and sold to you closer to when it will be ripe). And this lack of long distance travel of course saves all that fossil fuel needed to transport the food. Buying local also pumps money into your local economy (much more than buying food produced or grown far away). And that%26#039;s just to name a few!
1. Don%26#039;t be afraid to ask where your food comes from. As much as you can, pick things that aren%26#039;t grown half way around the world.
2. Find foods like fruit and vegetables, eggs, fish, and meat at your local farmers market!
3. Also try smaller, local co-ops or ask about local food at Whole Foods.
4. Have some fun at a you-pick farm. Many of these farms offer different berries, peaches, pumpkins, and other good stuff.
5. If you live on the coast, it%26#039;s likely that there are active fishers in your area. Look into either buying local, sustainably caught fish directly from fishers or from a fish market.
6. If you%26#039;re a meat eater, look into grass-fed (and local) options with the help of Eat Wild. http://greenhome.huddler.com/wiki/how-to...
http://greenhome.huddler.com/wiki/how-to...
http://greenhome.huddler.com/wiki/how-to... http://sustainablesundays.blogspot.com
I am trying them out at the moment and they actually work.
Not suitable for heavy oily staines but definately work on regular daily wash...
pollution
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...
ECO FRIENDLY BEHAVIOR
The best we can do as individuals is be more responsible ,in our own neck of the woods
Organize well publicized clean up parties ,talk on the radio
Have citizen meetings
Get the schools involved to plant trees and listen to environmental awareness talks,
If you do any cleaning up leave signs behind saying who cleaned,why and ask people not to start dumping rubbish again ,leave a hole or bins ,in case people come with trash ,
POSITIVE ACTIONS)
Classify trash take out all the organic waste and make compost with it ,the worst you can do is throw it with the trash
70% of contamination is due to organic waste that is mixed in with the garbage .
And it is just as bad in the sewer where it helps to breed rats and in the landfill it poisons the ground
And it is the easiest to take care of
o first of all we have to classify trash at least keep the organic to one side ,like in a plastic bin with a lid
If you got a few meters of ground ,you only need 1 or 2 square meters in a shallow hole ,in the shade ,that you can wet now and again ,where you dump everything that is organic ,from toilet paper,bones vegetable cuttings ,eggshells,,,excrement ,and cover regularly with leaves to keep humid and to hide any smell
the worms will come and decompose the wastes turning it into beautiful black soil for the garden of flower pots .
If you are in a apartment ,if you have a balcony get a big plastic bin drill some holes in the side and lid ,
Add a few buckets of sand now and again to put over the trash ,you should really stir or move the stuff at times to aerate it and ensure that the decomposition is overall ,keep moist
This rubbish does not get big very fast and the thing works for a long time with out getting full
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these are Al gores sites
http://events.stepitup2007.org/............
http://www.stepitup2007.org/
http://events.stepitup2007.org/............
If you want to help the planet ,plant a tree every week ,if everyone on the planet did we we would be able to slowdown the destructive processes
Reduce carbon emissions,and they are already working on that by alternative forms of energy and regulations on carbon producing materials,aerosol cans,burning rubbish,industrial chimneys,power plants etc.
Water harvesting projects ,such as millions of small dams.to redirect over ground water flows from the rains into the ground to supply subterranean water supplies.
The protection of existing forests.
Stop building more highways,urban planning to include vegetation stop building cities encourage people to return to the land to conduct their business from there which now has become possible thanks to the internet.