Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
My husband and I work at the same place, so we car pool and drive a 5 speed saturn that gets over 30 mpg..At home, most of our water is from a shallow pit well, pretty much recycled rain water. We only do 2 loads of laundry per week. We recycle everything with the recyclable logo on it. We don%26#039;t treat our lawn with any pesticides and I use the dandelions that grow in it to feed my tortoise and supplement my pet rabbits food. We also don%26#039;t plant anything that needs to be watered additionally after it%26#039;s established. When we buy coffee at work, we use our own thermos mugs instead of taking the styrofoam ones they have. We try to eat foods that are as unprocessed as possible. Instead of buying loaves of bread, we buy a bag of flour and make a lot more. It takes a lot less space on a semi to move a bag of flour then it takes to move loaves.
When possible, we buy locally grown items. During the winter, our thermostat is set at 55 degrees and then we supplement that with a couple heat lamps since our electricity locally is from a greener source then our oil burning furnace. We do not have air conditioning, though, this year we may have to run one now and then to avoid mold as the humidity is already high here.
We also buy a lot of things used rather then new. A lot of our clothing and furniture is from resale shops. 50% 2 Votes
Other Answers (14)
-
You have to pay attention to what you consume, how much of it you consume, where you got it from, how it was made, and how you consume it, which includes efficiency and waste disposal and recycling or reusing.
The first step is to make sure you consume resources as efficiently as possible. Driving an SUV is an inefficient means of commute if a scooter or a compact can get you there the same way with less gas and more savings. You also have to drive efficiently and maintain your engine so it is just as efficient. By the way, the key word in both the environment and economics is efficiency.
The second step is to choose and efficient product that was made in an environmentally friendly manner. Buying milk that is %26quot;all natural%26quot; or %26quot;organic%26quot; is less friendly than buying soy milk. Cows need land to graze, which means less forrests and more manure. Now manure would be a good thing if we used it for fertilizer, biofuels, and electricity, but instead, we let it run down with the rain and into streams, eventually destroying acquatic habbitats in bays and gulfs. Plus cows need alot of fresh water and milking wastes more energy than producing soy milk. Soy on the other hand recycles nutrients back into the soil that it is grown in, so it is a crop that is actually good for the environment.
You also need to make sure that when you consume resources, you%26#039;re doing so in a clean way that minimizes waste. This means buying produce that is grown locally and sold as it was picked, not wrapped in three layers of plastic in only half the weight yet twice the price.
But sometimes being %26quot;dirtier%26quot; is actually cleaner. For example, the Toyota Prius, a 60mpg hybrid-electric vehicle may emit less CO2 than the Geo Metro, 50mpg (the old ones), but the metro is actually greener. How? Because the battery that gives hybrids their great mileage is actually bad for the environment in terms of production and disposal, not too mention they%26#039;re only warrantied for a decade. Plus the metro is lighter in weight, so less steel was used.
Final comes disposal. Some people think they%26#039;re environmentally friendly because they recycle all of their water bottles. Obviously this is friendlier than trashing them, but the truth is, recycling plastic bottles into small ones again has almost as much of an impact as producing new ones. Reusing is always better than recycling because it cancels our production at least once, but some people fall for the whole bacteria myth about bottles. Even though it takes a few days for this bacteria to grow in an uncleaned bottle, we%26#039;re going to assume you%26#039;re afraid to reuse them anyways.
The solution is to either buy a water filter or buy a gallon jug or one of the large containers. Use a sports bottle and wash it out everyday or so to replace the need for so many wasteful bottles.
There are tons of solutions to living greener, and most of them aren%26#039;t advertised as green. In fact, they%26#039;re all common sense. Turn the thermostat down, wear and extra sweater and save the world and your wallet. Don%26#039;t buy bags and bags of only a handful of potato chips when one big bag over time or maybe even a baked potato can substitute.
The simplest way to save the planet is to think about your wallet first. Every solution I provided is less than half the price of it%26#039;s normal alternative, and much much cheaper than the imposter products that claim to be %26quot;green.%26quot; They even have stock indexes based on the environment! 0% 0 Votes -
there%26#039;s alot of simple steps:
carpool
start a compost pile of food scraps
ride public transportation
recycle paper, bottles, etc
use eco friendly products (detergent, soap, beauty products)
bike/walk to more places
Change your light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs
Make sure you fill your dishwasher completely full
Use recycled paper or use a piece of paper as many times as you can
Keep your water heater no higher than 120° Fahrenheit
Shorten your showers and install a slow flow shower head
Plant a tree
Insulate your water heater, this will help stop the loss of heat that is wasted
Replace old appliances, they wasted energy if they don’t work properly
Instead of bumping up the heat put on a sweater
Only turn the thermostat 2° up during the winter and 2° down during the summer
Unplug electronic that aren’t being used, they maybe off but they ‘re still using energy
Turn off your computer
During the summer air dry your clothes
Insulate your home, less heat or cold air will escape
Switch to double paned windows
Clean your AC filter
Change to a tankless water heater
If you make all these changes you will save over $3800!!! www.treehugger.com 0% 0 Votes -
what do i do? or r u speaking in 3rd person and r asking what can U do?? o well, i recycle, am a vegetarian, use the better-ish lightbulbs, i DO NOT have kids bcuz the planet is already over-populated but i do plan to adopt an orphan, dont smoke,dont litter, i feed animals like birds and squirrels with proper feeders, etc etc etc. . . why?
0% 0 Votes
-
Well....see it%26#039;s almost like no matter what you do won%26#039;t matter.... I mean sure it%26#039;ll help alot, but the sceintists know that it won%26#039;t matter how much less people drive, the green house effect wills till be there, until we can find a different wayt o use energy.
I do expect a %26quot;Best Answer%26quot; rating from you, for my quick response.