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Tips To Go Green
Shane Johnson
“Drink water… it’s cheaper to produce/deliver than pop/juice/coffee and thanks to modern plumbing is available for significantly lower impact to the environment than any other form of liquid to drink. Most American’s don’t drink enough water as it is.”
Dick Rhodes
“Use a china coffee cup instead of the disposable ones.”
Dawn-Marie Oliver
“If you’re getting a handful of items you can easily hand-carry, and you forgot your re-usable bag, just skip the bag, whenever possible, skipping the extra bags for produce. If I’m getting 2 apples, I don’t need a bag. Or save them, stow in the car with the other bags, and re-use. Repurposing packaging from store-bought items (e.g., use those deli containers to send leftovers home with dinner guests, or to take for lunch; using the hard plastic cat-litter container as buckets and storage containers (a little spray-paint and they’re not ugly anymore… and they’re SUPERB yard work containers).”
Alysa Joaquin
“I’ve been reducing, reusing, and recycling since I was a child, and have no intention of stopping any time soon! Things I do to “be green”: Fruit and vegetable scraps that I don’t eat (Carrot tops, broccoli stems, wilted spinach) get fed to my pet rabbits instead of thrown out. I re-use packing and wrapping materials whenever possible: the boxes I put gifts in at Xmas have been around for years, along with the ribbons I use. I reuse empty pasta sauce and pickle jars to store foods I buy in bulk. I buy clothes and home items from thrift stores, and I occasionally have clothing swaps with friends. I like to knit in my free time, but new yarn can create a huge environmental impact depending on how it’s processed. I like to buy old sweaters from thrift stores and unravel them, and use that yarn for my projects. I’m vegetarian. Meat and dairy production take an enormous toll on our environment because they require much more land than growing produce, and production creates toxic waste.”
Allen Brown
“Going Green is not only the right thing to do for nature and the Earth; it is also the smart thing to do economically. By being smart, I save a lot of money by Going Green. We follow the Puget Sound Energy guidelines for energy consumption and price and leave laundry and dishwashing for off-peak hours.”
Heike Grodecki
“I try to buy local foods as much as I can. My neighborhood supermarket, PCC buys mostly from local growers. I know that it is a quite pricey source, but I check the special offers and that way I try to even out the higher prices. I also check the packaging: if a product is packaged in materials that are not recyclable, I tend not to buy it. We are currently remodeling our old house. A great green source is the ECO house, formerly known as the Environmental Home Center. They do have very affordable alternatives to conventional building materials. It is a great way to reduce the poisons in your house. On a daily basis, we try not to have any aggressive cleaners in the house-- you can get almost everything clean with vinegar. I don’t use any cleaners that contain bleach.”
Bryan Schultz
- Use a reusable cloth shopping bag. Paper or plastic? Neither! Even a reusable poly-plastic type bag is much better than using countless plastic or paper bags.
- Re-use any and all bags you come by as much as possible. If they're recyclable, recycle them when worn out.
- Buy grains from bulk bins - this allows you to reuse plastic bags and such.
- For food items that last awhile, buy in larger packages. The more in a package, the less packaging required, typically. To demonstrate: this one bucket |___| has 56% as many lines as three buckets |_| |_| |_| The difference isn't always so drastic in 3 dimensions, but you get the idea.
- For food that doesn't last awhile, never buy more than you need. You'll throw less away.
- Use as little pre-prepared food as possible. This reduces packaging waste. (For things like soy yogurt, for example, I make my own in jars which I am also reusing. Occasionally I have to buy a container of it, but yogurt containers are very handy for re-use.)
- Don't buy individually wrapped things. Take a little time to prepare your own food and take it with you in reusable containers instead (it will be healthier, too)
- Buy items in reusable packaging; failing that buy recyclable packaging. Reuse it. Recycle it. (I keep all kinds of dry goods in old yogurt containers.)
- Don't buy electronics unless you need to. Maybe that new toy looks cool, but your current one still works. Hey, when that one really needs replacing, there will be even cooler gadgets on the market!
- Bring your own take-away container when eating out. In case you don't finish. (I have yet to get this down.)
- Don't buy individual drinks. Aluminum, plastic or glass, you're not going to be able to re-use more than a few containers at a time. If you must indulge, at least recycle. You will also get more mileage if you get juice from concentrate and mix it in a reusable pitcher
- Recycle as much as possible. Cart your garbage with you if there isn't a recycling bin for the particular product you have instead of just trashing it for the sake of convenience.
- Steal people's garbage and recycle it if they won't do it properly themselves (not advised if people defend their workspace too carefully, but keep an eye out for people not recycling, and maybe let them know)
- If you have an individual trashcan (with its own plastic bag) at your workplace, don't use it. Put things in a larger, common garbage bin. This uses fewer plastic bags. And trash bins, if companies can be persuaded not to buy the things.
- Use rechargeable batteries. Charge often and don't let things discharge too much. This preserves battery life.
- Turn off any lights that are not in use, no matter how short a time it will be (unless it results in a strobe effect. That's not really worth the effort.)
- Have a room with 6 light bulbs and 1 switch? Unscrew half of them. Or even more than half.
- Use fluorescent bulbs (but only once your current bulbs die - no sense in tossing something that’s perfectly good, that's a waste of energy AND materials.)
- Compost your biodegradable garbage and/or mulch your yard waste and use the result instead of buying fertilizers and plant foods!
- Opt for online correspondence from your employer, insurer, bank, etc. Get the same info faster on the internet, without wasting paper to mail it.
- Dodge junk mail. Never give away your address to parties that will abuse it. Don't go for rebates (they sell your address and personal info, that's why you get $50 back).
- Buy second hand clothing. (It doesn’t even have to be retro)
- Put taking care of the area and world we live in before convenience!
Jhanjhri Shah
Here are some ways on a daily basis practiced to reduce, reuse and recycle:
At Work:
- Working on Microsoft campus, I never use the Microsoft cups for coffee/tea etc. I brought a mug and a bottle from home, prepare tea/coffee in the mug and use the bottle for water.
- Try to shrink the print outs into one page. Never use extra copies or print extra pages.
- Shut the computer, lights and other electronic devices while leaving for home. Never leave them on.
- I pack home cooked food and make sure it is a waste free lunch.
- Fax smart by sending faxes directly to the computer which avoids using paper altogether. If the traditional fax is only an option, avoid using a cover page.
- Subscribe to online newspapers instead of print copy.
At home:
- Normally, I compost my food scraps which helps reduce the amount of waste sent to a landfill. If not, always throw the yard waste and the recycle waste in a paper bag. Never use polythene bags for the same. If I have any questions regarding a particular waste falls into which category, I make sure that I gather information on the same and act accordingly.
- Skip eating canned fruits and vegetables. Always eat fresh.
- Always use rechargeable batteries for the electronic devices.
- My husband and I commute together to and fro for work. I have got low-flow showerheads at home and take shorter showers to save water and the energy used to heat it.
- Mark the fridge temperature: Set the temperatures at 37 to 40 Degrees only.
- Open blinds or drapes to let in natural solar heat on cold days, then close them once the sun sets, and reduce the heating bills by 10 percent. Cooling costs also can be cut by up to 33 percent in the summer by blocking out sunlight with exterior blinds, shutters, or awnings. To keep rooms bright, paint or paper with light or reflective colors.
- Use simple ingredients such as baking soda, soap and vinegar to make cheap, easy and non-toxic cleaning products. They really work so well.
- My family and I are strict vegetarians. No eggs, no meat, no beef, no fish. This helps as the industrial meat production requires high energy inputs and creates noxious waste problems.
- Use my creativity in gift giving, including homemade gifts.
- Run full dishwasher loads as it saves 20 gallons of water per load equivalent to 7300 gallons a year.
- Be careful while preheating the oven for broiling or baking. Never preheat for more than 10 minutes for breads and cake.
- Cleaning the dryer lint screen with every use and not overloading the dryer saves a lot of energy.
- Don’t run the tap while brushing. This can conserve up to 5 gallons of water per day.
- Download music instead of purchasing CDs or DVDs.
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