Oh That Stephanie. She has been living in the bay area too long. Pretty soon she will be protesting in the trees at Berkeley. Kind of sad that making the choice to protect our environment is still met with a hippie mentality. I have seen too many people make the conscious decision NOT to conserve because “it is more convenient” to be wasteful. Our work has instated a green initiative, which I fully support. During a presentation, they showed what damage plastics do to our oceans and sea life. Here is a link to one such article. A plastic dump the size of Texas is floating in the Pacific Ocean. Nice.

But instead of ranting about what damage has been happening, I thought I would post an article with just some tips on how we can do our part for the world we live in. Just so you all know, we do practice what we preach. We have replaced every light blub in our house [an easy job in our small house, but I challenge everyone to work one room at a time. There are attractive light bulbs for those visible bulbs. Home Depot has quite a selection (including dimmables!)]. We recycle as much as we can. We have replaced our showerhead with a low flow head. These small steps can add up to a big change. It just starts with a decision to change the way we think of our consumption.

Simple Ways to Go Green at Home
Incorporate these easy ‘ green’ tips into your life
© Annette Young

Jun 14, 2007

Do your bit for the environment by changing some basic practises at home. Save money, time and the planet.
With so much information available these days regarding environmental issues, it is not difficult to make simple adaptations to every day living so that our actions do not have such a big impact on the planet. It is easy to incorporate these simple green suggestions on a daily basis, saving you money, time and guilt, as you will be doing your bit towards for the environment.
Parties
Avoid using plastic plates and polystyrene cups when throwing a party as these take on average, 500 years to degrade. Try using normal glasses and cups instead.
TV’s
Turn off your Television and any other appliances if it is not being used, remember that even when put on stand-by, it is still using electricity.
Kettles
Avoid filling up the kettle to its limit if you only want to use it to make a single cup of tea or coffee. Not only does it take longer when you do this, but it also runs up your electricity.
Microwaves
Microwaves do use less energy than if you use your cooker, so try out some different recipes and forget using the oven for a while.
Conserve Water
Use a shower wherever possible instead of running a bath. As much as it is lovely to be able to have a long soak after a hard day at work, a shower is much more economical. 5 minutes in the shower as opposed to having a bath will save approx 400 litres of water every week. If you really do want to have a bath, then why not share it with your partner and add some extra intimacy into your life?
Running Water
If you tend to leave the tap running whilst cleaning your teeth or if you are washing the dishes, then stop. By keeping the water running you are using approximately 9 litres every 60 seconds.
Carrier Bags
Remember to reuse carrier bags when shopping. Do not keeping taking additional ones as plastic bags take approximately 100 years to degrade.
Invest in a Water Butt
Save rain water by buying a water butt. Rain water is much better for the garden so use this when tending to the garden.
Wildlife Haven
Allow one part of your garden to grow wild. The wildlife will thank you for it and it is one less job to do for you.
Cleaning.
Don’t buy expensive chemical cleaners, use baking soda instead; it’s great for scouring bathroom surfaces. Need to clean the windows or any mirrors in the house? Why not use white vinegar and water mixed together will do a great job and instead of using kitchen towel, use a newspaper. (Just make sure everyone has finished reading it first)
Get rid of Limescale
Boil some vinegar in your kettle and this will remove the limescale. Remember to rinse it out thoroughly afterwards though, as the vinegar taste may end up flavoring your tea and coffee for some time to come.