Go Green!

Help me Go Green!
Where do I start?

Start with one item at a time or dive right in and change your life!

1. Buy local, buy organic
Supporting local farms helps everyone. Buying organic reduces toxins put into the environment and your body.

2. Compost
Start a pile in your yard. Or buy a fancy composter. Either way, your scraps are not filling landfills.

3. Turn off lights and electrical equipment not in use. Save money, save electricity. Don't leave chargers plugged in when not in use, they continue to drain energy.

4. Recycle
Check locally what you are able to recycle. Go the extra mile with items you can't recycle locally and save them to turn in on a trip out of town.

5. Reuse
Save and reuse containers. If plastic, make sure it's a plastic that can be reused without leaching. Check our article on types of plastics. Glass containers are best to reuse, no leaching and easily can be put in the dishwasher. Reuse for crafts: cardboard, egg cartons (chicken farms will gladly take these as donations also), tp/pt rolls, containers for holding supplies, magazines/ads for collages, paper can be reused for doodling, baby food jars can be used for a ton of things...almost anything can be used for crafts with a little imagination, or a google search =)

6. Fires - burn right
Learn how to properly make a fire for minimal smoke being let off into the air.

7. Drive less
Combine errands into one trip.

8. Don't carry excess baggage
The more you carry in your car, the worse your gas mileage.

9. Buy from bulk bins
Save packaging...and may also save you money.

10. Don't pollute your own environment
Use green cleaning products. Simple vinegar and water is a great all-purpose cleaner. Go one step further and add a spoonful of Borax and a couple drops of tea tree oil for even more cleaning power. You can save a lot of money by making your own cleaning products. But you can also buy green cleaning products like Seventh Generation and Ecos.

11. Don't buy individually wrapped snack bags.
Buy a big box and divide it out yourself into reusable containers.

12. Use renewable energy
Building a new house? Think solar! Or, if available, hydro-electric power. Many states will give you a refund for part of the price of the system.

13. Eat free-range and organic meat
It's better for the environment and your health. Commercial farms pollute the air, ground water, and surrounding areas. They are dirty. Animals are raised inhumanely. The animals are given unnatural diets. They are given hormones and antibiotics. All of which ends up in the meat you eat and in turn it ends up in your body.

14. Print only what you need
You can save files and documents on your computer, they don't need to printed and waste paper. Use double sided printing when you do need to print.

15. Laundry - Use cold water and line dry.

16. Buy used - ebay, craigslist, freecycle, thrift stores

17. Use rags for cleaning instead of paper towels. Use wet washclothes for cleaning off kids faces and hands after a meal.

18. Use cloth grocery bags