Environmental Tips: First: Reduce

The critical first step of waste prevention has been overshadowed by a focus on recycling. Please help to promote a greater awareness of the importance of the "Reduce" part of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle mantra. For a great overview of how raw materials and products move around the world, see the video The Story of Stuff.

• Simplify: Simplify your life as much as possible. Only keep belongings that you use/enjoy on a regular basis. By making the effort to reduce what you own, you will naturally purchase less/create less waste in the future. For information on voluntary simplicity, check out Voluntary Simplicity Websites. Learn more through books on voluntary simplicity. The Compact blog (and Yahoo group accessed from blog) supports individuals committed to not buying products for a year.
• Reduce Purchases: In general, think before you buy any product - do you really need it? How did the production of this product impact the environment and what further impacts will there be with the disposal of the product (and associated packaging materials)? When you are thinking about buying something, try the 30-Day Rule -- wait 30 days after the first time you decide you want a product to really make your decision. This will eliminate impulse buying.
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• Tree-Free Home: As much as possible, create a tree-free home:
  • replace paper napkins with cloth napkins
  • replace paper towels with a special set of cloth towels/napkins (or cut up old t-shirts for great towels) - store the used ones in a small container in your kitchen and just wash and reuse
  • purchase bleach-free, toilet paper that is made from the highest post-consumer waste content you can find (80% minimum)

For the rest of the story, visit GlobalStewards.org

http://playersfortheplanet.org/

10 Tips to Greener Living

1. Change to Fluorescent Bulbs - If every house in the United States changed all of the light bulbs in their house, that would be equivalent to taking one million cars off the streets.

2. Don't Rinse - Skip rinsing your plates before putting them into the dishwasher. In average you will save 15 gallons of water per load. Plus, you will save time.

3. Hang Outside to Dry - Get a cloths line or rack to dry your cloths. Your cloths will last longer and you will save money

4. Turn off computers at night - don't just put them to sleep. You will save an average of 4 cents a day which ads up to $14.60 a year.

5. Use Both Sides of Paper - if you have a printer with a double sided print option use it. You will save half of the amount of paper you would have normally used.

Then when your done bring it to the recycle bin.

6. Get rid of baths - Don't take baths, take showers. You will in average save about half the amount of water that you would if you were taking a bath.

7. Don't get bottled water - Instead of bottled water get a reusable container to carry water. Also you can get a filter to make your home tap taste more like bottled water. It is definitely more cost efficient.

8. Turn the water off when you brush - Your parents have said this before, now I say it. You will save 4 gallons of water doing this alone.

9. Shorten your shower - Every minute you cut from your shower is roughly 5 gallons of water. The less time your shower takes, the lower your impact on the environment.

10. Recycle Glass - If you do not recycle this, it will take a million years to decompose.

Read the rest of the article here.

To find out how you can take a more active role in helping our planet, visit our website: Players for the Planet