Where to Start Going Green

While everyone in the green community applaudes you for taking an interest in going green, we know it isn't easy or affordable to just jump right in and totally greenify your life. No one expects you to invest in a tankless water heater or solar panels. There is little things we can all do with little or no additional costs that would help our planet as well as our own health.

Reduce Your Waste

While recycling what we use is always a great green step, the most important thing we can do for our planet is to reduce what we use in the first place. This step is also the most cost effect as we can actually save money if we really take it to heart.

Think about all of the things we purchase or recieve on a daily basis that we don't really need. Below is a quick checklist of things you can do to reduce your waste with little to no cost:

Take a cloth bag to the grocery store

The amount of gas it takes to create a plastic bag could fuel the average car for a mile. An amazing 46000 pieces of plastic are in every square mile of ocean. Reusing or recycling these bags can help but ultimately cutting down on their numbers is the best course. Bring a few cloth tote bags with you to the store. They can usually hold more and can be reused time and time again. There are many designer bags you can find online but you can get good durable cloth totes for a few dollars a piece and it will really help the green cause.

Stop buying individually wrapped items.

If you can avoid it don't purchase unneccessary items with extra packaging. A good example of this is cheese slices. It isn't hard or expensive to purchase cheese in blocks and cut it yourself. Individually wrapped snacks are a convenience when you have kids but try making snacks in bulk and bagging them yourself. When the baggies are empty you can wash them out and use them again.

Stop Buying Bottle Water

1.5 Million barrels of oil were used to produce bottles for water in the United States. 86% of these bottles eventually end up in landfills or incinerated. Statistics have shown that bottle water is little to no cleaner than the tap water in most areas of the US but costs upwards to 1000 times more to produce. A good green step is to invest in a water filtration system for your home. It pays for itself in no time.

Switch to Electronic Bills

It is unfathomable how many tons of paper this country uses on a daily basis to send requests for money. If 20% of Americans switch to electronic bill receipt and payment we could save almost 2 million trees and 100 million gallons of gasoline a year. Check out this cool calculator to see how many resources you could be saving at PayitGreen.org.

Shop Sensibly

15% of the food purchased by the average family is thrown out from rotting or other causes. Really think about your purchases when shopping. Don't stock up on perishables unless you are sure you are going to be able to use it.

Start a Compost

Making a compost is a great way to keep perishable foods and yard clippings out of the landfill. You can spread compost in your garden, on flower beds, around trees, and even on top of your lawn. Woody compost can be used as an alternative to synthetic mulch, as well. We recommend taking a look at Cleanairgardening.com for composters. You can learn to build your own by Clicking Here.