The Sustainability Book Club Network

10 Things You Can Do Today To Go Green

This List is from GreenFeet.com, an online store for eco-products.

Things You Can Do Today To Go Green
Going Green doesn't have to be hard - or expensive. Here are but a few ideas to get you started. TODAY!

Take the 25 mile diet
Search your local Chamber of Commerce website to see if you have a local farmers market, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) or food co-op in your town. Source as much of your food local as possible. The average dinner plate took a 1500 mile trip to get to your kitchen table - do your part to minimize that distance and support local farmers. Your food will taste better, last longer and you're helping keep your local economy vibrant.
Turn your water heater down to 120 degrees F
You'll save energy and money.
Keep your showers to 5 minutes or less
Let's get real. For most of us, 5 minute showers are a drastic change. Pace yourself. If you take a 15 minute shower now, cut it down to 10 minutes for 2 weeks, then 7 minutes for a week and finally reach 5 minutes. It's really easy and can save you up to 1,000 gallons of water a month!
Bring a Reusable Bag
The market is flooded with options. One of our faves is the ChicoBag as it's lightweight, compact, inexpensive and comes in a bounty of colors. Bringing your own bag saves oil (plastic) and trees not to mention reducing clutter in your pantry. Did you know the average American family uses 750 plastic bags a year? Holy smokes!
Choose compostable bags for pet clean-up
You won't miss your plastic bags when you have some biobag dog pooper bags. Made from GMO free corn, you'll feel good about picking up poop.
Get Unplugged
Appliances, computers, cell phone chargers - they all pull phantom loads. This means energy is being consumed without the item being in use but still plugged in. Solution? Unplug when not in use.
Support local retailers
This doesn't mean you have to totally give up your favorite chain store. Simply give your locally own businesses a fair shot for your business. On average, 60 cents out of every dollar spent at a locally owned store or business stays in your local community vs 30 cents from a chain. Local shops and businesses keep your community vibrant, the economy healthy, and supports a diverse choice. You want to live in Your Town USA, not Anywhere, USA.
Recycle
'nuff said.
Evaluate Your Daily Routine
Going here and there? Running all over town? Stop, sit and write down your average daily route. Consider ways to reduce drive time thus saving time and gas. Can kids carpool to soccer? Is it possible to do the majority of your errands once a week instead of over several days? How about biking for quick trips? You get the idea.
Less is best
When choosing products, opt for those with minimal packaging or at the very least recyclable packaging. Bringing your own lightweight cotton produce bags for bulk items help you save even more money. Don't just think they're for produce only - they also work for grains, nuts, legumes, you name it. Buy bulk and save money.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alysha Liljeqvist on April 23, 2008 at 7:18am: CALL TO ACTION: How many of these things can we do this week as a network? Tell us one thing from this list that you will do THIS WEEK to Go Green!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim Witkin on May 3, 2008 at 8:03am: Recycling dilemma of the week: I had collected piles of Styrofoam in my garage from various mail order packages. Our curbside recycling does not take Styrofoam. I finally found a UPS store in San Carlos who takes it and reuses it for their packaging. All the UPS type stores will take the Styrofoam peanuts and plastic bubble wrap, but I had all these odd size pieces. "Not to worry..." my neighborhood UPS guy assured me. He breaks up the odd pieces and finds way to reuse them.

Another recycling dilemma: Can anyone advise how/where to recycle Brita water filters?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by scott a. nadig on May 3, 2008 at 9:04am: Hi Jim,

Found a great website for you! Its called Take Back The Filter. These people are on a campaign to get Brita/Clorox to recycle their filters in North America. Apparently you can recycle them in Europe. They encourage everyone concerned to mail them your used filters at which point they will deliver en masse to Clorox at some future date. You can sign their petition to Clorox etc...Not being able to recycle your filter is horrible for the environment. Its ironic we sequester pollutants from our water so we can dump it back into the system again. There's a definite leak in the loop. Here's the link to the site. I hope this helps.

http://www.takebackthefilter.org/; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michael Hancox on May 4, 2008 at 12:53pm: Hi Scott,

Thanks for this link. About 6 months ago I stopped using Brita filters for this exact reason. Perhaps the designers of the Green Leaves site might want to create a page just for "green' petitions. Kind of a one stop shop for having folks sign as many of these petitions as possible.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim Witkin on May 5, 2008 at 11:32am: Scott, good to know. I went to the website, signed the petition, and sent an email to the local coordinator. I'll you all know what I hear back. Jim; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim Witkin on May 7, 2008 at 6:49pm: Take Back the Filter emailed me. Here was her response: "We are collecting them for an action at some point in the future. The idea will be to publicly deliver them to Clorox with a request for them to be recycled. But this will not happen until we have many, many filters collected. We are already starting to receive filters from across the country."

If anybody has been saving up used Brita filters because there was no way to recycle them, you can give them to me at the next Saturday residency and I'll return them.

Here's more info about the filter collection:

http://www.takebackthefilter.org/2008/04/send-us-your-used-filters....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Edward Chen on April 23, 2008 at 10:27pm: Chico bags are very durable and handy to bring when you go grocery shopping!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jacob on April 23, 2008 at 10:46pm: I actually just got a Chico bag and used it for the first time today!

It's a great design. I love how they scrunch up into a mini-bag and can fit right in your pocket.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jason Fujioka on April 24, 2008 at 10:23am: Edward and Jacob, I could not agree more with you about the Chico bags! My AP Environmental Science Professor began distributing and selling these to our campus to promote the idea of stopping single-bag use addiction. Its impact on our campus has been great thus far. Hopefully this first step towards a more environmental campus will create enough momentum to transform the minds of my peers!

- Jason Fujioka; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by scott a. nadig on April 30, 2008 at 1:19am: I. Call to Action:

I promise to write a letter to (1) large chain grocery store and advocate that GMO bio plastic bags replace the regular plastic bags as soon as possible. However, there are issues with corn, a food source, being used for plastic products and/or energy. What are your thoughts on this? Is this a worthwhile challenge? Its not (1) of the ten that you mention. I already do most and wanted to take it one step further.

II. Another Challenge #11

Another good challenge (I want to put out there for others who may not have done so) is to reduce the amount of garbage you generate in half. Its amazing how quickly you can reduce it from say 2 bags per week to 1 bag per week to 1/2 bag/week, with very little effort. Its an exercise I found helpful in raising my awareness of the amount of garbage I produce and what little effort it took to reduce the amount significantly.

III. Plastic Bags can only by "downcycled".

I have a bad habit of using plastic produce bags when purchasing oranges and apples, which is at least twice a week. I keep the plastic bags with me in my back pack which I use to carry my groceries. I reuse the plastic bags until they are worn out. I then deposit them in my store's plastic bag recycling bin. Its important to know, however, that plastic bags cannot be recycled into new plastic bags. They can only be "downcycled" into plastic products that cannot be recycled further. With that said, I will break my habit of using plastic produce bags and promise to opt for paper only from now on.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rebecca Markwick on May 1, 2008 at 6:13am: I have a hard time not using plastic bags for my fruit and veggies as well. I really like your idea keeping the plastic bags, keeping them with my canvas bags, having them accessible, so I do not use any more. I am also going to check out the Chico Bag, looks great! Thanks for the information!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by scott a. nadig on May 1, 2008 at 5:48pm: OK, so heres the deal. I go to the store today to buy my oranges and apples. I look around the entire produce department, NO PAPER BAGS anywhere. So I think...where have I seen paper bags in this store...THE BAKERY DEPT.! So I go to the bakery dept and grab a couple paper bags for my produce. Worked perfectly! Then I b-lined it to the customer service dept and said, "why are you still using plastic bags in the produce dept.?" (San Francisco banned them afterall) The dude behind the desk kind of stammered and said "its the one area where the city still allows the use of plastic bags" and "the store probably won't change over to paper because its cheaper to use plastic." I filled out a customer comments card asking for the option to use paper bags for produce.

So, if your grocery store does not have paper bags in the produce dept.? Go to the bakery department and get them.; ▶ Reply to This