Everyone seems to have a "10 ways to go green' list these days.
But I thought I would give you some simple things you can do that I did not see mentioned everywhere to help you green up.
1) Use Bill pay Most banks offer bill-pay nowadays.
Using your banks billpay or an online bill pay service helps to reduce paper waste and will also help to save fuel from your mail service having to deliver your bills.
Paying your bills online also saves energy since your bill does not have to go through the sorting processes at both post offices.
2) Water Filter Buy a water filter from your local store and fill up your own bottles or refill purchased bottles, instead of buying bottled water.
By refilling a bottle a few times before discarding it you will be cutting back on the amount of plastic going into your local landfill.
On average, one person uses 166 disposable plastic water bottles each year and Americans add over 30 million plastic water bottles to our nation's landfills ~ everyday! 3) One man's junk is another man's gold Instead of throwing out that usable 'junk' donate your reusable 'junk' to a second hand store, saving it from the landfill and helping out someone else who may need it.
The salvation army as well as many other places take used stuff to resell to their customers, many of them needy, or use the parts from your stuff to repair broken stuff they have.
4) Use public transportation Use public transportation at least once a week.
It is not so bad, I have been car-less for almost 2 years now.
There are times I could use one of course as well as times I wanted one, but overall public transportation works just fine.
Try it for just one day a week.
5) Inflate tires to proper pressure This is one of the easiest ones to do, but quite often overlooked.
Just drive to your local tire shop they will check and air up your tires for you.
If your tire is under inflated your car has to work harder to move itself, this uses more fuel, costs you more money, and pollutes our air even more.
6) AC filter It is mid-summer now, by now your AC filter is probably full of dust and lint.
Cleaning or changing your furnace / AC filter regularly helps you save money on your electric bill.
Most new filters are under $10 if you shop around (hint - compare filter prices online).
7) Sprinkler Systems If you have an underground sprinkler system, you probably have at least one sprinkler that is leaking or is not functioning properly.
Spend a few minutes on a weekend and fix it! Also, check those hose connections if you use regular sprinklers, hose ends tend to leak after you hookup and unhook them several times, buy some new gaskets or new hose ends and replace them.
8) Reusable plates and silverware Did you know they can use corn starch to make reusable 'paper' plates now? Use biodegradable, disposable dishes instead of paper plates for your barbecues this summer.
Using these will help in tree cutting for paper purposes and save the landfill from filling up with more paper waste.
Shop online for these.
9) Plant trees You can order 10 free trees from arborday.
org and plant them, last I checked you only had to pay a small shipping fee.
The trees come as seedlings with planting instructions.
Put your order in now, some of the trees they offer can be shipped and planted in the fall, while others have to be shipped and planted in the spring, depending upon where you live and what zone you are in (they have a zone map on the website for you to use).
If you order trees, make sure you PLANT the trees! 10) Volunteer Spend some time doing some community service projects.
Volunteer with your city/county/state for litter pickup, tree planting, park projects, etc...
I hope I have given you a few things to consider and that you will take action.
Living green completely these days is probably impossible due to our technology driven lifestyles.
No one expects you to go completely green, but even if you just did a couple of these things it will help!