10 Easy Ways to Go Green

Our friend Simran Sethi, host of “The Green” on Sundance Channel, helped us out with a list of easy, everyday solutions.

1. GET A GOOD PAPER CUT

Americans represent about 5% of the world’s population but use 1/3 of the world’s paper. The average American uses almost 700 pounds of paper and paper-based products every year.

Cut your paper trail. Do your banking, pay your bills, and read your newspaper online. If you have to get a printed newspaper, make sure to recycle it. If we each recycled our newspaper just one day a week, we would save about 36 million trees a year.

2. PIMP YOUR RIDE

Get out of your car and pimp out your bike, your board, or your blades. By leaving your car at home just two days a week, you can reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by almost 1600 pounds per year.

If you need to drive, try carpooling – and make sure your car is tuned up, your tires are inflated, and your air filter is clean. By doing these three things, you can increase your gas mileage by up to 4 miles per gallon, save yourself money, and reduce your carbon emissions.

3. LIGHT UP YOUR LIFE

Nearly 15% of our household electricity consumption is from lighting. Most people use inefficient incandescent bulbs that burn 80-90% heat rather than light. Look for Energy Star compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). They’re an energy-saving alternative to incandescents that produce the same amount of light, use 1/3 of the electricity, and last up to ten times as long. You’ll pay a few more dollars up front but will end up saving over $30 over the life of the bulb.

Because most of our electricity is produced from coal, each CFL we use prevents 1,300 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, 20 pounds of sulfur dioxide, and other greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming from ending up in our atmosphere. Plus coal-fired plants release significant amounts of mercury so even though CFLs are made with mercury, using efficient lighting actually reduces the amount of mercury we put into the environment.

4. DON’T BE IDLE

You actually spend more money powering your DVD player and microwave when they’re off than when you’re actually using them. Why? Because when they’re on standby, they are still pulling power from the energy grid. This standby or “vampire” power accounts for about 6% of our energy usage, and costs consumers over $8 billion annually. By 2020 it could account for as much as 10% of our total electricity used.

Drive a stake through vampire power and unplug items like toasters, hair dryers and cell phone chargers when you aren’t using them to cut down on wasted energy. Or plug them into a single power strip that can be turned off when you’re sleeping or away.

5. WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

Paper or plastic? Neither. Compared with paper bags, producing plastic ones actually uses less energy and water and generates less air pollution and solid waste. Plastic bags also take up less space in a landfill. But most don’t make it to landfills. According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags are discarded in the United States each year.

When plastic breaks down, it photodegrades into smaller pieces that fish and animals eat and ends up back in our food supply. Not what you thought you were having for dinner, huh? Plastic also leaches dangerous chemicals into our soil that end up in our water supply. Bring your own reuseable canvas bag for bulk, produce, and other purchases reduce your plastic waste.

6. BEAT YOUR MEAT

For every pound of meat that goes on your plate, it takes sixteen pounds of grain and soybean feed to put it there. On top of this, each calorie of meat protein requires about 78 calories of fossil fuels to produce. Livestock production and feed accounts for about half the fresh water used in industrialized nations, and, according to the United Nation’s Environment Programme, belching, flatulent livestock emit 16% of the world’s methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Take a break from meat one or two days a week. And try to reduce the 1500 miles on average your food travels from farm to fork by eating locally and buying produce in season. Plus keep the chemicals out of your system and the ecosystem by eating organic food grown without pesticides, which is better for the land and our health and reduces our dependence on the petroleum-based chemicals found in pesticides.<

7. BYOB

The money we spend on bottled water is enough to ensure everyone on the planet could have access to clean drinking water. About 40% of the bottled water we buy comes from municipal sources, which means it’s essentially tap water. Or the water’s shipped to us from exotic locales like Fiji, burning tons of petroleum along the way. It’s no surprise we pay more for bottled water than we do for gasoline or milk.

We throw away about 40 million plastic bottles a day that are usually made with petroleum-based plastics that will never biodegrade but only break down into smaller and smaller pieces. Get yourself a good water filter and bring your own reuseable bottle. You’ll save money and save the planet.

8. EXERCISE NATURAL SELECTION

Cleaning products are supposed to make things clean, right? But what kinds of chemicals are used to get something lemony fresh? The EPA says our indoor air quality may be twice as polluted as our outdoor air, in part because of the cleaning products we use in our home. And, after they go down the drain, the cleaning products continue to pollute the environment. A 2002 U.S. Geological Survey study found that 66% of streams sampled contained disinfectants, and 69% contained “detergent metabolites”—ingredients shown to harm fish reproduction and cause cancer.

Clean up your act and look for bio-degradable, non-toxic cleaning product made from plant-based agents rather than petroleum. If every U.S. household replaced one 50-ounce box of petroleum-based powder laundry detergent with a vegetable-based product, we’d save enough oil to heat and cool 7,500 homes for one year.

9. FASHION A GREEN EXISTENCE

It takes 1/3 of a pound of pesticide to make a traditional cotton t-shirt, and 2/3 of a pound of pesticide to make a pair of jeans. These pesticides are petroleum-based and toxic not only to pests but to people. They get sprayed on farmers who work the land, leach into our soil and groundwater, and may even end up on us when we wear the clothing.

Look for organic cotton clothing grown without pesticides, rapidly renewable fibers like bamboo and soy, and recycled vintage clothing. And make sure to wash well: use eco-friendly laundry detergents, wash clothes in cold water, and try to avoid traditional drycleaners that use perchloroethylene, a known carcinogen.

10. TURN TRASH INTO TREASURE

Americans generate over 4.5 pounds of trash per day. The EPA estimates about 75% of what we toss could actually be recycled. Over 1/3 of landfills are made up of paper, and over 1/10 of landfills are covered in plastic.

Use reuseable containers to cut down on plastic waste and look for 100% post-consumer recycled content in the paper products you buy. And recycle as much as you can. Check out www.earth911.org to learn how to recycle everything from used motor oil to computers. And what you can’t recycle, freecycle. Freecycle is an online exchange where people can pass along things they don’t need to others – for free. A fax machine, a piano, CDs. . .Your trash may be another’s treasure – or vice-versa. Log on to www.freecycle.org.