Being "Green"

It seems almost inconceivable to think that starting
my car and letting it run for five minutes to get the
heat or air conditioning going has any effect on the
earth’s pulse, but when you multiply that millions of
times, there’s no doubt that it has a serious effect.

Simple things that we do, or don’t do, have an effect
on our planet’s precious atmosphere. How many times a
week do you go to the coffeehouse and get your coffee
in a paper or cardboard cup? You might have thought
about how many years it takes for that cup to
decompose, but have you thought about the energy that
went into the production and transportation of that
cup? Multiplied by...?

Do you reduce, re-use and recycle? Make it a goal to
reduce the amount of garbage you produce by recycling
and composting. Your town office or city hall will
provide you with a list of how to separate your items
for recycling. Every item that you can re-use or
recycle is one less item in the landfill.

One of the simplest ways to help is to purchase and
use cloth shopping bags. The hard part is remembering
to take them out of the car and into the store, but
once you get into the habit, it becomes second nature.
Resolve to not accept plastic bags in a store.

Traveling in a gas-powered vehicle as little as
possible is a great way to conserve. Walk or bike
whenever and wherever you can; it’ll help the planet
and your health. If you live in the city, use public
transportation. Likewise, if you live in the country,
carpool to work and instead of making several trips a
week to run errands, save them for one trip.

If you take the time to think about your daily
activities, and how you can do them a little
differently, you may find yourself not only helping
the environment, but helping your wallet. Do only full
loads of laundry and dishes; cut your shower by two
minutes; switch to energy-saving light bulbs; turn
your refrigerator and air conditioner up a single
degree and turning off your electronic devices at
night are all painless ways to help.

Challenge yourself to think before you act for a few
days and you will surprised at how easy it is to begin
the process of going green.