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First published February 2010, updated December 2011
I've spent over 5 years working on Green Living Tips and while it's been a very
rewarding experience, it's also been quite a confronting one. Working on
this site has opened my eyes as to how un-green my life was and in some ways,
continues to be.
As I've mentioned in other articles such as "Green
happy medium" and "Greener
than thou", sometimes the journey can seem awfully slow and not much
progress is being made compared to other folks I know. It's those times I try to
think back to the changes I've made over the last 12 months.
Sometimes we may not have time to make big changes, or the resources. But we can
keep moving forward with little changes - some we perhaps may not have thought
of before.
With tens of thousands of people visiting this site each month; I'm sure there
are also many "mini-greening" ideas I'm yet to discover that I and
other readers could benefit from.
This is where you come in.
I'm inviting you to share one green change in your life in the past 12 months
with other readers using the comments feature below.
It can be a huge, complex change, or a tiny, simple
green action. It can be a tip already mentioned elsewhere on this site. It
can be a change that is cheap, expensive or free. It can be a few paragraphs or
just a couple of lines; mainstream or "out there".
The goal of this is to generate a single thread of brief, easy to digest tips
people have implemented in their own lives and that can be a source of
inspiration to others. Even if your change seems very basic, it's not uncommon
for people to miss doing basic things while pursuing more complex changes.
A few guidelines:
- Please read the comments below first before contributing yours. If someone has
already mentioned a change you have made, share another one not already
mentioned.
- Feel free to mention types of products, but not product names. The reason for
this is to prevent merchants participating just for the sake of getting their
brand mentioned.
- The thread is for ideas only - not for comments, questions or criticism of the
contributions of others.
- Maximum of 150 words. There's no word minimum, it just needs to observe the
general format
- Please only mention one
green change you have made. This allows more people to participate :)
Format and example:
Basically the format should incorporate the concept of the challenge, the
solution you chose and the environmental and other benefits.
To explain this better, I'll kick this off with a personal example.
EXAMPLE STARTS ----
While I use solar
power mostly when I'm out in the bush, sometimes I still need to resort to
generator power. I've had a habit of buying cheap 2-stroke generators which have
a limited life and as they use a gas/oil mix, are emissions intensive. I dropped
my tightwad ways for a moment and shelled out for a better quality and more fuel
efficient 4 stroke generator.
It should outlast the others by an order of magnitude, saving on resources that
go into building a generator, plus the unit emits far less carbon emissions and
other exhaust
chemicals. The technology used in the unit means less fuel needs to be used
to generate the same amount of electricity.
Additionally, cheap 2 stroke generators tend to be throw-away items, but this
model can be repaired and has a local service agent for the brand.
Not only should it reduce environmental impact, but in the long run I should
save money on fuel, oil and the cost involved with replacing generators more
regularly.
EXAMPLE ENDS ----
Your example doesn't need to be long; it just needs to cover the challenge, the
action and the environmental benefit as mentioned. If there's a financial
benefit as well, please mention it as many people mistakenly think going green
involves spending big bucks.
I look forward to reading your contributions! Please note that all contributions
will be reviewed before being published; but I'll do my best to review and
approve comments as fast as possible.
To save water, installed a low flow shower head. This has also helped reduce our water heating costs and associated greenhouse gas emissions.
Comment #2
(Posted by Wendy S Rogers)
Put in a vegetable garden! And while installing that.. began my own composting system. Now all that organic material I used to toss in the garbage gets broken down and re-used to provide nutrients to enhance soil in my vegetable AND flower gardens! Joined a plant swap group in which we recycle/swap plants/seeds/gardening items that might otherwise go unused or tossed.
Comment #3
(Posted by Sheri)
I changed almost all my light bulbs to CFLs.
Comment #4
(Posted by Michael (Green Living Tips))
Woo! Great stuff folks. Given it's a weekend and the time of the morning in the northern hemisphere when I published this, I wasn't expecting any contributions for a few hours yet :)
Just a reminder for people posting - please only contribute one change you have made; so others get to join in as well and have a read of the other guidelines I posted in the article above before submitting :). Thanks!
Comment #5
(Posted by Tracy Stauffer, RIchmond, VA)
I buy Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)from my electric company to offset all energy used in my home.
Comment #6
(Posted by Sam)
I've started saving most of my trash that could be re-used, like TetraPaks, plastic bags, and so forth, instead of throwing them away. I can usually find a use for them, either in crafts, holding bulk foods at the grocery, or for gardening in the Spring.
Comment #7
(Posted by Melissa)
My boyfriend and I have really cut down on our processed food intake, and next week I will get my first CSA box!
Comment #8
(Posted by Ami)
I got rid of my old truck which guzzled gas and burned oil. Now I drive something that only needs new oil every 7000(!) miles and gets 28 mpg - which is 16mpg more than than the old truck!
Comment #9
(Posted by lori)
started composting,so easy.
Comment #10
(Posted by Laura M)
The biggest thing I have done to be greener: I started a blog about farming and the cultural influences that have led us away from the small, family farm and a simpler lifestyle. Seriously, starting the blog made me feel the need to examine the choices I make everyday. (The blog is www.thefarmingjournalist.com)
Comment #11
(Posted by Rose)
Having learned that water boils faster in an electric kettle than in a stove top one I went from there and realized that if I boil water in my kettle rather than in the pot when I'm cooking noodles it saves both time and energy.
Comment #12
(Posted by Julie)
I bought a big package of inexpensive cottom washcloths for the kids to use for wiping their hands and faces after meals, instead of paper towels.
Comment #13
(Posted by Brenda TeVogt)
When I travel to family and friends homes out of town, I typically am traveling alone. I have been taking the bus. It takes one more car off of the road, saving carbon emmisions and gasoline.
Comment #14
(Posted by Jill)
I've started crafting more and focusing on using the supplies I already have. I love re-fashioning my clothes. for example combining 2 shirts, one that has a stain and would have got tossed and using it to update and embellish another one! There's so many great sites on the web to go to for ideas! Additionally it saves money by not having to buy new clothes and DRIVE to drop things off at a second hand store!
Comment #15
(Posted by Felicity Hubbard)
We now have a vaccum flask sitting on our bench now. We found everytime we made a cup of coffee there was at least a cup of hot water sitting in the bottom of the kettle. My husband gets up a couple of hours earlier then me to go to work and now when I wake up the water is already hot and I can have a coffee immediately. This has a two-fold benefit we save energy re-boiling the kettle and it makes me smile that he considered me that morning.
Comment #16
(Posted by Samantha)
The best thing my kids have done was to give their father a worm farm for Father's Day. It not only helps with composting but the vegie garden has never been better and the strawberries are incredible.
Comment #17
(Posted by ronanki gopalakrishna)
I purchased LED and CFL lamps 7 numbers and installed in a friends house where they were using incandicent lamps earlier to reduce their lighting energy bill and suggested them to use solar water heater instead elecric heating.
Comment #18
(Posted by Belinda)
I travel a lot so in order to offset my ommissions I purchase 4 trees from an NGO for every 20 000 km I travel. They then plant the trees in Soweto. This offsets my ommissions and helps to make Soweto Green
Comment #19
(Posted by Renee)
We don't have a way to recycle cardboard at work (yet), so I load all the boxes in my vehicle and take them to the recycling center near my home at least once a week. It's surprising how many boxes we receive.
Comment #20
(Posted by Kim N)
I started making all my household cleaners: laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, liquid soap, all-purpose cleaner for counters, floors etc. They're much less expensive and better for the environment.
Comment #21
(Posted by Ken Crawford)
We changed our eating habits. The direct result from eating all natural raw food was of course better health. The side benefits however were awesome as well:
Started in house composting with kitchen scraps
Started organic patio and indoor garden, using compost
Cut our consumables by over half - no more pre-packaged food items
Electricity consumption decrease of 30%- Don't use stove
Comment #22
(Posted by Anna)
After many years of bringing kitchen scraps to the farmers market to compost, I purchased a compost bin and installed it in my backyard. Took me long enough! But so rewarding - looking forward to the spring, when i can start to use the finished compost on my plants.
Comment #23
(Posted by pergammano)
I did a lot of research...and purchased an E-bike, which I use daily..no insurance..90 kmh range before re-charging at a cost of about 58 CENTS! Paid for itself in Fuel & insurance in 4 months. It is a pleasure to ride..and get "Wow"s no matter where I go!
Comment #24
(Posted by bob prochazka)
Started three raised bed perennial greens gardens. started a five tray worm farm. started making bokashi and have been using it all winter. Have been using CFLs for fifteen years. They do save electricity BUT. They suck as a light source and their quality totally sucks.
Am about to start playing around using LEDs.
Comment #25
(Posted by Mary)
I quit using plastic bags for things like cut onions, veggies etc. and for taking chips, and sandwiches to work. Instead I use reusable containers I have around the house.
Comment #26
(Posted by Susan Goldman)
NYS requires all stores over a certain size to have a receptacle to deposit soft plastic bags & stuff. I collect soft plastic bags at home & work & bring them to the local supermarket.
Also, I use old newspaper for my dog's waste, since both are recyclable, instead of buying/using plastic.
Comment #27
(Posted by Susan Goldman)
At Christmas, I gave my all staff fair-value easy-to-fold reusable tote bags that I bought from the Breast Cancer Site.
Comment #28
(Posted by Claire Pavlinec)
I began making my own household cleaning products which is much cheaper, works great and is environmentally friendly....smells great, too. I get such satisfaction out of it. The general household cleaner is 1/2 vinegar, 1/2 water and a few drops of lemon grass oil...put it in a sptay bottle and it works like a charm.
Claire
Comment #29
(Posted by Rebecca)
I have stopped letting the water run while brushing my teeth. It costs me nothing, but saves our precious resource - water!
Comment #30
(Posted by MK)
I resolved to purchase everything possible "used" - there are some exceptions which would require too many shopping trips to locate, and I give myself a free pass on underwear & socks, but I have stuck with this for one year so far, and it feels great!
Comment #31
(Posted by Andy)
I started vermicomposting (composting with worms). It is much easier than I thought, all my food waste is now turned into excellent fertilizer, and it is fun.
Comment #32
(Posted by Shannon)
When I wash dishes, I start with only a minimal amount of soapy water in the sink. As I rinse each dish,the rinse water is reused as washing water too, so I only use about half the amount of water I used to for dish washing. Plus, I've changed to a green dishwashing liquid.
Comment #33
(Posted by Regina Chui)
I have used a lot less washing detergents now that I have baking soda - it really works wonders soaking up grease and dirt. So easy to wipe clean with a wet cloth without the "stickiness" if you used normal detergents, especially on stoves and cooking pans.
Comment #34
(Posted by Wai Leong)
I have a 2 months old baby girl, we solicit used baby stuffs from friends and family or ask them to buy us what we need rather than what looks cute. So far we've spent less than USD25 on practical stuff like mosquito net (we stay in Malaysia)and pajamas.
Comment #35
(Posted by Heather G. (St. John, Indiana))
Maybe this is common elsewhere, but it is not around here. I have been turning the shower off during parts of my shower. When I am lathering up and also when shampooing my hair, only turning it on to rinse. Has reduced our water bill noticably. I also do this as I bathe my young children in hopes they learn this as the "normal" thing to do, rather than an extra effort.
Comment #36
(Posted by Priti)
Having a 3 yr old daughter at home, one can imagine how many tissues we could be using in the kitchen. To avoid that I have a kept few cloth napkins to wipe wet hands and we encourage my daughter also to do the same. Also, we buy those Kitchen Paper towels with smaller individual tissues (select-a-size rolls) to avoid wasting big tissues every time.
Comment #37
(Posted by a hudson)
Seems when you eat out these days you are given straws for everything even water. I do not accept these and encourage servers to ask before just handing them to a custormer.
Comment #38
(Posted by Alisa)
When washing vegetables, even rice, I save the water in a plant watering bucket. I use this water, then, to water my plants with.
Comment #39
(Posted by Jane)
I'm making a big effort to cut out packaging. As part of this, I buy and make natural solid skin and hair care products - solid skin moisturiser, shampoo bars, skin scrubs, deodorant. They work better than the wet variety, last longer, have no nasty chemicals and use no plastic, glass or metal packaging.
Comment #40
(Posted by Ashley)
While I, and many other people now use fabric grocery bags, I was getting annoyed at the amount of useless plastic bags we were acquiring from purchasing produce. Fed up with this, I made myself some thin fabric bags (out of left over material that my mom had) to use just for produce. For a class project, I informed the public of the terrible effects of plastic bags, and gave out home-made fabric produce bags to others for free.
Comment #41
(Posted by Greg D (Anchorage))
Got rid of my office trash can, whose plastic bag was emptied every night regardless of how little trash it contained. I now use assorted small non-recyclable bags such as those found inside cereal boxes - and I get up to a week out of one bag kept under my desk! When full, I drop in one of the trash cans still being used by others in the building.
Comment #42
(Posted by Kris )
I moved my family (wife and dog) out of our 3 bed + office house and moved into a 6x3m shed on 12 ac. we have very little inputs, reduced lighting & energy costs now and even smaller waste outputs.
Comment #43
(Posted by Blazenka Brysha)
I am buying less stuff, especially anything containing petrochemical products. Useful things that I own but don't want, I take to the op shops and when I need stuff, I check op shops. Opportunity shops are the most wonderful source of beautiful clothes, accessories etc and the ultimate recyclers that also funnel money to social services instead of private profit.
Comment #44
(Posted by greg)
I work in a nursing home with a full kitchen. Nothing is recycled. So I started filling my car everynight with big rest. size cans, cardboard etc. It is amazing how much is thrown out/ I bring the cardboard to a recycle bin and now I have about blue recylce totes out everyweek. Co workers laugh at me, but now safe stuff for me to recycle. g
Comment #45
(Posted by Mridul)
I am an architecture student and require to take a lot of printouts and make drawings for review. this involves using large quantities of paper on a daily basis. I got the idea of using the backside of old printouts for not so important work, like draft prints, checklists, rail tickets, letters for review, photocopies for record and stuff like that. on an average im saving close to 100 sheets of a4 size pages per week, and also reducing useless a4 sheets that would have otherwise increased my junk
Comment #46
(Posted by 2 bob)
At my childrens golf clinic, parents are offered a complimentary cuppa in a polystyrene cup! My husband and I take our own ceramic cups to use to save on landfill (2 cups per golf visit equates to 104 polystyrene cups in landfill over twelve months). Our ceramic cups are brought home and washed when we wash the rest of out dishes.
Comment #47
(Posted by Jodi)
We started line drying all our clothes after a cold water wash in a high efficiency washer. Our dryer has been unplugged for 9 months and we've saved a ton of money!
Comment #48
(Posted by Marshall)
In the houseboating world we use shower heads and water fausets that are not only low flow, but also have a toggle that shuts the water off. I use 1,7 gpm heads that I can toggle off and on. Visit your local boating supply house and tell them what u want. They will help u find the best product to help save even more water.
Comment #49
(Posted by Jackie)
I bought a pair of folding rectangular steel baskets that can be attached the rack over the back wheel of my bike. Because they're heavy, I only use one. I can transport two and a half heavy bags of groceries: one in the basket, one on my back in a backpack, and a smaller one strapped to the rack. Having the basket permanently attached makes impromptu shopping easy, and makes me more likely to use my bicycle.
Comment #50
(Posted by Judy )
Over a year ago, I canvassed my neighbourhood to bring me their aluminum pop cans, instead of putting them out on the curb in recycling bins on trash day. I flatten them to take up less space, and when I have a couple of jumbo bags full, I sell them to the mental recycler. The money helps to offset the cost of materials needed for my nature projects, which provide educational awareness to our community and our school children and habitat for endangered species.
Comment #51
(Posted by Bobbie)
Packaging drives me crazy! So I buy from bulk bins and use and reuse and reuse plastic produce bags from long, long ago. When home, I empty my purchases into recycled glass jars and return the plastic bags to my cloth shopping bag for next time!
Comment #52
(Posted by Leena)
I bought some cloth pads and started to use them instead of disposable ones. It wasn't as troublesome as I thought it would be to wash them. You just stick them into a bucket of cold water if you can't wash them right away and they're easier to wash later. They also dry surprisingly quickly if you wring them out well, so I don't even have to throw them into the dryer. I'm glad I made the switch. I actually like them better than disposables because they have cute patterns.
Comment #53
(Posted by Margaret )
I have subscribed to a daily newspaper since 1970. This year I am getting my paper online and this makes a huge reduction in the paper I take to the recycle.
Comment #54
(Posted by Jackie)
Challenge: I'm learning another language, listening to mp3s on a portable mp3 player, and constantly rewinding and running down the battery. The first player I bought died just after I had bought a proprietary replacement battery, now useless; the second player had a nonreplaceable battery and I had to throw out the whole player when the battery died. I wanted something more durable.
Solution: I looked for a simple mp3 player with FM and audio playback, that takes ordinary (AAA) batteries. I found one used for $25, then bought rechargeable batteries. These players are rare, so snap one up if you find it!
Comment #55
(Posted by Angelina)
We have a large drum hooked up to catch our washing machine waste water. We have switched to "Earth Care" washing powder.I have a bucket sitting next to it and we scoop the water out and use it to flush the toilet. Regular friends are encouraged to do the same when they visit but our guests are aloud to flush. we also use the waste water to wash the car, wash the house down and water the tree's. It takes time compared to just turning the tap on or pressing a flush button but I feel good inside.
Comment #56
(Posted by Pam)
I've been drying clothes outdoors instead of using the electric dryer. Saves a lot of electricity. Give everything a good shake before it goes on the line or fluff for a minute or 2 with no heat in the dryer and even the towels will still be fluffy. Gives me the added benefit of a bit more exercise in the day.
