Four Lazy Ways to Save the Environment |
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It's Earth Day and I'd be remiss if I didn't take a minute to recognize that. While I typically focus on financial topics here, there are other important issues I care about. The environment is one such issue. All the money in the world is worthless if there's no world left. I know that's a bit of an extremist view. I honestly don't know the state of the environment throughout the world, but my common sense says that we need to start acting now. With that in mind, here are some tips that will help the environment... be careful a couple of them might even save you money.
- Re-Use - Re-usable cups for your morning coffee reduces trash. Substituting bottled water for water from a Brita in a re-usable bottle saves the environment and money. I like Thinksport Sports Bottles
for both hot and cold beverages. Bringing re-usable shopping bags is another great way to re-use. I'm only touching the tip of the iceberg of ways to re-use - I got more ideas from watching Enviromom on Nightline and following up on the Enviromom website.
- Corkscrew Bulbs - Those wacky looking bulbs, known CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs) are great ways to save energy (and money). There are similar products that can also do this, like photoluminescent exit signs - perfect for making sure your office obeys building regulations and helps the environment.
- Eat a Low Carbon Diet - No, not low carb, but low carbon. The idea is to eat locally, grown foods. If you logically think about it, importing food requires some kind of fuel. The further you import the food, the more fuel you'll need. See Eat Low Carbon for more ideas.
- Recycle - As Lazy as I am, I can usually sort our where I put my garbage with little effort. I realize that for some people, recycling is more difficult, but for others it's easy.
This is space where I annually pitch The Good Human. David is a great writer who not only writes about sustainable living... he lives it everyday.
This post deals with:bottled water, brita, earth day, environment
... and focuses on:environment
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I’m going to print out all the information in this post and make a bunch of copies.
Oh, wait. Maybe not :)
My wife isn’t a fan of CFB, but I have snuck a few into spots where she doesn’t notice. I’ve also tricked out a floor lamp in the dark lower level of the house to push out a lot more lumens than would be possible with incandescent (it’s limited to 60w bulbs) and I’m still using less power.
It’s never too hard to do the basics–regardless of where you stand on the whole greenhouse effect. Just showing respect for the planet and your fellow humans can teach you deep lessons and create a more disciplined you. Good stuff :) I especially like the low carbon diet ;P
I’ll say the same thing I said at Cash Money Life…turn off the lights when you leave a room. It really does help to conserve energy. You can also turn off the water while you’re actually brushing your teeth. The small stuff adds up.
I definitely think you’re right about needing to start conservation now. The problem is, scientists can’t agree on how bad the situation is, nor can they agree on which methods are going to be more efficient. This topic has been going around all day – even in my sociology class, interestingly enough – about some solutions they’re currently debating on, particularly as it deals with land fills. The two options it seems they’re leaning towards are nuclear reactors – which are efficient, but have a whole slew of things that come with it, and the other is to jettison everything to space. I think the latter option sounds good, except that eventually it may come back. Anyway, I just find it interesting so I thought I’d share.
If you’re in to being Green, check out MTV’s Cherry Girl. She’s a new character who sets an example for our young generation, showing them small and simple ways to improve their immediate environment. She even made an oven out of a pizza box! See below:
http://www.iamcherrygirl.com/?p=40