72 Eco Tips to Green Your Life
72 +eco tips
Life
TO GREEN UP YOUR
Yep, you are in the right place. Welcome to the joy of going green. Here are 72 tips we’ve come up with to share the eco love and make it count! Now, let’s get going…
- Replace paper napkins with cloth napkins.
- Print documents on bleach-free, recycled paper or on the back side of used paper.
- Replace paper towels with cleaning rags.
- Use bamboo floors instead of hardwoods in the home.
- Buy in bulk to reduce packaging and save money .
- Use re-usable tote bags for purchases when shopping instead of plastic bags.
- Carry a compact picnic set that includes cloth napkins and utensils to avoid using paper napkins and plastic utensils.
- Bring your own coffee cup to the coffee shop instead of using their disposables.
- Reduce the amount of junk mail you receive by opting out.
- Pack a waste-free lunch whenever possible to bring to work, picnics, etc. (check this info out from global stewards)
- Shop at and hold your own garage sales, and use online swapping sites like freecycle.org
- Switch from disposable to re-usable pens, razors, etc.
- Switch to cloth diapers for your baby instead of disposables.
- Donate your old household items to charity.
- Drop packing peanuts off at a local packing, shipping or moving store.
- Buy products that are durable and will last a really long time, so you won’t have to replace them.
- Use rechargeable batteries.
- Buy furniture made of recycled/re-claimed wood.
- Use natural fertilizers and pesticides in the garden rather than chemicals.
- Start a compost pile.
- Pack your recyclable materials to take home with you if you can’t find a recycling bin.
- Learn the proper ways to dispose of hazardous waste to avoid introducing harmful substance into the ecosystem.
- Use organic, chemical-free bedding, especially for children.
- Buy produce from your local farmer’s market.
- Support local businesses.
- Use a water filtering system, like the type that attaches to your faucet or a pitcher, instead of buying bottled water.
- Avoid purchasing genetically modified food products.
- Buy shade-grown coffee to protect migratory bird habitats.
- Reduce your dependence on your car - try out your local public transportation options, ride your bike.
- Buy energy-saving appliances.
- Use solar powered fountains and lighting in the garden.
- Toss out your incandescent light bulbs in favor of energy-saving compact fluorescents.
- Grill out to save energy in the kitchen.
- In the summertime, cover the windows on the west-facing walls of your home to keep heat out. It also helps to plant shrubs and trees along the outside of this wall.
- Paint your home a dark color if you live in a cold climate, and a light color if you live in a warm climate.
- Install low-flow toilets.
- Water plants with leftover water from drinking and cooking.
- Always run full loads of laundry and dishes.
- Install flow-restrictor aerators on all faucets for a savings of 3-4 gallons per minute.
- Fill your yard with native plants; use xeriscaping to save water.
- ‘Leave no trace’ when camping and hiking.
- Use gentle, natural cleaning products instead of harsh chemicals.
- Buy clothing made from organic cotton or hemp.
- Avoid purchasing PVC (check this out for important information about PVC and what it’s doing to our planet)
- Use natural bath & body products.
- When building a home, use a contractor who follows the EPA’s Energy Star Homes Program
- Create a backyard wildlife habitat.
- Use a mulching mower to cut down on yard waste.
- Add yard waste like leaves to your compost .
- Encourage your place of employment to use more green practices like recycling, using recycled paper, cutting down on the amount of paper used by sending e-mail and using instant messages, choosing eco friendly packing materials, etc.
- Encourage hotels that you stay at to consider ‘greener’ practices by printing and leaving this form at the front desk: http://www.globalstewards.org/hotelprint.htm
- If there are products you love that aren’t very eco-friendly, send a letter to the manufacturer requesting them to use better practices.
- Give ‘sustainable gift baskets’ as gifts which can include things like compact fluorescent lightbulbs, organic cotton scarves/hats/baby clothes/etc, faucet aerators, shade-grown coffee, fair trade items, hand-crank radios, battery chargers, etc.
- Be creative with wrapping paper. Use old maps, newspaper, magazine pages, scrap paper, or re-usable cloth bags.
- Keep your tires properly inflated so it will run more efficiently.
- Pack refillable juice boxes in your kids’ lunches.
- Plant a big shade tree in your front yard.
- Adjust your water heater – lower the thermostat from about 145 degrees to 120 – the change isn’t likely to be noticeable.
- Upgrade old cooling and heating systems, which tend to be inefficient. By purchasing a new a/c unit with a seasonal energy efficient ratio (SEER) of 14.5 or higher, you can get federal income tax credit of about $300.
- Buy a programmable thermostat for your home.
- Avoid idling in your vehicle – idling for 30 seconds or more uses more gas than turning the car off and restarting it.
- Switch to a front-loading washing machine, which use 60 percent less energy than top-loaders.
- Keep your microwave clean and you’ll be able to maximize its energy.
- Avoid opening the fridge many times throughout the day – the fridge is the single biggest energy-consuming appliance in the home.
- Use non-toxic paint in the home.
- Buy tableware made of recycled glass.
- Make sure windows and doors are sealed tight.
- Change your heater’s air filter.
- Get a ceiling fan.
- Most wall-to-wall carpeting is full of harmful chemicals and traps mold, dust mites, and allergens. Tear it out and replace it with sustainable wood floors, like bamboo, and eco-friendly area rugs.
- Choose a baby mattress made with wool casings or organic cotton. Regular mattresses often contain cancer-causing fire retardants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers.
- Avoid furniture made of plywood, particle board, and medium-density fiberboard (MDF) – they often contain formaldehyde in their glues. However, buying these items used is ok – they’ll likely have released all their chemicals by the time you get them.
