Green Notes
Showers
Replace existing shower heads with the lowest flow product you can find. Shower heads with a mist setting let you reduce water flow even further. Shower instead of taking a bath. Time your showers – try to keep them to 5 minutes. If taking a bath, limit how high you fill the tub.
Cooking Vegetables
Steam rather than boil your veggies to save a quart or more of water. Better yet, try giving vegetables a quick rinse, placing them in a covered bowl, and microwaving them for a minute or two.
Fix Leaks Promptly!
It is estimated that 13.7% of household water is wasted by leaks. Check your water meter when no one is using water in the house. If it’s moving there’s a leak. A running toilet can waste 2 gallons a minute. Check by adding food coloring to the tank without flushing. After 10 minutes, look for [...]
Shade-Grown Coffee
Buy shade-grown coffee to protect desperately needed migratory bird habitats. Many “fair trade certified” coffees are shade-grown. In the U.S., locate a supplier near you on the TransFair Retail Outlets listing.
Green Paper
In general, try to buy products/containers made from recycled material as often as possible to support the recycled product market. When purchasing paper products (toilet paper, etc,), look for paper that has been recycled using a minimum of 50% post-consumer waste. Also, purchase from companies that do not use chlorine to bleach their paper products [...]
Encourage Hotels to Reduce Waste
When staying at a hotel, motel, or bed and breakfast let the management know that you like to support businesses that adopt environmentally responsible practices (including reducing waste). Print out and drop off the Sustainable Solutions for Green Hotels environmental tips list. To locate environmentally friendly hotels, search on the Internet under “ecotourism” and/or visit Green [...]
Shopping Bags
While shopping, if you only buy a few products skip the shopping bag. For larger purchases, bring your own. Learn about the dangers of plastic bags and what countries around world are doing about it.
Borrow From Friends
If you only need something temporarily, ask if a friend or neighbor would loan it to you.
Replace Disposables
Wherever possible, replace disposable products with reusable ones (i.e., razor, food storage, batteries, ink cartridges (buy refill ink), coffee filters, furnace or air conditioner filters, etc…)
Reduce Purchases
In general, think before you buy any product – do you really need it? How did the production of this product impact the environment and what further impacts will there be with the disposal of the product (and associated packaging materials)? When you are thinking about buying something, try the 30-Day Rule — wait 30 [...]
