Green Living: Simple Things You Can Do Today Articles | Environment

By: Matthew Hick

You don’t have to be an environmental guru to save the earth. Here are some very easy things you can do right now to help save the earth:

Save Water. Water is a precious resource that we all waste every day. Conserve water easily by:

• Put a brick in a plastic bag and place it in the back of you toilet. You’ll save up to one gallon of water with every flush.
• Fix leaky faucets and pipes right away. In the meantime, save the drips in a pan and use it to water your plants, wash the dog or even cook supper. After all, it’s clean water. 
• Only wash full loads of laundry.
• Install low-flow faucet aerators on all your faucets. They’ll save you 50% (or 3-5 gallons of water a minute), and the flow will seem stronger.
• Collect rainwater in barrels or tubs and use it to water your household plants or dry lawn areas. It’ll use a lot less water than the sprinkler.

Conserve Electricity. Cut down on wasteful electrical use by:

• Turn off lights and appliances when leaving a room.
• Turn off your computer monitor before bed. A monitor left on all night uses enough electricity to print 5,300 copies.
• Look for the Energy Star rating when buying new appliances
• Wrap your water heater set your water heater at 130 degrees
• Wash clothes in cold water as whenever possible
• If possible hang clothes outside to dry once in awhile
• Turn down your heat by 1 degree for every hour you’ll be away from home*
• Replace traditional light bulbs with newer longer lasting/low energy ones
• Don’t stand with the refrigerator or freezer open while you decide what you want 
• Unplug unused appliances.

Go Green. Going green doesn’t have to change you’re life. There are things you can do right now to live in a more earth-friendly fashion: 

• Plant a tree. It’s a great way to save the earth’s oxygen.
• Use homemade or all-natural cleaning products.
• Buy recycled products.
• Use both sides of a sheet of paper before discarding.
• Reuse envelopes and junk mail for writing notes and keeping lists.

Ditch the Disposables. It takes more than 100 years for a plastic sandwich bag to biodegrade in a landfill. Pack sandwiches and snacks in reusable containers, or rinse and reuse the disposable ones. Using permanent containers will not only save the environment, it’ll save you time and money.

Here are a few other things to try:

• Replace plastic utensils, paper plates and Styrofoam cups with permanent ones.
• Recycle mayonnaise jars, margarine tubs and other food containers to store leftovers and other supplies.
• Use washable cloth kitchen towels instead paper towels.

Use Rechargeable Batteries.
They may cost a little more, but replacing your disposable batteries with rechargeable ones will save you 10 to 20 times their original cost in the long run. Want to prolong the life of your batteries? Use a plug or adapter for radios and other small appliances.