What is green living?
Green living means living in a way that benefits the environment, living in a way that puts us in touch with the larger earth around us and helps us to align our goals more closely with what is necessary. Green living is sustainable, it allows us to maintain a standard of living with which we are comfortable and to allow more people in the world to accomplish that standard of living.
These tips on green living will not require you to change your life drastically, although they may lead you eventually in that direction. You will not be required to wear hemp clothing and live off the grid. These tips on green living are just small changes you can make to reduce your impact on the planet. Their power comes in multiplying them; a small step taken by many people will make a huge difference. So please, take a few minutes to review these tips and share them with your friends. Email this page, stumble it, digg it, vote for it on Lensroll. Together we can make a difference and save the world.
Photo courtesy L*U*Z*A on flickr
These tips on green living will not require you to change your life drastically, although they may lead you eventually in that direction. You will not be required to wear hemp clothing and live off the grid. These tips on green living are just small changes you can make to reduce your impact on the planet. Their power comes in multiplying them; a small step taken by many people will make a huge difference. So please, take a few minutes to review these tips and share them with your friends. Email this page, stumble it, digg it, vote for it on Lensroll. Together we can make a difference and save the world.
Photo courtesy L*U*Z*A on flickr
Get more great green living tips with Ideal Bite
Tips on Green Living Step 1
Eliminate your junk mail
According to the EPA, junk mail is one of the largest sources of waste in our country, weighing in at 4 million tons. Your first green living task is to take half an hour and eliminate or reduce the junk mail coming into your house. This will protect trees, reduce waste in landfills, and cut the clutter in your house.
- ProQuo
- ProQuo is a free service that will submit your information to most major mailing lists for removal, thus reducing or eliminating the junk mail that comes into your house.
- Junk your Junk Mail
- The Center for a New American Dream is a charity which advocates for a simpler life for both its green living and economic justice potentials. Their campaign, Declare your Independence from Junk mail, has a great explanation of how to cancel your junk mail, along with forms to submit and other tips
- Junkbusters
- Junkbusters is a free service that allows you to print form letters to opt out of most mailing lists.
- Catalog Choice
- Catalog Choice is a free service that lets you opt out of all the catalogs that get delivered to your home. You choose the individual catalogs and Catalog Choice will contact the companies for you to remove you from their mailing lists.
Tips on green living Step 2
Slay your vampires
Another easy tip to make your life a little more green is to eliminate the electricity vampires from your life. Electricity vampires, also called phantom loads, are appliances that use energy when turned off, generally to use some sort of standby mode. Televisions, DVD players, phone chargers, and anything with a clock on it are some of the more common offenders.
The easiest way to save energy on these things is simply to unplug them when they are not in use. For more complicated setups, like your computer or entertainment center, it may be easier to plug everything into a power strip which you can easily shut off when not in use. While each of these items does just a little to conserve energy and save the earth, it is another step toward your greener life.
Energy saving devices
Power Center with Day-Night Timer - 8 Outlets
The timers on this strip allow you to conveniently turn things off when you don't need them and on when you do.
Amazon Price: $26.99 (as of 12/18/2009) 
Smart Strip LCG3 Energy Saving Power Strip with Autoswitching Technology
This power strip automatically cuts power to your computer peripherals when you turn off your main power
Amazon Price: $30.22 (as of 12/18/2009)
Tips on Green Living Step 3
Use green cleaning products
Green cleaning products do more than just save the planet: they can actually help improve your family's health. Green cleaning products have fewer toxic chemicals, which means that you breathe in fewer toxins and there is less toxic runoff into the water supply.
While many green cleaning products are available to buy, you can make some of your own fairly easily. This reduces your consumption of waste and plastic, also, and generally saves you a lot of money. Isn't green living great?
While many green cleaning products are available to buy, you can make some of your own fairly easily. This reduces your consumption of waste and plastic, also, and generally saves you a lot of money. Isn't green living great?
- Non-toxic Home care
- Tips, recipes and solutions for greener and less toxic home cleaners.
- Non-toxic cleaning kit
- Formulas for clean and green versions of the most common household cleaners.
- Baking Soda and Vineger
- These ubiquitous kitchen supplies may be all you need.
Clean, non-toxic cleaners
Clean and Green: The Complete Guide to Non-Toxic and Environmentally Safe Housekeeping
Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 12/18/2009)
Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwasher Gel, Lemon Scent, 45-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 6)
Amazon Price: $25.61 (as of 12/18/2009)
Seventh Generation All-Purpose Cleaner, Free & Clear, 32 Ounce Bottles (Pack of 8)
Amazon Price: $40.77 (as of 12/18/2009)
Igo GREEN Tip of the Day
Tips on green living Step 4
Use less gas
Up to this point the tips have been relatively painless. They've been ways to incorporate green living into your own situation without making any significant sacrifices; in fact, for the most part, they've been designed to improve your life. Here's where it starts to get hairy. If you really want to green your life, you're going to need to start cutting back, and the easiest place for most people to do that is with their driving. Below is a simple green list of ways to use less gas; some of them are easy and painless, but some of them are not.
For more advanced gas saving tips, check out Ecomodder.
For more advanced gas saving tips, check out Ecomodder.
- Drive less. Stay home more, walk or bike short errands, use public transportation, carpool.
- Consider your commute. If you're at a transitional stage, can you live closer to your job or work closer to home? If not, can you go on a 10-80 schedule so as to commute one less day per pay cycle? Can you work from home sometimes (or all the time)?
- Plan your routes. The best route is one that lets you maintain a constant speed without hitting a lot of lights or traffic. It's also relatively flat, and lets you stay as close to cruising speed for your vehicle as possible.
- Maintain your vehicle. Keeping tires inflated, air filters clean, and oil changed can improve your mileage.
- Drive a more fuel efficient car. If not a hybrid, at least opt for a small coupe or sedan. If your household has 2 vehicles, use the efficient one for errands.
- Drive smarter. Don't accelerate and brake unnecessarily.
- Turn off your car if you need to idle for at least a minute.
Sustainablog
Headlines for your new green life
Tips on Green Living #5
Offset some carbon for free
The Global Warming page at care2.com will donate a small amount of money to carbon offset charities every time you click through and view their advertisers.
While carbon offsetting is sometimes questioned, contributing to these programs in addition to reducing your own usages is a great way to make a bit more of a difference.
For more ways to donate for free, check out my Click to Donate lens.
While carbon offsetting is sometimes questioned, contributing to these programs in addition to reducing your own usages is a great way to make a bit more of a difference.
For more ways to donate for free, check out my Click to Donate lens.
Tips on Green Living #6
One Local Meal a Week
Eating locally is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Local, fresh produce and meat uses less fossil fuel to transport and store as well as generally having less packaging. Also, when you meet individual farmers, you can alleviate health concerns associated with the industrial food system. (No e. coli in the spinach from the farmers market!)
What makes this green living tip even more appealing is that local food tastes better and provides more nutrition. It's a win-win situation!
What makes this green living tip even more appealing is that local food tastes better and provides more nutrition. It's a win-win situation!
- Local Harvest
- Local Harvest is the best resource available on the web for finding local food near you. It allows you to search for CSAs, farmers markets, and individual farmers near you.
- Sustainable Table
- Sustainable Table has lots of information and great research based resources on why local food is such a great green living step to take.
- 100 Mile Diet
- A great website telling the story of a couple that tried to green their lives by eating local: for one year, they ate nothing but what could be produced within 100 miles of their home.
Share your green living feedback
How are you making your life more green? What's your favorite green living tip?
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- geothermalminnie geothermalminnie Aug 19, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
- Junk mail! Thanks for the tip! I get tons of junk mail and never knew I could stop it. Great!
Minnie
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- TheGreenerMe TheGreenerMe Jul 21, 2009 @ 9:05 am
- Thank you for all of this great information! These are some easy steps that people should be able to handle.
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- sunworld sunworld Apr 4, 2009 @ 4:10 pm
- Thank you for making me more aware of steps I can take to live more consciously and with greater sensitivity to keeping our planet green. 5*
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- dBroseGroup dBroseGroup Mar 24, 2009 @ 9:39 am
- Outstanding Lens. Great Information.
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- only1bub only1bub Jan 24, 2009 @ 4:11 pm
- Great page! I'm adding you to my lens in the making "I Saved The World 13 Times" as a featured lense. Be sure to check it out in a few days! :)
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by story3girl
Melissa is a teacher and a writer interested in living more fully for less money. She maintains a blog at http://storiedmoney.blogspot.com
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