Eco-Friendly Week One Challenges
It’s Week One of our decision to live a Green Lifestyle! Let’s start out with five simple things to try to incorporate into our lives this week to become more eco-friendly. And why these five simple things are so important to help our world.
1. Turn It Off! The easiest, most inexpensive and eco-friendly trick of them all. When you leave a room, even if it’s only for 30 minutes to get a snack, turn off all lights, televisions, fans, computers. It’s okay, you can turn them all back on when you return! The best part, it doesn’t cost you anything to do it and it doesn’t require anything except remembering to do it! But it reduced your electric strain on the environment AND cut back your energy bill at the same time.
2. BYOB! That’s right: Bring Your Own Bags to the store! How many trips do you make to the store a week? I know I run to Super Target 2-3 times a week since its right across the street and on my way home from work. And they are notorious for their overuse of plastic bags. This week alone I took home 16 plastic bags from them! That’s 16 bags for one person, and it’s only Wednesday! There was a time when it was frowned upon to bring your own empty bags into a store—you looked like a professional shoplifter. But not anymore, now you look eco-savvy (and with all the popular new designs, you actually look fun and fashionable too!) You can purchase them or reuse the bags you have amassed in your house already. Start by keeping a couple by the front door and in your car so you are prepared for any quick stops at the store you might make this week. And keep track to see how many plastic bags you don’t use this week!
3. BYOB of H20. By now most people have heard, Glaceau’s Vitamin Water has 125 calories (in 20 fl oz) while Gatorade’s Propel has only 25. But not everyone has heard that in 2006 we drank 30 billion bottles of water. And at most, 20% of those bottles were recycled. That leaves 24 billion bottles of water cluttering up our landfills. And those numbers are from before the major surge of vitamin & flavor enriched waters that have the hit the shelves in the last two years! Instead, a calorie-free and eco-friendly alternative is to bring your own water! Invest in a reusable water bottle to carry with you. Stay hydrated and save the planet, one unused bottle at a time!
4. Go Paperless! For the last few years I’ve paid all my bills online, yet still received paper bills in the mail that I diligently filed every month. Most of which were unopened since I had already checked and filed them online. I filled a 20×20 box full of paper to be shredded and recycled. Think of how many trees I could have saved if I had just clicked the “go paperless” button when prompted on each website. Check with your billing companies and sign up this week to go paperless. Instead, print out only your billing confirmation page and save a tree.
5. Recycle! If you don’t already have a recycling bin, make one this week! I used two extra garbage bins I had in my house to sort with. And make a conscious effort. Check the bottom of plastic containers, boxes and glass jars to see if it can be recycled.
BONUS:
6. Discover your local and seasonal foods. This one will take a little more research but it’s worth it! Instead of shelling out extra money at your supermarket for over-sprayed and shipped in fruits and veggies, discover your local farmer’s market or stand. So many of us only eat fresh during the spring and summer harvest months. But did you know that oranges are actually a winter fruit? We know fall is a great time for apples, pumpkins and different kinds of squash (acorn, butternut and winter) but it’s also a season for pears, grapes, pineapples, pomegranates, broccoli and cauliflower! Check out the National Resources Defense Council-www.NRDC.org for a breakdown of what’s in season locally for you!
