Best Bags On Earth

Reduce!

• Agree with your friends and family that you and they will exchange only homemade cards or e-cards.
• Give gifts like favor coupons for things like an evening of babysitting, an elaborate home-cooked meal, or house cleaning.
• Don’t buy wrapping paper; instead use the Sunday comics or colorful magazine pages.
• If you plan on idling for more than a minute, turn your car off.
• Install low-flow toilets, showerheads, and faucets.
• If you have a baby, consider using cloth diapers. Diaper services make it easier, but look for a local one to reduce carbon emissions.
• Don’t speed past 55 mph.
• During winter, set your ceiling fans in reverse so they’ll push warm air down.
• Make sure your laundry loads are full, not half-full.
• Use a clothesline.
• Only burn dry wood.
• Instead of washing your car yourself, take it to the pros.
• To protect your clothes, use cedar, cloves, rosemary or other natural materials instead of mothballs.
• Car pool. Visit eRideShare to form or join a carpool.
• Keep your fridge full but not stuffed.
• Read your newspaper and magazine subscriptions online. Switch to electronic banking and credit card payment, too.
• Install motion-sensitive lighting.
• Leave your drapes open on south-facing windows during the day to let sunlight in, and leave other draperies closed as much as possible.
• Clean your air filters every month.
• Still using an answering machine? Really?! Switch to voicemail.
• Close doors and vents in unused rooms.
• A charity contribution makes a great green gift.
• Insulate your water heater.
• Use dish towels instead of paper towels; if you insist on paper towels, buy the ones made from 100% recycled paper, with a minimum of 90% post-consumer materials.
• Don’t dry clean! Many garments labeled “dry clean only” can be hand-washed and air dried or machine-washed using the gentle cycle and a mild detergent.
• At the grocery store: buy food in bulk, not single-serving packages; buy juice in large bottles, not small boxes or pouches; and don’t buy plastic sandwich bags, plastic water bottles, disposable utensils, paper napkins, or paper lunch bags.
• When building a home, reduce wood use. Instead of spacing floor beams, wall studs and roof rafters the traditional 16” apart, space them 24” apart. To match standard lumber sizes and thereby avoid wasteful trimming, design the house’s dimensions in multiples of 2 feet. Instead off making side panels out of plywood or lumber, make them from rigid insulation. Use trusses instead of solid roof rafters and floor beams. Another way to build a forest-friendly house is by using certified forest products and reclaimed wood from demolished buildings.
• Consider a car sharing service like Zipcar.
• When not using your computer, screen savers are still wasteful. Instead, turn off your monitor when you’re not using it.
• Ride a bike.
• Minimize junk mail! GreenDimes can help get you off of mailing lists.
• Choose a laptop over a desktop.
• Set your laundry rinse cycle to cold.
• Try non-toxic pest control.
• Consider buying a fuel-efficient car or a hybrid.
• Shower, don’t bathe.
• Look for the WaterSense label.
• Minimize the length of your showers. Consider a “navy shower,” shutting off the water while soaping and shampooing.
• Turn off water while brushing your teeth.
• Choose a push mower instead of a gas or electric mower, which consume fossil fuels and emit greenhouse gases.
• Avoid overnight shipping.
• Buy compact fluorescent light bulbs and other energy-efficient products.
• When you leave the room, turn off lights and electronics. Overnight, turn off energy strips and surge protectors.
• Get a front-loading washing machine.
• For your cookout, choose all-natural, sustainably produced charcoal or wood briquettes for your grill.
• When you’re not recharging your cellular phone, unplug the charger from the wall.
• Solar charge your devices.
• Use windows to take advantage of cross-ventilation.
• Use an electric grill instead of charcoal.
• Use “rain garden” landscaping techniques to save water and reduce stormwater runoff.
• Use towels several times before washing them.
• Install a permanent furnace filter.
• Place a water bottle in your toilet tank.
• Buy products with less packaging.
• Use/buy manual can openers.
• Insulate your home, water heater and pipes.
• Buy refillable pens and pencils.
• Install a tankless or solar water heater.
• When cooking small meals, use your microwave instead of your oven. Better yet, use a toaster oven.
• Whenever you can, try using green cleaning products: There are 3 basic cleaning products that will clean well while doing less damage to the environment than harsh chemicals: Baking soda, borax, and vinegar.
• Instead of buying new software in the store, download it.
• Quit smoking, or at least properly dispose of your butts.
• Buy vegetable-based cleaning products.
• Instead of driving, walk, jog, or run.
• Eat sustainable seafood.
• Park in the shade.
• Use your cruise control.
• Make your workplace paperless. Use email to distribute company information and post company material online.
• Don’t use electric bug zappers.
• Don’t use a leaf blower; rake the old fashioned way.
• Fix leaky air-conditioning systems and refrigerators.
• Lower your thermostat or buy a programmable thermostat.
• Skip unnecessary photo doubles.
• Buy Low-E window film.
• Corded phones use much less energy than cordless.
• In between laundry loads, spray clothes with a little vodka to freshen them up.
• Plant native plants.
• Put up awnings.
• Buy foods locally. Check out Eat Local Challenge and FoodRoutes to get started. Buy locally made products and locally produced services. LocalHarvest will help you locate farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food. Better yet, grow your own food!
• Buy solar lights.
• Instead of a vinyl shower curtain and liner, choose one made from a natural fabric, like organic cotton or bamboo.
• Buy in season.

Reuse!

• Plastic food containers make good holders for crayons and markers. Reuse padded envelops. Buy your growing children’s clothes from a thrift shop and give away those that don’t fit to friends.
• If you buy lunch, bring a reusable water bottle and a set of utensils with you. Don’t get more food than you can eat or more napkins than need.
• Plastic grocery bags can enjoy a second life as dog poop bags or liners for small trashcans.
• Instead of buying new furniture, reupholster what you already have.
• When packing your lunch: put food in reusable containers, preferably glass; put drinks in a reusable bottle; and put metal utensils, a cloth napkin, and your food and drink in a long-lasting reusable lunch bag or box.
• Tote your own bags to the grocery store. If you must, choose paper over plastic.
• Donate your used but re-usable building materials to a Habitat ReStore.
• Autumn leaves make great compost. So do pumpkins.
• Avoid buying bottled water, but if you do buy bottled water, reuse the water bottle.
• If you’re about to buy a new book, check your local library first.

Recycle!

• Many of us have used batteries that we just toss out. Instead, take your batteries to a recycling center.
• Recycle, and if out of the house, seek out a recycling bin.
• Whenever you can, buy products made of recyclable materials.
• Visit FreeCycle.com to give away your goods and find new ones.
• Recycle your computers. Dell, Hewlett Packard, Apple, and IBM, among others, offer recycling programs.
• Recycle your newspapers.
• Recycle ink cartridges.
• Buy ecologically responsible nail polish.
• Recycle your used Christmas tree into wood chips and compost.

And…

• Teach kids about the environment. Remember: It will be their earth, too!
• Plant trees!
• Invest in ecologically sound companies. Visit Co-op America’s National Green Pages™
• Start composting in your back yard.
• Choose natural non-DEET insect repellant.
• Keep your tires properly inflated.
• At holidays and birthdays, give your family and friends the gift of saving the earth. Donate to their favorite environmental group, foundation, or organization.
• The best way to handle household hazardous waste is to give leftovers to someone else to use.
• Place a cactus next to your monitor.
• Buy bamboo for flooring and so much more.
• Collect water run off in a rain barrel.
• Buy biodynamic or organic wine.
• Try plants that reduce toxic chemicals in your home’s air. They include palms, ferns, corn plant, dragon tree (dracaena), rubber plant, weeping fig (ficus), English ivy, peace lily, florist mum, gerber daisy, dumb cane (dieffenbachia), schefflera, orchid, spider plant, philodendron, arrowhead plant, pothos, dwarf banana, and Chinese evergreen.
• When buying coffee beans, look for fair trade and shade-grown coffee.
• Test your home for radon.
• Paint with a brush, not a sprayer.
• Keep a pitcher of water in your refrigerator.
• Green mortgages, or energy efficient mortgages, allow homeowners to use their commitment to the environment to get bigger loans.
• Choose an LCD monitor over a cathode ray monitor.
• Don’t use Styrofoam.
• When disposing of paints, solvents and pesticides, store them in airtight containers.
• If you’re a coffee drinker, switch to fair trade coffee.
• Be informed when you vote.
• Fill up your gas tank in the cooler times of day.
• Choose environmentally-friendly products.
• Don’t buy Chilean Sea Bass.