You can't install solar. You can't put in a greywater system. You can't xeriscape. Here are some things you can do to save energy and resources while renting space.
You've already changed out your incandescent light blubs for CFL's, but you've got the nagging feeling that there's much more you can do - and you're right.
Take heart! You don't need to own your home to be a gold-star environmental supporter. In fact, urban, high-density living is already inherently green in so many ways - and, with a few easy adjustments, you can drop your carbon footprint like a stone, even without a deed in hand.
You may not be able to install a solar array on the roof, but (in many markets) you can run your home on entirely renewable sources of energy. Simply contact your power company to make the switch.
Find painless ways to integrate public transportation into your life. If you're apprehensive, take a baby step - commit to using public transportation for a single recurring errand (your weekly grocery outing, for instance, or to get to the farmers' market). Subbing public transport for even one commute per work week adds up to significant carbon-footprint reduction over time. Consider car shares in major metropolitan areas (Carsharing.net/where.html), and relearn to love bicycling.
You can compost! A number of online retailers carry under-sink composters, allowing you to discard vegetable matter, meat, fish, dairy and even bones without odor or undue trouble. If you don't have a balcony container garden (or, better yet, a community garden plot) you can use the resulting fertilizer to supercharge your apartment's landscaping or donate it to a school garden project.
Resist the temptation to toss everything down the garbage chute! Set up an under-sink recycling bin, and lobby your building to sign up for your city's recycling service if they haven't done so already. Oh, and never throw something away that you can donate - it's just too easy to collect a box of donations and call for a pickup every few months.
Replace the cheapo, water-wasting fixtures that came with the lease. Water-conserving fixtures have an enormous impact on your monthly water use and are simple to install; when you're ready to move on, the originals will take just minutes to replace.
• Take a pass on junk mail. Sign up to opt out, using DMA Choice or GreenDimes, and call 1-888-5 OPT OUT to stop the deluge of credit offers. Oftentimes, catalogs are the worst offenders - call them directly at the toll-free number listed inside and demand that your information be removed from their database. Most banks now offer free online bill-pay, so you can even say sayonara to the once-inevitable aggravation of grabbing a stack of bills from the mailbox.
Get growing! Even if your apartment has cavelike tendencies, you can fill your home with air-scrubbing greenery. Put a humidity-loving, shade-savvy fern in the bathroom, or jazz up a sun-starved corner with a potted azalea. Your local nursery is an excellent resource for plants and advice - much better than a national-brand home improvement garden center, and you'll get green bonus points for buying local.
Replace every last one of your hazmat-level cleaners with a biodegradable version. Then toss the oldies-but-baddies in a box and make one trip to the city dump, where they'll dispose of them in a way that won't fill the local marine life with soap-scum-blasting chemicals. Your health will improve noticeably when they're gone and your home will be just as clean, if not cleaner.
The copyright of the article How to Live Green in Leased or Rented Space in Green/Simple Living is owned by Annette O'Neil. Permission to republish How to Live Green in Leased or Rented Space in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
