Save the Environment With 10 Spring Resolutions
Use Compost Tumblers, Free Recycling and Save Endangered Animals
Feb 21, 2009
Spring brings out the cleaning and de-cluttering bug. Consider taking on 10 spring resolutions to green your home and life during this season of new beginnings.
Join a Conservation Organization
Leaf through your community directory and choose a nonprofit organization that works to protect a plot of land, a species that intrigues you or that you care about. Use your work skills, such as chairing meetings, organizing people or checking off tasks on a list to help your new organization.
You get to meet new people and make the world a better place at the same time.
Check Household Supplies and Substitute Green Products
Spring cleaning? Examine your household cleaning product labels. Leftover household products that contain corrosive, toxic, ignitable, or reactive ingredients are household hazardous waste.
Get rid of them and use baking soda to scrub like any scouring powder, full-strength vinegar for a tough cleaning jobs and diluted for less vigorous cleaning.
Free Recycling Used Electronics
Everyone has a big old unused computer monitor or television in their basement. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that in 2007 alone, 99 million televisions had accumulated as garbage. The Agency suggests using its "Plug-In Partners" network, many of who offer collection events and support local recycling events in many communities.
Learn about Earth 911
This innovative group was founded in 1991 as a recycling hotline and has taken off in popularity. They host a bilingual hotline, 1-800-CLEANUP, and maintain a recycling database with more than 100,000 recycling locations across the U.S. They can be found at earth911.com.
Buy a Compost Tumbler (It Will Change Your Life)
This handy composter is a drum that stands at waist-height and features a handle to easily turn the compost. Compost tumblers are clean, tend to not attract pests or odor, making them best for city living, and retain moisture better than traditional compost piles.
Shed One Car and Drive Slower
If you have more than one vehicle, consider getting rid of other cars and instead use public transportation, walk or cycle.
Try hypermiling, a series of driving techniques to reduce fuel use that has long saved money in the trucking industry. The more common ideas are to properly inflate your tires, do not use the vehicle’s air conditioning and drive at or below the speed limit.
Eat a Meat-Free Meal Twice a Week
Meat production is especially harmful to the earth, demanding huge amounts of water and land. At least twice a week, serve a meatless meal of macaroni and cheese, black bean tortillas or vegetable lasagna. You do not have to become a vegetarian however, your body and the earth will thank you for consuming less meat.
Buy a Composting Toilet
A composting toilet is not connected to a sewage system or a septic tank but is a stand-alone toilet that allows you to compost human waste. They are odorless, clean and provide a continuous supply of organic compose material for your lawn and garden.
Green Energy:; Start a Garden
Fresh vegetables are easy to grow and will give you an earth-friendly boost. Start small. Use container pots the first year, to grow small tomatoes from seed or small peppers. If you want to begin with a garden, start no larger than 6” X 8” and find a sunny location with good soil.
Or, landscape your garden with evergreens and shrubs. They use less water than annuals or even perennial flowers and look great throughout the year.
Break Bad Habits One at a Time
Choose one earth-friendly idea, such as stopping the use of paper towels and lawn-watering or start washing plastic bags for reuse.
Adopt any one of these 10 spring resolutions to save the environment and you may be surprised that your actions become contagious with your colleagues, family and friends.
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