Go Green Simply – February

Quick and Easy Ways to "Green" Your Everyday Life

Feb 19, 2009 Gemma Richardson

It is time to stop reading and hearing about environmental problems and actually do something about them. Individual behaviour change is the first step.

Here are this month's five simple resolutions you can make to change your habits and practice a more environmentally-conscious lifestyle. Hopefully you have already fully adapted to the first five challenging resolutions from January and are now ready to make additional changes to your daily routines. With each resolution you incorporate into your daily routine, you will find practicing these environmentally-friendly lifestyle tips easier and you will soon notice a difference in how you go about your life on this fragile planet, not to mention the financial benefits of living eco-friendly. Each month five more tips to "going green" will be featured.

For February, integrate these five additional steps. It is still early in the new year and there is no better time to implement lifestyle changes than now!

Send Only Creative Reused Cards

When you think about the amount of resources that go into greeting cards, it really adds up. To send a celebratory message or show your thoughtfulness at various occasions though you don't have to go out and pay several dollars for a card. Many people leave cards up for a few days and then throw them out. Let's hope that at least by now people are recycling them though! One idea is to create your own gift cards, which gives a personal touch that no greeting card can really compete with.

However, this can be time-consuming and for those of us who are not artistically inclined, a rather daunting task. Another idea is to save all the greeting cards you personally receive and reuse them. Do this by tearing the back page out of the card (which is usually the only place that has been written on). Then you are left with a single, double-sided card with the original greeting still on the front and a new place to write your message. These cards won't stand up on their own but are a creative way to reuse and recycle. Each greeting card then is used two times before being recycled.

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle!

Continuing on from reusing and recycling greeting cards, find ways to recycle constantly in your every day life. It is better to reduce consumption, as recycling requires a great deal of energy resources, however recycling is better than consuming products and then dumping them into landfills! Get creative and resourceful – recycle everything you can.

Reuse Plastic Bags

Grocery stores often charge for plastic bags now, a really positive step forward in encouraging consumers to bring reusable bags. However, we are still in a world full of plastic bags. Instead of buying more plastic bags for collecting garbage at home, try using existing plastic bags that you have from grocery stores (if you haven't been using reusable ones), and when you run out of larger bags, you can always resort to small plastic bags such as bread bags to collect garbage in and deposit. If you use the thin plastic bags provided in the grocery store for fruits and vegetables, reuse them and bring them back so that you are not using and wasting new bags each time.

Flick Off

For those of you not familiar with the Flick Off campaign against climate change, individual behaviour change in reducing our energy consumption can make a difference. Global warming isn't going to be solved by individuals turning of lights when not in the room or switching to low-energy appliances. But every little bit does help.

Only Use Your Printer When You Absolutely Must

Examine how and when you use your printer and then try to cut back as much as possible. You won't just be saving paper resources, but also on ink or toner, energy consumption and the plastics used for ink cartridges and other components.

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The copyright of the article Go Green Simply – February in Green/Simple Living is owned by Gemma Richardson. Permission to republish Go Green Simply – February in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Greeting cards can be reused and recycled	Recycle, recycle, recycle!	Flick Off your lights and electronics
Cut down on your printer usage	Reuse plastic and food bags whenever possible