Going Green Project
Goals:
Use less water
Obtain/Create less waste
Recycle more
Reduce fossil fuel usage
Use own purchased bags at store
Educate others
Reduce energy consumption
Save the rain forest (and some will laugh when they read that sentence if they know me *REALLY* well)
How I'm/We are doing:
I suppose having grown up in an area that recycles cans for 5 cents a can I am used to the act of separating my garbage. I have now become a little more attentive to my separation lately.
I have a bag full of cans that needs to go to Watson's. I get paid for it! They pay per pound, not per can but that's alright, money is money.
We have purchased a recycling/bin station that we use in our garage so when the paper bags in our kitchen fill up we bring it to the garage, when those fill up we set it out for the recycling truck.
Using less water is something I'm still struggling with. We have started to take the water gathered by the humidifier and use that in our washing machine. While it only gathers about 1 - 2 gallons at a time, at least it's 1 - 2 gallons. We would like to start using the grey water around our house for outside watering but haven't started that yet.
I make a very conscious effort to turn off the water while brushing my teeth.
I don't ever take a bath, only a shower, so that uses significantly less water.
We try to conserve while using the toilet as well.
Washing dishes will always be a tough one for me. I can NOT put my hands in cold water that has bits of food floating around, gloves on or not. I have, however started having a pan full of water, dipping my sponge in there and getting a lot of dishes soapy then rinsing them off instead of letting the water run.
This summer I will be setting out some pails to collect water so that I can use that for washing the car or cleaning the grill or watering the plants / lawn when there is less rain.
I'm still not sure how to execute the "Obtain Less Waste" option.
I don't purchase CD's anymore, I buy all my music on iTunes and burn my own CD's when needed.
I don't bring bags home from the grocery store unless it's an unexpected stop. I try to get only paper bags for reuse in recycling, but will take plastic. I then take the plastic bags to the Dog Park where people use them to clean up after their dogs. They are always appreciative.
When asked at the store if I want them to print me out a receipt, unless I need it, I say no.
If I can carry it to the counter, I can carry it to my car.
I reuse my water bottles SEVERAL times before putting them into recycling
I burn my junk mail when having a camp fire. It's great for kindling, bad for things flying up into the air, but I use the screen and it's all good. (and no, I don't burn the plastic in the envelopes, or the glossy colored pages)
I have started taking the bus....so has the g/f (well, she hasn't yet, because her recent schedule doesn't allow for it, but will starting Monday).
Not only is this good for the environment, but for my pocketbook as well! A round trip to work twice a day (I usually went home for lunch) is 9.2 miles. That's 46 miles a week, 184 miles a month, 2208 miles a year! With gas at $3.50, I am saving about $650 a year on just taking the bus!!! Plus, ya know, the environmental factor.
For Christmas I asked for those green bags you get at the grocery store. I think I got 10 or so. I also purchased some heavier canvas bags at Old World Market for some heavier items.
I always forget them in the car, but always trudge back out and get them. They are *NOT* that expensive - maybe $2.00 each! HyVee at Barlow's even gives us a 5 cent discount for every bag we use instead of theirs!! I figure that if I use my bags everytime I shop (except for those surprise trips listed above) I use 7 bags for a big trip to the store, 2 - 3 on small trips. Looking at my check book register I see that I've been to HyVee/Cub/WalMart 18 times since 3/26 (so that's approximately a month!) and gauging on the price spent I figured I used about 50 of my own bags. I got back $2.50 (if I did all my shopping at HyVee) Which clearly pays for itself. In a year all my bags will be paid for! They are super sturdy and can fit more in them than a regular bag also.
I heard that some places in California may start charging 15 cents per bag use. Using my 50 per month, you'd pay $7.50 a month just on bags. $90 a year! I wish Minnesota would start charging for bags!
I've sent out two mass emails so far - one for Earth 60 and one for Earth Day. I included some helpful tips on how to easily save energy and recycling and whatever. I hope that people read it. If not, at least I put it out into the ether.
The g/f and I got a new furnace this year. I didn't notice anything on our heating bill, but I'm hoping it beats the old beast we had before. I want to get better at replacing the filter though. That should save a bit of money and reduce energy usage.
Our dryer used to take 2 cycles to completely dry a decent sized load. We paid $75 to have a hole drilled into our house so that we could properly vent the machine and now it only takes one cycle!
I wish we lived someplace where we had a bigger yard so that we could line dry, but that's out of the question. I do, however, rack dry a lot of shirts and sweatshirts and sweaters.
We are in the process of replacing all of our light bulbs to those curly que ones. As our old light bulbs burn out, we put the new ones in.
I try to unplug things we don't use often.
I'm trying to be very conscious about shutting off lights (I do leave one on for the dog when we aren't home at night though)
I've been paying attention to shut the TV off before I leave the house! Go me lol
And saving the rain forest. LOL
I have absolutely NO idea how to save the rain forest except that I play Lil Green Patch on Facebook. I have saved 19 square feet already and in March the entire facebook community saved 13,644,308 Square Feet! Just by playing a silly online game! The sponsors of the game contribute money for our usage. It's neat. I send plants to my friends and they send them back to me. Not to hard. I can only send 20 per day, but still...it's my own little part.
So that's me, that's the green me. I'd love to hear any more ideas anyone has!
Oh and be sure to watch the Human Footprint on National Geographic channel! It's very eye opening!
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