Green Tips

• Be a fan-attic Instead of reaching for the AC, consider the much underrated ceiling fan. It uses dramatically less energy than an air conditioner, costs less to buy, is a breeze to install, and cools like a charm.

• Consume the cold stuff Take advantage of your fridge by filling up some spare bottles with water and keeping them in there. And keep one in the freezer for those extra hot days. Eat small, light meals, and foods high in water content, like fruits & vegetables.


• Turn off the hot stuff. Switch off your computer and lights when not in use (try to avoid incandescent and halogen lamps in favor of compact florescent ones), and forgo the oven if you can.


• Check your refrigerator settings. The fridge takes heat out of your food and transfers it to your kitchen, so be sure you're running efficiently. The refrigerator is best set between 37 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the freezer around five degrees.


• Turn off your furnace pilot light. You can always re-light it next autumn


• Native plants Consider choosing native plants for your garden. Native plants are adapted to your area and require less water.


• Rain Barrel. Set up a rain barrel to catch rain water for use in the garden during the days it is not raining.
  


• Trickle irrigation. Watering from a hose held in hand is the most inefficient way to water, as some of the water is evaporated into the air before it reaches the plant. Soaker hoses lay on the ground throughout the garden. The water trickles out of the hose into the soil.


• Green Cleaners:
  
  
  • Furniture polish: 1c vegetable /olive oil, ½ c lemon juice, mix in spray bottle
  • Drain cleaner: 1/2cbaking soda down the drain, followed by ½ c vinegar, cover drain for 15 minutes, flush with 2 quarts of boiling water.
  • Glass Cleaner: 1 gallon water, ½ c vinegar, ½ teaspoon liquid detergent
  • All purpose cleaner: ½ tea soda water, dab liquid soap, 2 cups HOT water, combine in spray bottle
  
  
• Use a water filter and drinking glass instead of drinking bottled water. Bottled water produces over a million tons of plastic waste annually.


• Cut back on your meat intake. Livestock production absorbs sixteen pounds of feed for every pound that comes to the table.


• Did you know that one kid's average school lunch generates 67 pounds over a year? Pack your lunch in reusable containers, reusable bottles; metal utensils, a cloth napkin, and your food and drink in a long-lasting reusable lunch bag or box.


• Did you know each time your toilet is flushed, it uses five to seven gallons of water? Fill small plastic juice bottle or laundry soap bottle the bottle with water, put on the cap, and place it in the tank. Be careful that the bottle doesn't interfere with the flushing mechanism.


• Did you know that each year millions of trees and billions of gallons of water are used to create junk mail, most of which never gets recycled?
  
  DirectMail.com - free, quick way to get your name off commercial mailing lists
  
  OptOutPrescreen.com - opt out of pre-approved credit card and insurance offers online or by phone: 1-888-5-OPTOUT
  
  Catologchoice.org- decline mailed catalogs


• Did you know cleaning your home can be harmful to your health? Many common household cleaners contain toxic solvents, fragrances, disinfectants, and other ingredients that can pollute the air and cause respiratory, skin, and other reactions. Learn about green cleaning at www.ecos.com


• Did you know if every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 180-sheet virgin-fiber paper towels with 100-percent recycled paper towels, we could save: 1.4 million trees, 3.7 million cubic feet of landfill space, and 526 million gallons of water, and prevent 89,400 pounds of pollution?


• Did you know U.S. office workers use enough water every day to fill 17,500 Olympic-sized swimming pools? Unfortunately, much of this water comes from leaky faucets. A leaky faucet that fills a coffee cup in ten minutes will waste an estimated 3,000 gallons of water a year.


• Did you know 50 to 80 percent of tires are under inflated? Under inflated tires waste up to five percent of a car's fuel. We would we save up to two billion gallons a year if we properly inflated our tires.


• Did you know if every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 28-ounce petroleum-based dishwashing liquid with a vegetable-based product, we could save 82,000 barrels of oil a year?


• Did you know it takes ten years for one cigarette butt to degrade?


• Did you know it takes one 15- to 20-year-old tree to make enough paper for only 700 grocery bags? Bring cloth bags when you shop. Paper or Plastic? Plastic bags are more convenient than paper but they're not biodegradable. Paper bags are biodegradable but are often made from virgin paper because heavy loads require the long fibers in virgin pulp.


• Make the switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs. Did you know if every American household replaced one standard incandescent light bulb with a fluorescent bulb, the energy saved would be equivalent to the energy generated by one nuclear power plant running full time for a year?