A few small things you can do for a Healthier Planet

… and if you have suggestions of items to add – let me know!

• Here are some suggestions on reducing water consumption from San Luis Obispo.com. Ways to Save Water

• Do you really need every bag and piece of tissue paper that they give you when you go shopping? Politely ask the assistant to not wrap your new purchase in tissue paper. Decline a new bag, simply combine your new purchases. It’s great to carry less bags! Better still, take a cloth bag with you and use that.

• Reduce your use of kitchen paper towels.  Use a kitchen sponge instead (when the sponge gets dirty, stick it in the washing machine with your regular laundry). Or alternatively use a cloth. I have some old cloths in the cupboard under my sink, and I use these instead of kitchen paper towels when something spills on the floor.

• Visit Seventh Generation for some great reasons to use alternative products. For example, Seventh Generation says that “If every household in the U.S. replaced just one bottle of 150oz. ultra petroleum based liquid detergent with Seventh Generation 150oz. ultra vegetable based product, we could save 340,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 19,500 U.S. homes for a year.”

• Use bleach-free tampons, panty liners and pads. These can be purchased at www.herbtrader.com.

• Use bleach-free baby wipes. These can be purchased at www.herbtrader.com as well as your local whole foods type store e.g. Henrys, Whole Foods.

• For those people in the USA, call 1-888-567-8688 and follow the prompts to stop getting pre-approved credit offers in the mail. This will reduce the junk mail in your mail box and save some trees.

• Use 100% recycled paper for printing. You can find 100% post consumer recycled paper and other bleach-free paper products at Paperworks. You can also find recycled paper with differing post-consumer content at many mainstream stores like Office Depot, Staples or Target. Why is it best to buy paper that is recycled from post-consumer waste – recycled is recycled right? Not so much …. here is an article that helps explain the difference BetterPaper.com

• If you use paper plates or plastic forks, try these products from WorldCentric. They are an organization that works to ensure that all it’s products are from sustainable sources, are reusable and/or recyclable. They also practice fair-trade and offset all their carbon emissions.

• Go to Consumer Reports Choices site to get help on making the right green purchases and so reduce pollution and energy-consumption.

• When you get junk mail and catalogues, take a minute to call the company that sent them and ask to be taken off their mailing list – it’s great! Less junk mail means less wasted paper and ink, as well as less gas being used to deliver it.

• Purchase a Hybrid as your next car. Visit any of the following sites for further information.
  • www.HybridCenter.org
  • Toyota Hybrid selection
  • Ford Hybrid and EV selection can be found on the appropriate tab on this page
  • Lexus Hybrid selection can be found on the appropriate tab on this page
  • Honda Hybrid and EV selection
  • Tesla Motors selection Tesla is the premier electric motor vehicle supplier with an atypical approach to selling cars. They have no dealer network and sell cars directly – controversially using showrooms in malls. They are setting up an entire network of free charging stations across the USA and providing optional charged batteries at some of these stations for a nominal fee.

• In the UK, you can become aware of your energy consumption using a handy gadget called the Electrisave or Centa-meter. This can help you reduce your electricity bill and save electricity. Visit their web site.

• Use fluorescent bulbs in your house wherever possible – this will save you money as well as energy. however, be aware that fluorescent bulbs cannot be disposed of in the regular trash bin. Environmentalists Everyday offers information on recycling them. There are many places like Ikea and Home Depot that accept them for recycling and you can take them any day.

• Log on to the Conservation Fund’s Carbon Zero Calculator to estimate and offset your emissions through a few simple calculations.

• Take reusable bags to the grocery store, including reusable bags for produce selections. Visit Reuseit.com for some good organic bags and other sustainable products.

• Visit Green America’s site on toxic-free art supplies for your children.

• Visit the clothing store Patagonia for your clothing needs – they have clothes made from reclaimed material and Patagonia will recycle your old Patagonia clothing when you are finished with it.

• Visit Natureworks.com to see their clear packaging – it is made using corn. If you are a buyer or own a company – consider using this packaging instead of plastic.

• When buying new products try to buy products marked with the EPA’s “Energy Star”. These products use less energy. Their web site also has useful information on saving energy around the house. Visit www.energystar.gov.

• Use GDiapers – even if you only replace one disposable diaper with a GDiaper every day, that would mean 365 less diapers in the landfill that year. Think of the reduction in landfills if every family did this.

• There are many online organizations that you can join to get more information on how to reduce pollution and make a positive impact on the planet. Two of these are:
  Environmental Defense Fund
  TreeHugger.com

• Visit Littlegreenstar.com for kids shirts that are “made from sweatshop free, 100% organic cotton and printed with non-toxic water-based ink.” Very cute designs!

• Review this article for ways to wash clothes in an eco-friendly way 8 Ways To Wash Your Clothes in a More Eco-Friendly Way by EcoLivingadvice.com.

• Buy Non-GMO food products. This can be difficult as they are not labelled in many states / countries. But, here is a useful guide for Americans on buying Non-GMO (this web page even has a downloadable iPhone App).