EASY ACTIONS TO PROTECT ENVIRONMENT ... WHAT CAN I DO?

It’s actually much easier than you think to help protect our environment. You will save money, too!

1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Do your part to reduce waste by choosing reusable products instead of disposables. Buying products with minimal packaging (including the economy size when that makes sense for you) will help to reduce waste. And whenever you can, recycle paper, plastic, newspaper, glass and aluminum cans. If there isn’t a recycling program at your workplace, school, or in your community, ask about starting one. By recycling half of your household waste, you can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

2. Use Less Heat and Air Conditioning
Adding insulation to your walls and attic, and installing weather stripping or caulking around doors and windows can lower your heating costs more than 25 percent, by reducing the amount of energy you need to heat and cool your home.

Turn down the heat while you’re sleeping at night or away during the day, and keep temperatures moderate at all times. Setting your thermostat just 2 degrees lower in winter and higher in summer could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.

3. Change a Light Bulb
Wherever practical, replace regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Replacing just one 60-watt incandescent light bulb with a CFL will save you $30 over the life of the bulb. CFLs also last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, use two-thirds less energy, and give off 70 percent less heat.

If every U.S. family replaced one regular light bulb with a CFL, we could eliminate 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gases, the same as taking 7.5 million cars off the road.

4. Drive Less and Drive Smart
Less driving means fewer emissions. Besides saving gasoline, walking and biking are great forms of exercise. Explore your community’s mass transit system, and check out options for carpooling to work or school.

When you do drive, make sure your car is running efficiently. For example, keeping your tires properly inflated can improve your gas mileage by more than 3 percent. Every gallon of gas you save not only helps your budget, it also keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

5. Buy Energy-Efficient Products
When it’s time to buy a new car, choose one that offers good gas mileage. Home appliances now come in a range of energy-efficient models, and compact florescent bulbs are designed to provide more natural-looking light while using far less energy than standard light bulbs.

Avoid products that come with excess packaging, especially molded plastic and other packaging that can’t be recycled. If you reduce your household garbage by 10 percent, you can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

6. Use Less Hot Water
Set your water heater at 120 degrees to save energy, and wrap it in an insulating blanket if it is more than 5 years old. Buy low-flow showerheads to save hot water and about 350 pounds of carbon dioxide yearly. Wash your clothes in warm or cold water to reduce your use of hot water and the energy required to produce it. That change alone can save at least 500 pounds of carbon dioxide annually in most households. Use the energy-saving settings on your dishwasher and let the dishes air-dry.

7. Use the “Off” Switch
Save electricity and reduce global warming by turning off lights when you leave a room, and using only as much light as you need. And remember to turn off your television, video player, stereo and computer when you’re not using them.

It’s also a good idea to turn off the water when you’re not using it. While brushing your teeth, shampooing the dog or washing your car, turn off the water until you actually need it for rinsing. You’ll reduce your water bill and help to conserve a vital resource.

8. Plant a Tree
If you have the means to plant a tree, start digging. During photosynthesis, trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They are an integral part of the natural atmospheric exchange cycle here on Earth, but there are too few of them to fully counter the increases in carbon dioxide caused by automobile traffic, manufacturing and other human activities. A single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime.

9. Get a Report Card from Your Utility Company
Many utility companies provide free home energy audits to help consumers identify areas in their homes that may not be energy efficient. In addition, many utility companies offer rebate programs to help pay for the cost of energy-efficient upgrades.

10. Encourage Others to Conserve
Share information about recycling and energy conservation with your friends, neighbors and co-workers, and take opportunities to encourage public officials to establish programs and policies that are good for the environment.

These 10 steps will take you a long way toward reducing your energy use and your monthly budget. And less energy use means less dependence on the fossil fuels that create greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming.

HOW TO CREATE A GREEN KITCHEN

There are a number of steps you can take to create a kitchen that will be healthy for you, for your family, and for the environment. This brief overview can set you in the right direction. Use your browser to search for key words like “green kitchen” for more information and use the links below.

1. Energy Efficiency

Look for appliances that save energy. Baking something small? Use a toaster oven instead of a large oven. Microwave reduces the use of electricity and time spent cooking, but The Green Anthem site does not endorse the use of microwave. We are not convinced as to the safety of all units in relationship to exposure to radiation; there is also a great deal of controversy re: the effect of microwave on the molecular structure of the food it cooks.

2. Natural Cleaning Supplies

We now have access to a number of non-toxic, biodegradable, plant-based detergents and general cleaning supplies. Why expose your family and the environment to toxic chemicals adjacent to food? Or anywhere in the home, for that matter?! The American obsession with germs has been fueled by advertising. We actually need to be exposed to a certain number of microbes to help boost our immunity system naturally. Natural cleaning supplies are better for your health and for the health of the environment.

3. Glass versus Plastic

More and more evidence is surfacing regarding how the chemicals used to produce plastic can seep into food and water. Plastic containers do not come with warnings about how to determine when to dispose of them. Many households place hot and cold substances into them long beyond their shelf life. A new plastic container may say that it’s safe for use in the microwave, but what about a month later? A year later? Two years later? And when you dispose of it, even if you recycle it, the toxic footprint it contributed when it was manufactured or when it’s recycled isn’t really worth the risk.
There are two reasons why you should use glass and ceramic. Glass lasts forever, and if you dispose of it, it will not leak toxic chemicals into the earth and ground water. It can be recycled into a number of useful objects without a toxic effect as well.

We create more garbage in our kitchen then any other room in our house. Try to avoid buying foods wrapped or encased in plastic. Encourage your local stores to carry companies that use glass, or bring your own glass containers with you for take-out food or when buying bulk at the store. They can weigh the container before you fill it to subtract its weight from the price.

4. Replace your teflon cookery

Miniscule flakes of teflon can now be found throughout the world in our water, earth and forests. It does not biodegrade. Do you stir your food with hard objects in your teflon pots? If you aren’t willing to part with teflon cookery, at least follow the instructions re: safe utensils that protect the teflon surface.

Dupont says that teflon is safe, even though it has caused health problems to workers in the teflon industry. Many households continue to use their teflon pots after they’ve been scratched and dinged, exposing themselves and the environment to flakes of teflon in the food. Dupont says this is not a health risk. Hmmm.

If you want to live on the safe side and protect the environment, switch to cast iron, stainless steel (high quality), and ceramic cookware.