How do you "Green"?

[CanadianTreehugger]

Hi there,

I was wondering how everyone does their part in Going Green. Here are some we have been doing in the last few years:

1. CFL's in all our light fixtures that we can use them in. Our landlord did get a ceiling that the requires other type bulbs so we just never use it.

2. I recycle and re-use like mad. I always thinking outside the box. For example I wash and re-use freezer and lunch baggies but didnt have a special dowel dryer thing. I took some leftover Styrofoam from hubbys work and some chopsticks we had (from tying to learn to use chopsticks,,didn't work though) and presto I have two bag dryers that will hold three bags each. its not pretty but it is funcitional

3. I have never been one to find good clothing for myself at thrift stores so I just make sure i buy organic clothing as much as possible. Here is Canada there is a great womens clothing store called Cotton Ginny that I buy from. Most of their clothing is Organic Cotton.

4. We haven't yet but I will be buying an indoor clothes dryer

5. I try and buy as much organic personal products as possible. We use organic shampoo/conditioner but starting next weekend I will be trying the "no 'poo" method. Dh isn't ready to try that though.

6. The Farmer's markets are in full swing so all of our produce will be from local sources. If I can afford a freezer this summer our meat will mostly be locally produced too.

7. We are car free. We walk or use public transportation to get around the city. We don't have kids or urgent medical conditions so this works for us right now. Before we moved to where we live now we made sure had a clear idea of what we needed to be close too and looked in places that had those requirements in mind. We live next within a block or two of one major grocery store, pharmacy, a few restaurants, a branch of our bank, bus lines so hubby can get to work easily and walking distance to my college. We're also within 10 blocks of an organic grocery store and the downtown core.

8. We purchased a laptop instead of a desktop computer because of energy usage.

9. I always carry re-usable bags for shopping

10. Hubby doesn't do this but I do eat quite a bit of meatless meals.

11. We pay more for wind generated power.

12. I use the library A LOT instead of buying books. I used to buy books all the time when we lived in a city that didnt have a very good library system but our current city does thank goodness

I'm sure there is more that we do but now I have writers block.lol.

[The Muse]

I do the usual stuff...CFLs, clothesline, reusable bags, recycle, buy minimally packaged merchandise, use stuff until it breaks, then repair and use it some more, only buy used books, or get them from the library.

Extra stuff...DH and I went vegetarian, bought a more efficient car with a better EPA rating, don't have kids, planted a garden, getting solar panels, live in a smaller house than we would like/can afford.

I'm sure there's more, but that's what comes to mind.

[CanadianTreehugger]

I do the usual stuff...CFLs, clothesline, reusable bags, recycle, buy minimally packaged merchandise, use stuff until it breaks, then repair and use it some more, only buy used books, or get them from the library.

Extra stuff...DH and I went vegetarian, bought a more efficient car with a better EPA rating, don't have kids, planted a garden, getting solar panels, live in a smaller house than we would like/can afford.

I'm sure there's more, but that's what comes to mind.

Wow..I wish I could get my DH to go Vegetarian. I can get him to occasionally eat a carrot though

I do have a child from a previous marriage and my now husband didn't have any kids. We talked about it for a long time and decided not to have any of our own. Its hard as though my mom is cool with that (she says she can only afford to spoil one grandchild) my mom in law keeps bugging us on when we're going to have kids.

We also live in a smaller apartment. I also forgot to mention that with the exception of our bedroom furniture and a few small kitchen things all of our furnishings were either purchased used off Craigslist or were free from Freecycle. We did this intentionally as we don't know how long we'll be here in Alberta.

[cheriede]

Here are some of the things that my family and I do..

~use CFL
~compost
~recycle
~baking soda and vinegar for cleaning
~tore up old sheets for cleaning instead of paper towels
~use cloth napkins
~use the library instead of buying books
~wash in cold water
~line dry clothes
~use cloth bags for shopping
~shop at thrift stores
~walk
~planted a garden--first time for us
~ walk to place a little more often

[della92]

I'll admit that I am just starting to get "green".

I have recycled on and off for years. I first really learned about recycling when I was in middle school. ( I am 31 now) I have been recycling faithfully for a year-due more to seeing the trash at the landfill before it buried-it is truely amazing how much is thrown away. And seriously it has reduced our trash to one kitchen size bag a week.

We reuse some things, not as much as we should though. My daughter just finished kindergarten and she is really getting in to reusing things, so I am learning more from her.

I have one reusable grocery bag, as I get coupons for more I will get more, otherwise I reuse the plastic bags alot.

We have CFL's in most of our lights-still working on upgrading a few more. We turn most things off that we are not using-getting better at this everyday!

At the beginning of the year we bought the front loading washer
(we sold our old one for 25.00 to an aquaintance that needed one). I wish they were more affordable for everyone because it is amazing how much water it saves-and electricity too.

With my in-laws help, we plant a garden every year.

We are looking to buidling our own solar panels for summer use, but we haven't gotten a full plan yet, but we are still researching it.

In the winter we heat with an outdoor wood furnace, which also heats our hot water, which means I get really really hot water at no cost!

5 1/2 years ago I traded my 20 mpg Ford Escape 4x4 for a 45 mpg VW Jetta Diesel-no regrets!

[Telephus44]

I honestly don't do as much as I'd like. Part of it is from our situation (we rent and live in an urban area, any have a child) and part of it is from laziness, I'll admit.

We do use CFL's in every fixture in the house.

We keep lights off, and unplug items when they aren't in use (like my printer).

We use the re-usable shopping bags. If we do end up with plastic ones, we donate them to people who use them or get a second use of of them ourselves.

We drive 2 cars that are fuel efficient and were purchased used.

I use cloth "pads" and DS uses cloth diapers on weekends.

We use mostly rags for cleaning, and as soon as my stockpiled cleaners run out, we're going to exclusively using baking soda, vinegar, etc.

We purchase energy efficient appliances - like our front-loading washer.

[Ali Lee]

`we use cloth napkins
`recycle cans, plastic, cardboard, newspaper, Reuse rags, plastic bags of all kinds, containers, straws, etc
`bottle of vinegar/h2o sitting @ my sink
`2 load of clothes on clothesline right now with 3 stationary clothes dryers in the basement
`will start using 3/4 c vinegar as clothes softener when I run out of store brand
`cut back on heat/ac
`seldom go anywhere--do I really need to?
`gave away free flower plants this spring
`cut back on dishwasher/washer detergents
`lights off!
`8 minute shower
`grass clippings as mulch
`using plastic sandwich containers...
`will probably think of more....later!
`

[dpence]

WE compost
Have a solar water heater
Line dry all cloths(out here it is truly a solar dryer)
Have a front loading washing machine
Started a garden
Use reusable grocery bags
Only drive when necessary and combine trips
We are installing solar panels

[The Muse]

Wow..I wish I could get my DH to go Vegetarian. I can get him to occasionally eat a carrot though

Try quoting facts from Fast Food Nation and Diet for a New America. I thoroughly repulsed my DH in under 3 months

[CanadianTreehugger]

Try quoting facts from Fast Food Nation and Diet for a New America. I thoroughly repulsed my DH in under 3 months

I will have to try that...though he did watch Supersize Me and it actually didn't repulse him like it did me.

[HippieGal]

Hi Everyone,
Here's what I can think of this morning...

1) We recycle all cans; cardboard; plastic, glass & paper. Since we live way out in the country, I made us a 'recycle bin' for outside. We make monthly trips to town to the recycle center.

2) We harvest rainwater. We live smack in the middle of Texas with a constant drought. We have two 1500 gallon and one 650 gallon tank attached to our house. We have two new 2500 gallon tanks we're attaching to our barn. A good one inch of rain will fill the tanks half way. A really good 2-3 inch rain will fill them all the way!

3) We go to the small town brush piles to 'scarf' up lots of great wood to burn in our fireplace in the winter. We also pick up any good size limbs/trees we find in the ditch. Why buy wood or cut wood from our property when there is so much WASTED wood being thrown away?

4) We are serious about our garden. We use permaculture raised beds and the no till method to reduce weed growth. We also recycle all food scraps (except meat) straight into our compost bin which turns into beautiful rich soil to go back in the garden.

5) We don't use chemical fertilizers or bug killers; weed killers or anything unnatural. I've just bought 8 turkeys this year that will eventually be my grasshopper control in my garden. Turkeys won't scratch up the garden like chickens do.

6) I use only natural cleaners in my home, including dishwasher soap (seventh generation) and laundry soap (Sun and Earth).

7) We reuse and repurpose as much as possible. For instance, when we had to replace the boards on our porch, we saved them. We've used them to help build a new chicken house and a large recycle bin, among other things. Same when we had to have our metal roof replaced on our home. The large sheets of old metal have come in handy on several projects.

8) We always turn off the lights when we leave the room.

9) The TV does not get turned on unless we're actually watching it... which is not very often...there's lots of other things to do!

10) We live WITH nature instead of against it. It's much easier to go with the flow than to row against the tide.

I enjoyed everyone's answers! C Ya

[baxjul]

I use all CFL's, I don't buy or use paper products (except for TP and kleenex), I use homemade cleaners, I limit my driving around, we use our bikes for little trips(like to get a paper, etc), I'm sure there are more, but can't seem to think today.

[sdrjeolsen]

I don't consider myself green and don't take steps to be green, but I think being frugal lends itself to being green. My sister is a green freak and I think I'm still greener than her due to trying to pinch pennies. Here are some of the things we do:

1. Recycle pretty much anything that can be.
2. Compost pretty much everything that can be, feed the dog the rest.
3. Harvest rainwater from the house & barn roofs.
4. line dry all clothes. I don't own a working dryer.
4. Harvest scrap wood from the dumpster pile in town to burn in the winter. we only filled up propane one time in the past year, at a cost of $400.
5. I have nice garden, milk my goats and gather fresh eggs from my hens daily.
6. Rarely buy things firsthand. I perfer to get it from the thrift or a garage sale.
7. we keep lights off as much as possible, we typically use one CFL and one 40 watt bulb evenings for all our light.
8. Fertilize the garden with manure only.
9. make my own soap from leftover oil and lye, also only clean with vinegar or amonia.
10. Wait till something is really broken down or completely unusable till I buy new. I still wear some clothing I've had for 20+ years. And still use many household items I had before I was married (22 yrs ago).
11. I try to really think out of the box and give items a second...or third life.
12. We spend lots of time outdoors doing free things like hiking our property or playing with the animals.
13. Keep the heat at 55 in the winter and we don't run the air evenw hen it would be nice to. I put a fan in front of the basement steps and try to pull the cool air up from the basement.
14. I stay home when necessary, which is usually weeks at a time except for church. I typically go to town about every 3 weeks and then run all errands that need to be run.
15. use plastic containers for lunches and leftovers rather than baggies.
16. Take military showers
17. Use a sea sponge instead of tampons.
18. use rags for cleaning and cloth napkins, I haven't bought paper products in ages besides TP.
19. Use the library a LOT
20. Eat meatless a couple tijmes a week and use meet as a side ingredient the rest of the time.
21. Use energy only when absolutely necessary.
22. often wash my clothes by hand with an antique plunger in a tub outside with as little homemade soap as possible.

I'm sure there are more, but that's probalby the main ones. But I don't think of it as being green, just frugal. Funny how they go hand in hand.

[iida]

This is what we do:
- use public transport, don´t own a car
- recycle paper, glass, metal, cardboard, clothes and plastic bottles, soda cans etc.
- compost
- use energy saving lights
- buy second hand
- use our own shopping bags
- reuse a lot of things
- use library
- are carefull about wasting water
- wash laundry with cool water and line dry

[HisDaisy]

I would not call myself 'green', but I do try to reduce consumption and waste.

Here is what we do:
1) use CFC light bulbs where possible
2) keep the heat down to 62 in the winter
3) try to limit AC use to only those days when it is really hot and humid (like to today).
4) recycle cans, bottles, paper, cardboard, and plastics
5) keep the lights off when not in the room
6) use laptop computers instead of desktops
7) use the crockpot or the toaster oven instead of large oven when possible
8) use reusable shopping bags
9) re-use, donate, or recycle plastic shoping bags when we get them
10) planted a small garden
11) mulched the flower beds to help prevent moister lost and soil erosion
12) combine trips to use the car less
13) used to take the bus to work and would again if the opportunity arises (now I work from home in a town without a transit system)
14) dh walks to work
15) use cloth napkins
16) use rags and limit paper towel use
17) use the library and video store instead of buying new
18) shop thrift stores
19) buy items in bulk to reduce packaging
20) donate unwanted items
21) drink tap water and reuse water bottles

I did not realize all the things that we do to be more green. This was a fun exercise. I will have to see if I can come up with more things we do.