Newsletters: March - April 2008
Live Simply
Natural Times-March/April 2008
By Gretchen Hein
“Live simply that others may live.” I remember the first time I saw this quote, the simplicity and potency of it struck a deep chord within me. I grew up attending Girl Scout meetings where our motto was to leave things better than we found them. I took that intention with me as I grew up, left home and created my own family. I put the two of these ideas together and they became my guide for living my life.
Recently I investigated the internet as a resource to locate sites that not only provide me with information about global warming, but also to help me reduce the effect my lifestyle has on global warming.
Large corporations such as Google, Wal-Mart, and UPS are beginning to change their carbon footprint. You can do it too. Following are a few, easy steps you can take to reduce your own carbon footprint.
Around the house
Change light bulbs. Replace your incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs. They not only use less electricity, but in summer, they produce less heat. You can use the extra moment they take to light up as a moment to pause and take a breath.
Plug your computer, TV, sound system and other appliances into a power strip that you can easily turn off. Many of these appliances are designed to continue to consume power even when turned off. Cutting the power to them reduces electricity consumption considerably. Or, simply unplug your appliance when not in use.
Reduce your dependence on the clothes dryer. Line dry clothes either outside in the fresh air or with a small inside portable line. If you can’t do it with every load, try one load a week. I love the smell of laundry hung on the line and I use the time to enjoy the season, listen to the birds and insects and notice what’s flowering. If the clothes feel too stiff they can be fluffed in the dryer for just a few minutes.
Buy water saving-devices that reduce the flow of water at your sinks and showers. And, cut your shower time to five minutes or less. Make longer, warmer showers a special treat.
Invest in a water filter and stop buying bottled water. In recent years, discarded plastic water bottles have become an enormous problem. Filtering water at your own sink and then carrying your own water bottle around in a safe reusable container is your best bet. If you don’t want to install a filter, you can buy a countertop water filter almost anywhere. North Florida has some of the best water in the world. Filtered Tallahassee water tastes great!
Purchase or make environmentally-friendly household cleaners. One simple thing I recently discovered was to fill a spray bottle with white vinegar which I then periodically spray on shower walls. The vinegar prevents the growth of molds and keeps the shower clean. Even better, you don’t have to rinse the shower walls after the vinegar spray.
Reduce junk mail by visiting nrdc.org and signing up to ‘find and decline’ unwanted catalogs. You list what you want to eliminate and the site contacts the company to remove you from the mailing list.
Consider investing in a programmable thermostat. This will keep your home comfortable when you’re there and reduce energy use when you’re away. Take another look at passive solar water heaters and solar panels. Many changes have improved technology in recent years, and costs have come down.
As you drive
Lighten your foot on the pedal. Observe the speed limit. Those extra five miles above the speed limit result in a six percent loss of fuel economy. If you were traveling for eight hours, those five extra miles per hour would put you at your destination only forty minutes sooner. Around town, the difference is negligible Along the same lines, avoid rabbit starts and stops, accelerate slowly, and pace yourself for those frequent stops at lights. See if you can eliminate one trip from home each week and look for opportunities to carpool to work or social events. Start small and look for opportunities to expand.
Turn off engine when idling. If you’re going to be idling for more than ten seconds at a drive-through or school pick-up, turn your car engine off. Lobby your school to encourage this.
Keep your engine tuned and your tires balanced, properly inflated and replace when worn. And the next time you are shopping for a car, look at models with the highest gas efficiency or take a hybrid for a test drive.
When you shop
Purchase locally grown as often as possible. Purchasing only 10 percent of your produce from local farms reduces your annual consumption of fossil fuels by 300,000 gallons, reducing CO2 emissions eight million pounds. Just imagine the reduction by buying more, or even better, growing some of what you eat.
Invest in cloth bags and then use them. See Bridget’s article on page XXX for tips on how to remember your bags.
Invest in energy efficient appliances.
Support locally owned businesses, artists and craftspeople.
Buy less. Take a closer look at what you need versus what you want. Do a little research to educate yourself about the product you’re considering and from there, make a more informed decision.
A few if my favorite sites
www.thegreenguide.com - a National Geographic site full of great information. Includes articles, videos, quizzes and product information.
www.fightglobalwarming.com - an easy-to-use site that exposes the dangers, the science and myths of global warming. Easy tips. A PDF booklet of tips and handouts you can print and share.
www.environmentaldefense.org - offers periodic updates and tips to help improve the imprint you leave, with a promise not to share your email address.
www.nrdc.org - another site full of useful information about simple ways to live a greener life. Includes press releases and scientific articles about living green. This site ranks food in terms of pesticide use. It also contains a link that lets you opt out of mail-order catalogs.
www.grist.org - a great place to learn about global warming. Includes information about presidential candidates’ positions on environmental issues.
www.conservation.org - helps you calculate your carbon footprint.
www.montereybayaquarium.org - a guide to purchasing sustainable seafood. The seafood guide on this site identifies sustainable and unsustainable seafood. Fish and other seafood are ranked as “Best Choices, Good Alternative, and Avoid,” to help consumers with purchasing decisions.
I discovered how many practices I had already incorporated into my life and what more I could do. Changing my carbon footprint doesn’t mean living a life of deprivation. Once I began to shift my awareness to what I can do, what I once thought was hard, became easier. For me, living more simply has become a responsibility to the world I live in and future generations.
