Just thought I'd pass along a few items to help you go greener this year for Earth Day! Hope you find them helpful!
1. Recycle all electronics (especially old computers & cellphones). These use up tons of natural resources. Check out:
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/recycle/ecycling/donate.htm2. Stop receiving all of those catalogs (easily!):
https://www.catalogchoice.org/3. Donate stuff and find stuff for free from your local freecycle group:
http://lifehacker.com/382566/map-your-local-freecycle-group or go to Goodwill or The Salvation Army - you can get a tax write off for donating and they often have great clothes for really cheap prices - even designer stuff with the tags still on! Also consider selling your items on eBay - this is obviously more work, but it's amazing what people will pay for!
4. Help reduce the amount of carbon output from your computer:
http://lifehacker.com/382319/easy-ways-to-go-green-with-your-computer5. Use corn gluten instead of pesticides on your lawn to prevent new weed growth. Unfortunately it won't kill existing weeds, but spreading it on your lawn 4 times a year will prevent new ones from growing and is pet/kid safe! I've heard that using vinegar or
sugar is a great way to kill weeds, but haven't tried it yet! Also, aerating lawns can help them a lot:
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/turf/430-002/430-002.html. Consider getting a hand-push or electric mower. Ideally we would get rid of our lawn altogether and replace them with native plants, but that's not always practical either! For winter, some places sell pet-safe salt for de-icing. Not sure how great these are environmentally, but I imagine they must be slightly better or they wouldn't be pet safe!
6. Try to buy food locally at farmers markets to reduce the amount of
pollution used in transporting food around the country/planet. USDA approved organic food is pesticide free (or so we hope :), look for meats that are free-range and anti-biotic free and,
if your thumb is greener than mine, you can also grow your own fruits & veggies!
7. When buying new furniture, making updates or repairs on your house or purchasing new appliances look up online the greenest products. It's amazing what you can find. I just saw an ad for Menards today for outdoor carpet made from old plastic bottles. Recycling 1 plastic bottle saves enough energy to run a computer for 25 minutes! Look for furniture and materials made from eco friendly materials and purchase energy star appliances.
8. Consider setting you house temp to keep it a little cooler in the winter & ware a sweater. And a little warmer in the summer. It will save you $ too! WE Energies (and presumably other power companies) also have several programs to help conserve, although I don't know if they have been vetted. Adding more insulation to your house can also help tremendously (especially in your attic and around the top of your basement where the house meets the foundation). If you are going to be living somewhere for quite a while and you need to replace a furnace or water heater look into on-demand gas water heaters, solar-panels and geo-thermal heat pumps. They cost a bit more, but in the end will save lots of money and will help the environment right from the start!
9. When running water and waiting for it to heat up, put a container under your sink that you can pull out and fill up. Use that water for watering your indoor plants. It saves water and time later when you want to water your plants but are just sitting there waiting until the container fills up! (Thanks for that cool idea grandma!)
10. Use old clothing to make rags. Don't go out and buy rags. When you have an old piece of clothing that is not in any condition to donate to charity, cut it up into squares and use them as rags. Instead of using paper towel to clean up spills, you now have plenty of washable rags to use.
11. If you have lots of old t-shirts that are too old to ware, but you can't bring yourself to give them away, cut out the logos and use them to make a blanket. If you are looking for a craft project, you could also look at making paper from your old clothing: http://www.ehow.com/how_2067053_make-cloth-paper.html
Of course there are many other ways to go green, these are just a few that we have found. I would love to hear of other ideas any of you have found helpful!
Happy Earth Day!
Well, it's official. We are moving to Milwaukee and our house in Pleasant Prairie is on the market. If you or anyone you know is interested in a 2 bedroom 1 bath ranch in a great area, please let us know. We are going to miss our first home together. We really put a lot of sweat equity into this place, taking it from a total mess to a place we will never forget!
