Five Ways to Go Green, Both in Nature and Your Pocket

by Unknown author15 in Activism, May 2, 2009

Ever wonder why you should become more green oriented? Well here are five ways to do it while saving a “tree” load of money.

Save your Electricity- You may think keeping your hydro bill down as simply skimping on life or being cheap. Do you realize you can lower your hydro bill using many innovative technologies without lowering your quality of life? Some of the things you can use are CFL light bulbs, be sure to let your old light bulbs burn out first so you don’t create too much waste. These do not lower the amount of light at all but use about 90% less energy. Also you can easily mount some sort of clothesline or hanger so you can hang out your clothes instead of putting them in the dryer, you also get the benefit of the great outdoors smell in your clothing which most people pay for to get laundry detergent with similar smells.
Gasoline- Did you know that simply by driving 10 miles under the speed limit you reduce your use of gasoline by about 20%? Consider biking or walking to work, encourage your local government to put more focus on local transport systems. These save you money, are more healthy for you as well as positive for the environment.
Water- Water does not seem like a valuable resource like oil is. This is because there is lots to go around where we live. The truth is it is a valuable resource, and in most places it costs money to use. If you have a water meter you should consider buying a low flow shower head. You can also take shorter showers, both of these have never killed anyone, as long as your clean! Try to keep watering the lawn and such to a minimum contrary to popular believe plants can grow without our help.
Garbage- I am not saying resuse your garbage, in most cases that is rather unpleasant. However I am saying think before you drink a bottle of water or drink a can of pop/soda. Could you be drinking out of the tap witha filter? Could you be drinking from a 2L bottle instead of using an individual can? This saves you on deposit as well as can price and keeps the environment safer! You should also consider using large garbage bags and getting reusable grocery bags to avoid filling up our landfills with un-biodegradable plastics.
Don’t be scared of used- You want to buy a new couch. You can go buy a new one for $1,500 which will look perfectly alright in your house. You could go on kijiji and buy a couch just as suitable for $500 from close to your home. You won’t know the difference and you are keeping that perfectly good sofa out of the landfill as well as keeping your perfectly good money in your wallet. Win win? Don’t be afraid to buy a used car, to the misfortune of auto makers you have absolutly no need for a brand new car, you also don’t need a massive truck unless you actually use it for work or helping people, be realistic and get a fuel efficient mode of transportation.