Colorful Recycling Containers for Trash (Photo credit: epSos.de)

Once you’ve sorted your recycling, your green job on your garbage is done, right? No, says Recyclebank*, the site where you can earn points for rewards by learning how to be more environmentally sound. Follow these tips they provide to “green your garbage” and help out Mother Earth:

“Toss your trash and your waste hauler hauls it away. Out of sight, out of mind. Trouble is, all that trash piling up is increasingly, well, a pile of environmental trouble. Before you toss next time, try these strategies for reducing, reusing, and recycling first.” – Recyclebank

1.  Reduce the amount of garbage you create

The first rung on the “reduce, reuse, recycle” ladder is the ultimate garbage minimizer. By consuming less, you end up tossing less.

2.  Reuse items instead of throwing them away

Give new life to old items by giving them to someone who can use them or finding creative new uses for what could otherwise end up as landfill waste.

3.  Recycle your garbage

By recycling your garbage, you keep valuable material out of landfills, provide resources to the recycling industry, support local jobs, and keep toxins out of soil and water.

4.  Compost your biodegradable and organic waste

You don’t need a backyard to compost! All you need is a bag to collect the stuff and the commitment to keeping organic waste out of the landfill.

5.  Opt for recycled-content products

Buying products made from recycled materials keeps trash out of the landfill and reuses resources rather than requiring the eco-unfriendly procurement and processing of virgin ones.

6.  Dispose of household hazardous waste properly

Prevent toxic chemicals from old paint and used car oil from leaching into groundwater and soil by taking them to your local toxic roundup center.

7.  Dispose of used appliances properly

Many appliances, such as refrigerators, contain chemicals that can deplete the ozone layer and must be disposed of with special care.

8.  Dispose of pharmaceuticals properly

Old or unused medication can contaminate groundwater if flushed or poured down the drain. Find out the correct way to dispose of them.

9.  Give your stuff away !

What’s junk to you may be a jewel to someone else.

*(Recyclebank is great, btw: I’ve gotten coupons for cans of free cat food from this site as rewards in the past; it’s a great resource and you really do get rewarded for taking care of the environment. Click here to join Recyclebank and start earning points toward discounts and rewards for helping make the Earth a better place to live.)

However, being conscious is not enough – a green person acts towards preserving the ecology and nature. So basically going green means that a person starts to mind his acts in a way beneficial for the environment. 

But at first there comes the question why exactly green. However, the answer is obvious and even a kid can answer it. The green color symbolizes plants and life. Going into detail the investigation leads us to the year 1979 when in Germany a Green Party was formed. It is said to be formed from a huge number of small environmentalist organisations. Seems a good idea but history and politics is not my strongest side.

Nowadays there are many non-political organisations promoting going green. Recently being environmentally friendly is becoming more and more of a trend. In Australia many conferences are held about what should be done to preserve the planet. Cleaning Melbourne is something that the government already made sure to be green. The tendency of more and more green products on the market is a pretty positive one.

But how exactly going green happens. There is not a particular method – most of the times it is containing of several steps. Saving resources is the main thing. Water, electricity, fossil fuels. People often think that with a small change nothing can be achieved. However, this is a fatal misconception. Each one of us should make small steps towards the preservation of the environment. Cleaners in Melbourne know that and this is why they started to develop those green cleaning products.

However, after all there is a bright side to look at. Recently, more and more people are becoming conscious about what they are doing to contribute to the humanity’s well being on the earth. If you are one of those people, then you surely know how important it is to promote the green practices. If we teach a single person about going green we have done something good.

The least we can do is to become green at our homes. In my city – Melbourne green practices are being promoted everywhere. Even better, yesterday when I hired cleaning services Melbourne amazed me once more – the cleaners emphasized on the green products they were using.

Australia really has a thing for going green recently. Many conferences are held there and this can only speak positively for Australia. The domestic cleaning Melbourne services

Talk with friends, family, relatives and co-workers about the benefits of going green. You certainly know many of them. Except contributing to the environment, all parties can save money. Use as less water as possible for showers. Your water bill will say why. Turning off electronics when not in use will cut down the power bill. There are many simple ways to go green that can save lots of money over time.

First task in creating environmental awareness is finding the right medium and the people to spread the message of eco awareness. Internet, newspapers, televisions and radios can be considered as the medium for spreading the message. In each local area of a country there lies a environmental problem and the message of that topical interest should be spread among the local residents. While creating an eco awareness program the main focus should be given to what common man do to make a difference to the environment.

The protecting and conserving the environment is the main agenda of every country. Reducing carbon footprint is the main chapter in eco awareness programmes of every country. In this Internet era newsletters can be send to people which highlights the top green global news stories. Provide information and tips on how to think, act, shop and eat green. Interesting case studies or success stories of how individuals or organisations have used environmental-friendly technology/products/community programmes will be an inspiration for others to something similar within their local communities.

Young generations should be involved in creating eco awareness programs. As the internet is the preferred medium for youth, internet based activities will surely bring more youths into this initiative. Individuals can do speeches and other activities on eco-awareness events in their local communities.

A report says that U.A.E.is one countries with biggest carbon foot print in the world. Compared to U.A.E other countries generate awareness largely from the US, Europe, the Far East and Australia. This is mainly because these countries are leaders when it comes to investments in solar energy, wind power, geothermal energy or any form of alternative energy sources..”

Going green is really easy. Individuals do not have to invest more time or money to go green. For eco friendliness green is not a colour; it is a state of mind. ‘Going Green’ means you have to start making small changes in lifestyle. If each one of us does our own little part, the planet becomes a better place to live in and that is whole eco-movement is considered.

The environmentalism is an expensive cause is a wrong myth. Going green is not about using expensive products. It starts with little changes such as switching off lights when you leave the room; putting your computer in hibernation mode when not in use; using stainless steel water bottles, for instance, instead of plastic ones. We have the opportunity to go green at every moment in our lives.

If our environments are not kept eco friendly then our children will have to go out in the sun to do their work or breathe in the toxic fumes in cities, face acute shortages of water because of the way we are currently using the earth’s resources.

This best thing is to use environmentally safe, earth-friendly products that are reusable, natural, biodegradable, recycled, organic, or use solar energy. The product range available in the market includes shopping bags, sandwich bags, BPA-Free water bottles, rechargeable batteries, solar chargers, eco-hampers and recyclable paper.

All the initiatives worldwide that are looking to raise awareness in the planet has to consider the most important factor that will bring about a major change will be that an individual can make a difference. Most people think that global warming is a global phenomenon and that an individual is too small to do anything about it. It is wrong. Each one of us can make a difference.

Image via Wikipedia

              One of my favorite day of the year! On the 22nd of April you too can help the earth by doing a copious amount of acts that helps to clean up our environment. Here are some examples of these…

• Recycling paper, plastic, metals, and glass
• Recycling plastic bags, or donating them to a plarn user.
• Planting trees
• Picking up trash from the roadside
• Turing off lights when you leave a room
• Take shorter showers
• Use florescent or LED light bulbs
• Carpool or take public transportation
• Use a rain barrel to use in gardening
• Use rewashable dinnerware instead of paper plates
• Start a compost heap

These things and more can help to reduce your impact on the planet. To find out how much of an impact you are actually making on your planet, you can take this “footprint” quiz here.

Happy earth day! And good luck!

Other articles written by me:

http://bizcovering.com/business/what-to-do-with-all-my-plastic-bags/

http://bizcovering.com/business/aluminum-cans-and-what-you-can-do-with-them/

http://quazen.com/shopping/how-to-make-yarn-out-of-plastic-bags

1) Get green sex toys:

Look for toys made from glass, metal, silicone, hard plastics, or elastomers. Put a condom over a suspicious condom and buy rechargeable powered toy or use rechargeable batteries.

2) Lube up:

Everybody sometimes need a little more lube. try to go naturak and find organic lubes. Try not to go for those with smells, colors or even petroleum.

3) Use condoms:

Researchers are still trying to figure out if condoms are biodegradable but until then we should’t flush them down the toilet because they can clog up pipes and rivers.

4) Give sexy natural girfts:

Have dinners for two, tell each other a poem or even use massage oils, just make sure they are organic and don’t have any products that can effect our environment.

5) Have sexy, green fun:

One of the best ways is taking a shower together, you can have more fun and you can save up plenty of water. Another thing you can do is have a romantic candle-lit dinner, it will save up some energy.

6) Put bamboo in bed:

Ever heard of bamboo sheets? They are silky and organic sheets that come from a renewable source.

7) Eco-undies:

When looking for a sexy outfit try to find some outfits with organic fabric. This will save up a lot and they will last much longer.

Sweeter juice:

Some people say that vegetarians have better tasting juice (if you know what i mean). The taste is influenced on what you eat and like this we can reduce the meat industry.

9) Turn on aphrodisiacs:

Go for natural aphrodisiacs like ginseng, kava kava root, damiana leaves, kelp, tribulus, ginko biloba, rhodiola rosea, and of course horny goat weed. Like this we can preserve as much as we can on the substances used in artificial aphrodisiacs.

10) Meet a green lover:

To make it more helpful find someone that will do all these things with you and that is looking to turn his life green. The more, the better. I am pretty sure that is how this green stuff works.

Will there be human life if not for the environment? No. Then we are the dependants of the environment.

 Jeff Hiller, President of sustainable furnishing council emphasized on the importance of the American business “going green”, deforestation and the risk of excess carbon in the atmosphere at a seminar held recently. This is important for retailers as well.

The idea of this seminar was to emphasize on the importance of going green in which the following basic steps were introduced.

1.      Question your suppliers about the raw materials used on furniture as to whether they are from sustainable sources. Is there a chain of custody or a paper trail and the importance of it? The purpose of establishing a chain of custody is to get true facts about the acts, rather than being planted by fraud.

2.      Global warming has posed a serious threat to the existence of human life. Deforestation is a direct cause for this matter. Enforcement of law has been practiced in almost all the countries but this is not practical in the developing countries due to poor restrictions. Retailers should see to the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) certification on wood. Hiller pointed out that it is a must to use a minimum of 5% of FSC certified wood in manufacturing furniture. Retailers can make this work by pressurizing the manufacture to see to this fact. Large department stores and chain stores have forced garment manufacturers to provide better working conditions for their workers.

3.      Conservation of energy. Energy consumption should be limited to a minimum at all times and retailers should maintain regular energy audits. The use of florescent lamps whenever possible is recommended.

4.      Another area where you can go green if you are environment friendly is the packaging sector. Recyclable packaging material is recommended but generally only thirty percent of this is recyclable. Reports say that 30% of waste in U.S.A. is taken up by  these packaging material.

5.      Try your level best to avoid leather products. This indirectly pollutes the environment due to increased transportation and expenses. In fact leather is shipped to US from South America via Italy, China and North America.

6.      Recycling is the best way to minimize the use of material sources. Therefore direct your attention towards the use of recyclable and bio based products. Ensure that the material used is mainly latex, soy foams and water based finishes.

7.       Better paper. Paper which has 30% of recycled paper is referred to as better paper. Encourage the use of better paper to save wood.

8.      Try your level best to go for local products to reduce transportation.

9.      Be practical in your ideas and make your plans work.

10.  Purchase American products and support the US economy.

SFC is an environment friendly organization and plays a major role to make the go greener planner a great success. Some stakeholders organized by the SFC are the US Green Building Council, Leadership in Energy and Environment Design along with World Wildlife and Rainforest Alliance together.

In addition the SFC works to maintain high standards in a number of other categories including wood. The contribution for going green by the SFC is praiseworthy.

“Going Green”  is not just about the ecology and being a “better person.”  It is also about something that may be near and dear to a lot of people’s hearts.  Making more money. Let’s face it only reason a lot of people do things is for the money. Well let me tell you, there is money in going green. Most of it comes from savings of what you would’ve spent if you do not go Green some of it is real tangible cash. You want some extra money and some extra savings take a moment to find out more about going green.

Energy-Efficient Appliances

20 years ago most appliances were wasteful. Five years ago things were heck of a lot better but still far from being as energy-efficient as they are today. These days there are many energy-efficient appliances that will give you great savings as well as being a much “greener” choice and reducing your  reliance on energy.  This includes everything from low flow toilets, low flow shower-head’s, to energy-efficient washers, dryers, refrigerators and washing machines, really the list could go on and on.  You may not be able to afford to replace everything but when you are able to, it is a short-term cost that will be repaid with decreased energy consumption for years to come.

Recycling

Once upon a time recycling was almost thought of as a dirty word.  It was just something for crazy environmental nuts to undertake.  Those times are changed and changed big.  First of all recycling is far easier.  Nearly every town and state hasn’t easily accessible recycling program.  In other words it is easy to recycle.  Not only that but most states and municipalities offer cash back for cycling. Even if all you recycle is bottles, cans and plastic you can make it nice small chunk of change back for your family over time, perhaps even a couple hundred dollars a month.  You should care about the environment and the positive effect of reducing your carbon footprint, but even completely leaving out that argument, it makes sense to save money in these tough economic times.

Go Natural

There are some things out there that are still made with unnatural products. Chemicals, caustic material even some simple things like fruits and vegetables can be made with many unnatural materials that end up harming the environment. Making a change to 100% natural, or at even a change to 75% natural foods and products to make a big difference for the ecology and your family’s health.

Go Green By Spending Green to Save Green

Recycling and energy efficient appliances are not the only ways to save money by conducting simple household repairs.  The important part is that these household repairs not only save you potential it boatloads of cash they greatly reduce your carbon footprint and do a part in creating a greener world.  Here are just a few of the ideas of ways that you can make small changes around the house to save money and increase your, “green” footprint.  Replace any older heating system to a new AFUE rated heating system that should greatly decrease your heating systems usage of fossil fuels. Make sure your house is properly insulated to both keep your house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer to decrease the need for heating and air-conditioning. Replace your normal Windows with high efficient energy windows that will decrease energy costs by as much as 50% per year.

Embrace the Future

It is now 2011.  What was once the future is here.  Over the coming months and years it will be even more green innovations. Embrace them. By them. Support things that make the world a greener place. Buy a hybrid car or by the electric car when it is released next year. Get a solar panel for your roof or yard and generate some of your own electricity. If you have a large yard in the country you could even investigate getting a small wind turbine.  Don’t think that these innovations and technologies are just in the future.  They are today.  Save money by getting in now setting yourself up for even more savings for the rest of your life by decreasing your reliance on the electrical grid and thereby doing your part in reducing the overall need for fossil fuels is precious resources.

From Kyoto to Copenhagen to Cancun, the world has been debating the same old issue: Greenhouse emissions. The whole world is in agreement on one thing: It is time we made the whole world a big G-spot, G for green, but nobody wants to commit themselves to lowering carbon emissions. Delegates from more than 190 countries have been meeting over and over again with no concrete resolutions.

The world is drying, the world is dying

The world is tired, the world is dying. Global warming is to blame for the floods that rock low lying coastal areas, global warming is responsible for the droughts that are making poor pastoralists fight over pasture, global warming is responsible for the deadly tidal waves that sweep our coastal plains and it is responsible for the rapid depletion of various polar populations as snow disappears to be replaced by liquid water.

The whole world has agreed on the need to cut down greenhouse emissions

The whole world agrees on these issues, the whole world agrees on the need to reduce greenhouse emissions and help stem global warming. Why can’t world leaders agree and commit themselves to helping third world countries fight the effects delineated? Why can’t they set aside the funds needed for rapid forestation? Why can’t they set aside funds for creation of carbon sinks? Why can’t they cut down on greenhouse emissions like earlier agreed?

The chief producers of greenhouse gases won’t commit because they suffer least

The greatest violators of the world’s commitment to going green, the biggest stumbling blocks, the highest obstacles to stemming global warming are actually the major producers of carbon dioxide. The USA, China, Canada and the western world in general do not want to commit themselves fully for they know that third world countries suffer the most from their own wanton destruction of Mother Nature.

Image via Wikipedia

Thousands are forced to migrate from low lying coastal regions

When we cry about extended periods of dryness and destructive floods, when we talk about disappearing polar species of plants and animals, when we are forced to migrate from low lying coastal regions, when new communicable diseases result from an increase in global temperature, the chief emitters of greenhouse gases are busy cocooned in their perfect havens. When will they understand the need to make the world go green? When will they understand the need to make the world one big G-spot?

I am trying really hard guys and the more I try, the more I find out what huge amount of changing i have to do!

I never thought about the wrapping paper issue but this year I must. What can I do, so on   I don’t have to conquer the paper wrapping mountain and the bows and other stuff that comes with the blessed giving season! I wonder what people will say if I ask them to give me their stuff in re-usable bags? I wonder what they would say if I ask them to buy gifts for me that is not wrapped in stuff that cannot be recycled. Some will be offended by that I am sure but I hope that some will get it and continue my new tradition. Think about it, is it really necessary to destroy the earth with our strange gift giving ideas……is it really necessary to have everything shined up and bows and bells and whistles if we just going to throw it all away at the end of this so-called blessed event. No, this year think a little before you give and attempt to give it without hurting our future generations. Don’t be upset with me, i fail at this all the time but I try very hard to think a little further then my own comfortableness and pleasure. Won’t you try it too, please for our children! This year make a difference by giving in re-usable things! God bless you and have a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday….christmas season!

Love and peace Author Cornelia BRown

“He died for you and for me and He died for all shades of humanity!”

A book for all seasons!