Step1
Buy a recycling bin. Recycling is one of the easiest things you can do to help save the environment and in many states you can get a little bit of lunch money for your efforts. There are many products available out there to make recycling easy for you and your family, like 3-in-1 bins made especially for sorting recyclables. Look up the recycling laws in your city and follow them carefully. Make sure each family member in your household knows what can be recycled and where it goes. You aren't helping anybody if you're not doing it correctly.
Step2
Buy organic food from local farmers. It may be a little pricier, but you'll get your money back in health and environmental benefits. Organic food is free or pesticides and helping out the small family farms in your community is great for the economy.
Step3
If you're painting use paints that are low in volatile organic compounds. The color choices and quality of these products have improved over the past couple of years making them equal in quality and sustainability to standard brands, but much healthier for you and your planet.
Step4
Invest in a solar water heater. Solar panels can cost between $2,000 and $4,500, but they'll reduce your monthly water bill by 12 percent and will cut the need for conventional water heating by two-thirds.
Step5
Consider replacing your lawn with an environmentally friendly landscape. Rocks, paving stones and evergreen shrubs can create beautiful spaces without the need for excessive watering and mowing. If you can't live without grass, replace your traditional mower with an electric one and experiment with other types of greenery like clover, ornamental grass and wild strawberries.
Step6
Follow nature's lead on bug-eradication by installing birdhouses, bat houses and releasing egg cases of Praying Mantises and Green Lacewings into your outdoor spaces. This will help control your pest problem without pesticides. Survival of the fittest, after all, has worked for millions of years.
Step7
Replace your incandescent light bulbs with fluorescent. There have been many advances made in lighting over the last decade and you should no longer fear the sallow blue flickering of fluorescent lights. Fluorescent bulbs are extremely energy efficient and are now available in warm bright options. If you're replacing 60-watt bulbs, use a CFL of 870 lumen and for 75-watt bulbs use 1190 lumen. For warm, flattering and gentle light make sure to buy bulbs ranging from 2,500 to 5,000K.
Step8
Save energy and conserve water by making small changes. Turn off the lights when you leave a room, don't leave the water running when you're brushing your teeth, and unplug "ghost loaders" (equipment that uses energy when it's not on, like the TV, computer and clocks).
Going Green
Enthusiast 
