How to Make Everyday Greener

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By Terria Fleming
User-Submitted Article

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There is only one way to go green and that's by making changes, both large and small, in your lifestyle. If you do just one small thing a day, towards living a greener life, your life will be dramatically greener in a year.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

information
initiative
desire to recycle

Step 1

Once you start looking for ways to go green, you'll find them everywhere. People all over the planet are becoming increasingly aware of the need to go green, and are sharing their ideas in books, emails, web sites, blogs, and in articles like this one.

Pick something easy to start with, and then continue it throughout the year. A good example of an easy way to live greener is to turn down the heat in your house a few degrees in the wintertime, from what you're used to. Then you can wear a sweater if you need to.

Another easy way to be greener everyday is to set up a "recycling station" in your home, and then to use it everyday. In the USA, we currently only recycle about a third of the possible items we could be recycling. Try to recycle much more than that percentage in your own home.
Step 2

Recycle at work. If there is no current recycling program, talk to your boss about setting one up. Most companies are aware of the desirability of going green and will support you in this idea.

Walk and bicycle more, use your car less. If you omit just one car trip a day, you're still saving a lot of gas and energy.

That's very easy to do if you remember to do all your errands together, and if you have a plan to keep enough food and supplies in your home so that you don't need to make any "emergency" trips to the store.
Step 3

Use the stairs instead of the elevator whenever you can. The exercise is good for you.

Reduce your personal paper use as much as possible. Americans are estimated to use seven trees per person, per year, in paper products. Cut your paper use way down and save those trees! Also, plant at least seven trees a year to replace the ones you used.
Step 4

Eat less meat. At least one night a week have a vegetarian night. Salads, vegetarian chili, bean burritos, and macaroni and cheese are all good meals, and meatless.

Eat local foods. Shipping foods around the country requires a tremendous amount of energy.

Grow a garden, and can and freeze the excess.