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Enviro-Tips
I know, I know. Another list of obvious tips to help the environment
with vaguely condescending overtones. Sorry -- I've got to do it.
1. Buy glass and aluminum cans instead of plastic. People tell you plastic can be recycled but it can't.
It is merely processed into a secondary product that generally can't be
recycled again. Sorry to have to break it to you like this.
2. Bring your own bags.
It's worth investing in some cloth ones. Big supermarket chains often
have an unpublicized policy of giving you three or five cents credit
for every bag you bring in. If you forget, at least take paper, not
plastic! (see #1)
3. Bring you own cup. If
you bring your own beverage container (at least at Starbucks and The
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf) you get a ten cent discount. I got my
commuter cup in a thrift store -- an environmental bonus!
4. Buy quality products.
If you buy crappy furniture, cheap carpet, and shoes that are destined
to last only a few months, then soon you'll be buying more stuff. In
the long run you'll pay just as much as if you took the hit the first
time around, and will have created a lot of trash in the process.
Wouldn't you rather have a beautiful wooden dresser that generations
after you can enjoy than a series of ten crummy ones you bought at Ikea
that fall apart and end up in the dump?
5. Drive a fuel-efficient car
Climate change is the biggest environmental crisis facing the world
right now. What causes it? Burning fossil fuels and cutting down
forests, mainly. Still not convinced? Read this article
about how scientists have shown that the air is warming up a lot faster
on land -- where humans are -- than above the ocean. Give up the SUV.
I'm begging you.
6. Get things fixed. Don't chuck things that can still made usable. Resole your shoes, repair your appliances, have your rugs re-stitched together.
7. Buy stuff used.
Frequent yard sales, thrift stores, ebay. Especially where I live, in
L.A., people are always getting rid of great stuff. I'm going to start
posting my finds on the site to win you over. You'll see.
8. Lower your standards. Your workout outfit is starting to look frayed? Your computer is considered obsolete? Revel in it! You look great, anyway!
9. Use less water.
Freshwater availability is at a crisis level in some communities.
Desalination plants are being proposed at numerous locations to make
ocean water drinkable -- at who knows what price to the environment.
Only wash full loads of laundry or dishes. If you've got a yard, plant
trees and plants that can grow on their own -- without the use of
sprinklers.
10. Eat less meat. The
more commerically produced meat people eat, the more antiobiotics are
used on animals, which brings down their effectiveness in the human
population. Vegetables also take much less water to produce than meat
does.
11. Put only items that can be recycled into your curbside recycling. That means no plastic grocery bags, no styrofoam, and, in the words of Joan Crawford, no more wire hangers! Check out the list of recyclables here in Santa Monica. It's probably similar to the list in your community.
12. Complain. Working Assets Long Distance
offers an email list which will update you on important social and
environmental issues, providing an easy way for you to register your
dissent via email. You can also try Bush Greenwatch.
Also, think globally, but complain locally. Is your supermarket not
carrying eco-friendly laundry detergent? Is your workplace dumping
recyclables into the trash? Start yapping.
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links
What can you do right now to help the environment? Drop a line to save some of nature's BioGems.
It happens to us all: you've got
stuff you
don't
want anymore, don't need anymore, or never liked to begin with. Whether
you're motivated by a natural sense
of thrift, an environmental conscience, a desire to help others -- or
all three -- here are some suggestions as to what to do with many of
your unwanted items.
Hope they help!
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