Collectively, small lifestyle changes can make a huge impact on the environment–and your life. Looking for happiness and health? What’s good for the environment is also, it turns out, great for you. Here’s a collection of tips from the No Impact community.
TURN IT OFF!! Unplug it, flip the circuit breaker. I’m single, I bath/shower and clean the kitchen after dinner about the same time each evening. So what I did was start keeping the HOG switched off at the circuit box, turning it back on a when I start cooking dinner and back off half hour after I’m done cleaning or showering. I even went so far as using a timer so it’s not on more than an hour and a half each evening.
My power usage is about 30% lower than it was last year this time!!!
This post was submitted by Karen.
The Cool School Challenge aims to motivate students, teachers, and school districts to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions schoolwide. At the heart of the Cool School Challenge is the philosophy that big changes start with small steps, and that taken together, simple individual actions create a world of difference. Student leaders conduct an energy audit of their school, estimating CO2 emissions from electricity, heating, waste and transportation. They then find ways to reduce their footprint with simple behavior changes!
This post was submitted by Mike Wierusz.
Our focus is on reducing household waste to landfill. Although we do other things such as growing our own food and using a solar panel for lighting, the focus of our site is on reducing waste.
18 months ago we put out 100-150 litres of waste per week. Now we put out less than 100gms which I can hold in the palm of my hand.
It’s been a fascinating journey and next week we are celebrating with our second ‘National zero waste week’.
In addition to saving the landfill, it saves money too – for example growing and making your own food, reusing things rather than buying new, using reusable products rather than disposable – the savings add up!
This post was submitted by Mrs Green.
I have begun shopping for groceries exclusively at Albertson because they bag in brown shopping bags with handles. These bags have many uses. I keep several in the house for recyclables and the night before pickup I just take the bag to the curb. (In my area you do not have to use the standard recycle bin.) I also use the bags for wrapping items to be mailed. If I take the bags back to the store and reuse I receive a $.05 credit per bag. When picking up just an item or two I also use the small fold up shopping tote which I keep in my purse. I also have several of these totes in the car. Is there anything crazier than putting one small item in one plastic bag?
This post was submitted by Debbie.
Unplugging electronic devices (phone chargers, microwaves, coffee makers) when they aren’t being used prevents “ghost loads” and helps to conserve energy and save money on electricity bills!
This post was submitted by Louise .