I now walk the two miles round trip to work along with biking to the ymca (6 miles round trip), the grocery store (3 miles round trip) and Barnes & Noble (13 miles round trip). My kids go along with my husband and I. As of today, Sunday, our cars have not moved since Thursday. Our goal is to make every trip we can via foot or car.
This post was submitted by Kelly O'Brien-Fairley.
Cloth diapering is a wonderful thing to do for both your baby and the environment. On average, when disposable diapered, each and every baby uses 9-10 thousand diapers (a metric ton) all of which end up in the landfills full of bio-hazardous waste. With home washing cloth diapers, it is a clear environmental plus! It is also best for baby in that cotton does not contain chemicals, and disposable diapers contain many (sometimes hundreds) of chemicals in their Ultra Absorbent Materials… The impact of these chemicals on development is not known. Cloth diapering is also known to reduce the diapering period by about 1 year! I am currently cloth diapering my second, and I love it. I wash once a week. That’s it. 15 minutes a week to save the world!
This post was submitted by Kelly Huffman-Neal.
In order to make the most of Hawaii’s year round climate,we use walkway solar lights for dinner table illumination each evening and we shut off all interior lights and TV and have dinner together each day. We started a backyard victory garden for our daily salads and home lunch sandwich greens. Instead of two cars, We now use only one car and Honolulu’s Municipal TheBus for transportation. I even have a solar charger for my iPhone.
This post was submitted by Ronald.
I ride my bicycle everywhere I can. If it’s too far or I have to get there in a hurry I ride a motor scooter. While I’m out doing that I look for glass bottles on the side of the road and pick them up before they get smashed and then I recycle them. I also pick up other recyclables if possible. I have chased down plastic bags to keep them from getting in the ocean where they might kill a sea turtle.
This post was submitted by Susan Fladager.
Use your cell-phone like a land-line. Don’t answer your phone when you are spending time with your friends or family unless it is an emergency or your were expecting the call. In fact, don’t carry your phone with you throughout the day if you’re not anticipating a crisis of some kind. Turn your phone off at night. Make designated times for phone conversation with people you care about. Stop sending text messages. De-activate this function from your phone, both outgoing in incoming. It takes an incredible amount of energy and electricity to power your cell phone - and all the information it exchanges. Control the way you use technology! This goes for email too - try checking your email once a week, or once a day, if once a week is impossible. Then, set aside one chunk of time to respond to emails, instead of multiple times throughout the day. This will allow for more time for other (more physical) activities. Also, your eyes will appreciate it! And again, you will save power from not using your computer and the internet so often.
Thanks!
This post was submitted by charlotte sullivan.
What food I don’t produce at home, we buy locally from sustainbly producing, organic farms.
This post was submitted by Anita Nelson.
Go up and down the aisles in your grocery store that sell juice. Notice how many of the juices are packaged and sold in plastic containers. Try not to buy juices that come in these plastic bottles.
I’ve taken a stand: I buy cranberry juice when it comes in a glass bottle. I go to a certain store in town to buy grape juice in a glass bottle instead of plastic.
Just try to avoid bringing to your house(and then throwing away) plastic battles and containers.
We’ve been told water in plastic bottles is not a good idea. I extend that thought to juices. Just watch how things are packaged and avoid plastics.
This post was submitted by Mary Trenkle.
Always pack a lunch or snacks if you are going to be out for more than 2 hours. Then you wont ever have to buy food while you are out which not only saves money, but is healthier than most food you buy out.
This post was submitted by marissa.
We keep the Sabbath. On Sunday we don’t do anything that makes others have to work, i.e. go shopping, eat at a restaurant, take a drive (in case we have a car problem), go to the movies. Instead we plan ahead for the items needed to cook and bake for Sunday. We go for walks.
This post was submitted by Karen.
Instead of using the plastic, disposable kind, I sewed draw-string sheer bags to be used for veggies at the grocery (or farmer’s market). These I made out of washed thrift store curtain sheers, cut up, re-sewn, and re-strung with left-over grosgrain ribbon for draw strings.
If you want to make a few, start with two pieces of curtain sheer (or other see-through and light-weight fabric) large enough for bundles of veggies. It’s important that the fabric be light weight - because your veggies are often weighed - and see-through so that the cashier can tell what you’re buying. Sew three sides together to make a sack. On the top, unsewn edge, turn down a casing, leaving an opening for the draw string. If, like me, you start with re-purposed curtain sheers, the casing for the curtain rod is already in there so you won’t even have to bother with making one. Bonus! Now insert draw string and whala - reusable veggie bags.
This post was submitted by Brandi.