15 Easy Ways to Really Cut Your Consumption

[RedEarth]

Consumption costs us money and the more simply we choose to live the more money we can save. The thing is, no matter how eco-friendly the products that we buy may be, they still come with packaging, they still take energy to make, and they are nearly always still trucked from somewhere. My biggest/most obvious eco-friendly tip of the year is consuming less (energy, water, "stuff,") is better for the planet.


Easy ways to cut your consumption:



1. Bring a reusable bag wherever you go. Excess bags just add to the landfill and you don't need them in the first place. There's no reason not to do this. Try an easy Chico bag you can carry with you.

2. Ditch the processed food. It takes unnecessary energy to produce it, as well as tons of packaging.

3. Make your own cleaning products. Cleaning products (even eco-friendly varieties) often come in plastic bottles and they are trucked in from who knows where wasting tons of fossil fuels.

4. Calculate your water footprint. How can you know where you need to cut water usage if you don't know how much you're using and where you're using it?

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/easy-ways-cut-consumption.html?campaign=daylife-article

[OregonBlue]

1. Thanks. You'd think most of these would be obvious by now but I bet lots of folks

never give it much thought. Nice article to send to friends and relatives who really don't know much about reducing their footprint but are interested.

[silverweb]

2. Planet Green is a great site.

Always lots of good ideas. On my personal score, I'm already doing most of these things, though I like the Chico bags better than what I'm using.

I don't drink milk, but I can't give up a certain amount of cheese. I'm a full-time rather than weekday vegetarian, so maybe that balances out my cheese addiction.

The last two items are problematic. I've tried growing some of my own food, but my cats have found a way to screw that up each and every time; I'm still working on it.

Also, I'd insulate the attic if I had one, but I don't. I rent a little house with a flat black roof and would like to at least cover that with something reflective white. I'm not allowed to paint it, so that idea will come to fruition when I find the right affordable material to cover that surface.

PS -- One idea not mentioned on this list is composting. I've got a worm farm and the little guys take care of all my veggie garbage. I use the "compost tea" and the rich soil they produce in my plant containers, and have also given a fair amount of it away.

[Fazed and Condused]

8. SOLAR WATER HEATER TAX CREDIT QUESTION

Did not know where to post this.... so ....

Is there a guideline available ?


I am renovating my house GREEN to increase its marketability to sell....

Will I still be eligible to receive the 30% tax credit after I sell it ?

Any details and advice from you Green Accountants would be appreciated.

Thanks

[silverweb]

13. Welcome to DU!

I'm not the right one to ask about anything relating to home ownership, alterations, rebates, etc. I rent and have never owned, so have never dealt with or looked into these things.

You might want to repost your message as a reply to the original article to get more attention, as your current post is stuck in a sub-thread. I hope someone can point you in the right direction for the information you need.

[kestrel91316]

3. I already do almost everything on the list.

[GliderGuider]

4. The importance of doing these things

The importance of doing these things dos not lie in how much the acts accomplish in themselves.

The importance lies in the simple fact that you are doing them. Doing these things is a conscious, awakened, transformational, perhaps even revolutionary act. By doing them you become a drop in the river of change that's flowing across our planet. This is a deeply good thing.

[AwakeAtLast]

5. I put my garbage can out once a month.

Most of my neighbors put out two per WEEK. I think not buying so many processed foods is what keeps my trash can emptier.

Thanks for posting!

[Nihil]

6. Well, her heart is in the right place ...

> My biggest/most obvious eco-friendly tip of the year is consuming less
> (energy, water, "stuff") is better for the planet.

... but that list is somewhat twee in places ...

:shrug:

It had some sensible things (that most people here will be doing anyway)
but then threw in some fairly dumb ones:
e.g.,
> 5. Don't drink milk.

Not only does she blithely combine the land-use argument for meat with
dairy but she by treating the other dairy products (butter, cheese) in
the same manner, the message comes across as yet another vegan trying
to convert the world.

An ovolactovegetarian diet is a damn good compromise both for moral reasons
and for environmental ones (and it doesn't impact children negatively).

> 8. Wash your clothes in cold water.

Mmmm ... has she factored in the impact of the additional deodorant use
to cover the fact that she's not killing the bacteria off any more? Yuck.


I suppose there is always the "every bit helps" argument but this article
just struck me as being somewhat naive - as if it had been written by an
air-head who'd overheard some environmentalists talking and decided to get
it into "print".
:shrug:

[GliderGuider]

7. Everyone has to start somewhere.

She's aware that change is needed, and that's a pretty good beginning.

[PVnRT]

9. Using cold water is fine, provided you use the right detergent

Cold water detergents are formulated to kill bacteria and get rid of the odors you mention. I've been doing it for three years without any problems. There are other ways to kill bacteria than heat - intense agitation and playing with the osmotic pressure and surface tension of the water will break cell walls and kill them as well.

[bhikkhu]

10. What about clotheslines?

That's a big one on most lists of this sort. Hang your clothes out to dry (or inside to dry if its winter), and you cut way down on your power usage.

[PVnRT]

11. You can also vent your dryer directly to your house

They sell kits to do it at Lowe's for $10. Works very well in the winter; it's like a combination humidifier-heater.

[RedEarth]

12. Clotheslines are a good idea...we use them at our home

Needless to say, this list is not inclusive of everything, everyone can do to save energy. As you mentioned, clotheslines...that's a great idea...caulking your windows, insulating your hot water heater are two more simple things people can do. There are all kinds of simple steps people can take to become more energy efficient, but I tend to think she was just throwing out some very basic ideas to get people thinking of ways they can become more environmentally friendly.

[bhikkhu]

14. I put one up this summer - it was amazing

Our washing machine had broken and my wife had been carting laundry around to laundromats for a week. I went to the store and spent $2.75 or so on some line and hardware, put up two stretches, washed a load of clothes by hand and hung them out to dry. Other than using gas-heated water, it was like the pioneer days...and it was easy. Under pressure from the wife I did eventually get a new washer, but still line-dry everything.

What is astonishing is how few clotheslines there are around. When I was a kid, everyone used them.

[cbayer]

15. I use a hand washer, but best of all I have a super efficient water extractor that I.

use before hanging them out.

It takes very little energy and takes so much of the water out, that they don't have to hang out long at all.

The hand washer works with a crank and takes only 1 1/2 gallons to wash and the same to rinse. It holds about 10 shirts or 4 pairs of pants.

I got both at The Laundry Alternative and love them.

[bhikkhu]

16. Sounds like a "mangle"

- a set of rollers with a crank over a washtub. My mom used one back in the 50's and I remember seeing them at garage sales in the 70's sometimes, but its been many years.

[cbayer]

17. I've seen those, but this is more like a centrifuge.

It just spins really fast and the water is drained in about 2 minutes (less than a washer would do it). It is electric, but takes an extraordinarily low amount or wattage.

I was really impressed with how close to dry the clothes were when I first got it.

:hi: