Since the name of my blog is a guide to going green I
thought I should lay down a few scenarios that can be used in order for anyone
to go green. The first scenario I'm laying down is more for people like me who
don't have a lot of extra cash floating around in which to invest in going
green.
Step 1
Goals
Get a pencil and paper, or a word processing program, and
write down some of your goals. If you don't know where you are going it is
going to be hard to get there. Your goals should be pretty easy at first:
reduce your output to the landfill by 25%, cut your electric bill by 10%, or
replace one of your staple foods with an organic substitute.
Step 2
Research & Motivation.
Once you have your goals spend a few hours on the internet
trying to find the best way to get there. If you are trying to make your home
greener, check with your local utility providers to see if they will do a free
home audit. Also there are quite a few good books and good movies out there
about going green and/or climate change. I always recommend watching The Age Of
Stupid for it's great motivating factor.
Step 3
Day One And Jumping In…But Not Too Fast
So let's say that your goal is the one's I listed above. The
first step I recommend is incorporating the navy shower into your daily
routine. Let the water heat up, hop in, get wet, turn the water off, lather up
your hair and body, turn on the water and rinse. You've just saved water,
energy, time, and money.
Make sure you hot water heater is set no higher than 120°F
(if you don't know how to do this, ask your friends and family or hire a
professional).
Find something that you can put your recycling in. If your
municipality offers free recycling use it. If not look for a local drop off and
save your recycling to go into it. Try not to buy a new container if you can
avoid it.
Replace an hour of television watching with something else.
Boards games with the family (or charades), read a book, or try visiting with
friends and neighbors.
Try to turn off the lights as you leave the room.
Set your AC and heat one degree higher and lower
respectively.
Replace one type of food you eat regularly with its organic
counterpart. In our case we ate spinach a lot so we switched to organic
spinach.
Cut the amount of red meat you eat down by one serving a
week. If you eat it four times a week eat it only three.
Step 4
Reduce and Replace
Once you've given yourself and your family time to get used
to the new way of living (I'd give it at least a month) It's time to ramp it up
a bit. As your incandescent light bulbs burn out replace them with CFL or LED
bulbs. Wait till they burn out though.
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| Photo From Wikipedia |
Same goes for your appliances. If the fridge goes kaput
replace it with an energy star model. If you were planning on replacing it at a
given time, again replace it with an energy star model and see if you can
donate it to a low-income family that needs one.
As you run out of household cleaners don't buy new ones,
make your own. There are literally thousands of web pages out there on how to
do this and I'll be sharing some of our methods in the upcoming posts. They are
generally cheap to make and they are much safer for you, your family, and the
environment. Use bottles and containers and you can refill over and over again
eliminating the need for trash or recycling.
Get rid or cable or satellite TV. This is a big one but one
that will improve your quality of life in general. I've had neither my entire
adult life and I've never missed them. We do have netflix that has more than
enough things to watch and we are never bombarded by commercials. Freedom of
choice is about political freedom of choice, not about choosing between
channels or products. You'll save a lot of money and you have access to quite a
few good documentaries on netflix.
Cancel your gym membership. The drive is bad on the
environment and they generally cost too much. There are plenty of used sporting
goods stores out there (not to mention all the stuff you can get on
craigslist). Or you can get a good workout with bodyweight exercises and
calisthenics. Outdoors make an excellent gym. If you live in a location that is
very cold in the winter see if you can do a month to month gym membership just
for those months where it is impractical to go outside.
Make sure you have reusable bags with you at all times to
get rid of those pesky plastic bags that are just terrible for everyone and
everything.
See if there is a way to replace one car trip a week by
walking, biking, or just by combining the trip with other trips.
Replace another type of food you eat with its organic
counterpart.
Filter these changes in over the course of months.
Step 5
Check up on your goals.
See how well you are doing and reassess or add new goals in.
You can try to increase your percentages or add bigger ticket items such as
hybrid cars or solar panels as eventual goals.
Step 6
Start looking at the bigger picture.
Everything you've done so far is great but now it is time to
focus on the larger things.
Help the movement along by buying things made from recycled
materials: paper, aluminum foil, paper towels, toilet paper, etc.
Don’t buy anything new (such as clothes, furniture, media)
when there is a used option (though I would buy new underwear and socks).
Start buying local when possible. There are farmer market's
everywhere. Stop in and buy more local food helping to alleviate the fossil
fuels we burn to transport things.
Look into replacing your insulation with a better version if
it needs it. The same could go with your windows.
Start thinking about replacing your vehicle with a hybrid or
electric version. There are more and more choices out there and there are more
used ones for sale now that could save you a lot in gas.
If you are getting your electric usage down it is time to
start thinking about alternative energy. Whether it is you adding solar panels,
wind turbines, geothermal heating or buy blocks of renewable energy from your
service provider.
Start a garden or window box and grow some of your own food.
Not only is it good for the environment, it will save you money and reconnect
you with your food and the cycle of things.
Find a charity your like (it doesn’t have to be a green one
but it's a thought) and give to it.
Step 7
Enjoy Yourself And Your Life
Don't get overly hung up on achieving your goals that you
lose sight of enjoying your life. And if you fall off the wagon, don't beat
yourself up too much. Get back on and try to do better.
This is just one possible way to go out of hundreds. I'll
post a few other scenarios in the upcoming weeks.
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