Baby Steps to Being Earth-Friendly

November 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A handful of compost
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Some simple life changes can help you create a greener, healthier, and more fulfilling lifestyle. Embrace these few suggestions as a beginning to a new and greener you.

Eat Organic. Eating organically is not only healthier for you, it encourages more responsible care of the earth and animals. The farmers will not spray the plants with pesticides, and will not raise the animals with hormones. They will also keep the animals in more humane living conditions and will feed them natural or organic feed. Feeding your own pet organic food would be a good idea as well, as it can prolong the health and happiness of your pet. A healthier pet means that it may be cheaper to get pet insurance for an emergency.

Recycle. Recycling keeps the plastic, paper, and metal out of the landfill and puts it back to work, reducing the cost of energy as well as your carbon footprint. While recycling materials is good, you can also recycle clothes and electronics by donating them to a consignment shop. This will get these things off of your hands (and out of your attic), as well as out of the garbage, and will allow someone who has less resources to afford the same luxuries that you have (just an older and more worn version).

Create a compost pile. You can add all organic material (including food scraps) to your compost bin, creating a good source for fertilizing your plants. This will save you money in waste management costs, as well as in gardening, as you will not have to purchase fertilizer. You also will not have to pay for yard bags and removal, as you can add all of your weeds, leaves, and other organic material to the pile. Creating a self-sustaining system is a key part to creating a greener earth, so enjoy creating your own way to protect the earth.

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5 Easy Steps to a Greener You

October 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment
International Recycle Symbol
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If you want to make you life a little more “green”, there are many easy changes you can make. It is not hard to start helping the planet, and yourself. Many things that are considered “green” activities are things that we have all heard from infancy. Other things you can do may be new concepts, but are easy tasks.

1) Turn off the lights when you are not in the room. Along with this, turn off electronics when they are not in use. This is an age old mantra for many families. If it is not in use, it doesn’t need to be running. The less electricity you use, the better off the planet is.

2) Recycle any materials that are recyclable. Glass is something that we should all take an effort to recycle. It can take a million years to decompose. Instead of filling landfills and oceans with glass bottles, recycle them!

3) Buy recycled items. When buying a bottle of water, check to see if the bottle was made from recycled plastic. Buy notebooks and paper made from recycling. You are able to find items that were made using recycled materials easily today. Almost all paper products have this option.

4) Take a shower! Showering uses nearly half as much water as taking a bath. Both water use and energy are reduced when choosing to shower over taking a bath.

5) Use the internet for all sorts of things. With options for paying your bills online, looking up an old friend, taking a flight paperless, and more, the internet is a great option for keeping our world a little greener. Almost anything that uses paper can now be done online. Instead of a phone book, look up phone numbers on the Internet. Many companies now offer paperless billing, so you can pay your bills online. Help cut down on the amount of trees chopped every year.

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Protecting the Environment Starts at Home

October 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A handful of compost
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If you’re like most people, you create a lot of trash. You may not mean to, but it’s something that just happens. The way things are packaged today is a large part of that, too, because everything comes in large boxes and wrappers – half of which probably aren’t even necessary. Because there’s so much waste produced, it goes to landfills where it’s slowly taking over the planet. You can do your part to reduce waste, but it’s going to take a little time and a little work. First, find out where the closest recycling place is. That way, you’ll know whether your recyclables can be picked up, or how far you’ll have to travel to drop them off.

Next, get yourself some sturdy containers. What size you choose to buy, along with what color and style, is a personal choice and completely up to you. Make sure you get one for each type of recycling that you’re going to be doing. Label them, if you have other members of the household that might forget what to put in which container. Then, make a conscious effort. It’s going to take a little while to remember to put things in the containers instead of in the trash, but you can do it. Don’t give up if you accidentally forget sometimes.

Soon you’ll see that it’s becoming easier to recycle things, and that it’s not as much of a chore as you thought it would be. It’s good for you, and good for the planet. As you get more involved with your recycling efforts, you’ll find more ways to keep things out of the garbage can. Some people start up compost piles, and use the compost to help the health of their lawn or their garden. It works well, and it’s free.

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Helping the Environment in Your Own Community

October 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you’re interested in helping the environment, you can start doing something today, right now, in your own community. It’s great to have big ideas about how you’re going to save the planet, but starting small can get you comfortable with the changes you’ll want to make. Don’t feel like you aren’t getting anywhere just because you’re taking small steps. That’s much better than not taking any steps at all. If you want to help the planet and the environment around you, you can start by recycling. A lot of things can be recycled, so doing some research into the issue is a good idea.

Paper, plastic, and glass are recyclable, and so are aluminum cans. Don’t throw those things away. Get some bins, cans, or other containers and divide up your recycling so that you have a separate space for each type of material you’re recycling. If you have a garden or a yard area, consider a compost pile where you can recycle a lot more of the trash you would normally just throw away. You’ll send less to the landfill, and you’ll also have a healthier lawn and garden. It’s a winning situation for you and for the environment you’re trying to protect.

Once you’ve gotten your trash situation worked out to the benefit of the planet, there is still more you can do. Avoid a lot of the harsh chemicals that most people buy to clean their homes and repel insects, and instead use things that are all-natural. A little bit of searching around online can show you that there are many ways you can make your own cleaners. If you don’t feel you have the time for that, some companies are also now making earth-friendly cleaning products. They’re another simple way to help the environment right in your own community.

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Why Should We Recycle

September 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

There are many reasons to recycle. Recycling is not only great for the economy, it also protects wildlife.

When you recycle used goods, there are many companies that make your used products into new material. This new material then gets made into new products. Recycling is a fundamental process to keep our everyday items being produced. This is also a huge industry. The recycling industry makes well over $200 billion a year. There are over a million people who work for recycling companies worldwide. This contributes astronomically to the world economy.

Recycling can help keep our wildlife protected as well. Recycling things like paper and other wood based products makes it much less necessary to cut down trees. Many of our woods and forests are in danger, and the more that recycling comes to the fore front of our minds, the fewer trees will need to be cut down. When our forests are cut down, we are taking away the natural habitat of many species of wildlife. It is estimated that 3-6 billion trees are cut down per year. This is an enormous amount, and contributes to a significant number of species becoming extinct.

When you recycle, you are helping to keep our world less polluted. The landfills of the world are getting overly full. This means that a large portion of our trash is now being put in other places. Unfortunately, a large portion of garbage ends up in our oceans. This pollutes the water, killing off species in under the sea. Recycling can help keep the number of gallons of trash going into our lakes and oceans down. When trash is put into the landfills, toxic pollution seeps into the ground, then polluting our water. These toxins also escape into the air.

Recycling is something that we should all be aware of. It helps our environment, it helps our economy, and it helps our world. The next time you think about throwing a soda can in the trash, or some paper in the garbage, instead, keep in mind what you can be helping to save by recycling.

Filed Under: Earth, Environment Tagged With: ,
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