call it what you will

I missed the boat on Earth Day….But the way I see it, we should be doing a better job of taking care of the earth Every day…hence the phrase “Earth Day, Every Day.” that is so popular on bumper stickers and t-shirts.

There are people out there who are making huge efforts to be green….You know who they are.  But those people are few and far between.  There is nothing wrong with them taking such care but if everyone would do a few small things, I’m positive it would add up to greater results.

A few easy things that I try to do – and you can do without much effort…

• Buy a single water bottle and refill it as opposed to drinking the 2 plastic bottles of water the average American drinks each day.  I got a water filter and the water is just as good, costs less, and I don’t have to take the recycling out as much.  Those are just the immediate benefits to me.  To the Earth: less energy is used making these bottles, less oil is used transporting these bottles around the world, and less waste is in the landfill.
• Replace old light bulbs with those fancy compact fluorescent light bulbs.  For you, yes, they cost a little bit more initially but they are energy efficient so they cost less in the long run.  For the Earth, they use 75% less energy and last ten times longer which means less energy used and again, less waste.
• Take public transportation.  It’s going to be running anyway so you might as well be on it.  I understand that it isn’t always convenient but when it is, why not use it?  It’s fairly inexpensive (in some places, like Park City, it is free) and you can multi-task (It’s more time for me to read since I obviously can’t do it while I’m driving.)  Many public transportation organizations run on bio-diesel or natural gas.
• Or walk when you can.  It’s good for you.  It’s good for the Earth.  Win-win.
• Also along those lines, drive less.  Plan your trips out to get multiple errands done in a loop rather than 5 trips to the store that could have been accomplished in one.  This will also save tons of time and gas.
• Turn off the water and lights when you aren’t using them.  I feel like my mom and dad saying this.  For all the times I’ve been ’scolded’ for not doing these two things, you would have thought it would have sunk in earlier.  Though it took some time, it’s in there now and it drives me nuts when people leave lights/water/television on when they aren’t using it.
• Turn the heat and A/C down.  Use a blanket instead of blasting the heat up to 75 degrees.  That will save you a LOT of money.  And as far as the A/C goes, if it is 100 degrees outside, 75 inside should feel pretty good.  Why leave it at 65?  Again, this will save a LOT of money.
• Use reusable bags at the grocery store.  (This is what inspired this blog)  This morning I saw a contest to design a reusable grocery bag for Kroger/Smith’s.  You can design it and everyone who enters will get a free bag.  The winner can win $1000 gift card for groceries.  Back to why you should use them: You can fit so much more in one bag and if you are like me and refuse to make more than one trip from the car upstairs, it’s nice to only have 3 bags instead of 12.  They are sturdy and don’t kill ocean life (Thanks, Brandon, for that bit of trivia.).

So those are a few of the things that I’m working on and I feel confident that you can too.  Nothing is too expensive and nothing really takes much extra effort or time.