Eco - Local Eco News

POSTED: Sunday, Sep. 21, 2008

Save the planet — while saving a lot of green

Here are ways to live greener everyday without parting with much, or any, green of your own. These simple steps make living green not only affordable, but in some cases, less expensive than carbon-spewing alternatives.

These tips, and more, can be found at http://www.imcool.info/ — a “stop global warming now” Web site oper-ated by RE Sources, a Bellingham nonprofit environmental education organization.

Saving Around the House
Don’t: Pull that engine cord
Do: Use a push mower
Older gas mowers produce two to three times more pollution each year than the average automobile. Ditch loud the loud, fossil fuel burning beast in favor of a little elbow grease.

Change your light bulbs
Switch your most frequently used bulbs to compact fluorescents now; change the rest as they burn out. You will eliminate 434 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions and save ap-proximately $95 on your energy bill annually.

Line dry your clothes
“If I’ve washed clothes the night before — a full load for efficient use of water — I try to hang them on the line before I leave for work; they can dry all day,” says Lisa Friend, recy-cling outreach coordinator for RE Sources. “In winter, I keep a clothes rack in the house.” This simple practice can eliminate 181 pounds of carbon dioxide emis-sions per year.

Stop the junk mail
Register your address on a na-tional do not mail list and stop un-wanted junk mail.
One such site, www.donotmail.org, claims, “more than 100,000,000,000 pieces of junk mail are delivered each year — that’s more than 800 pieces per house-hold.”

Wise Water Practices

Take shorter showers
Showers account for about two-thirds of all hot water use in your home. Shaving just one minute off each shower will save up to 1,825 gallons of water each year — and lower your utility bills.

Install a low-flow shower head
Low-flow showerheads are an easy and affordable way to cut back your carbon footprint; they can reduce your water use by 40 percent.
“City of Bellingham water custom-ers can get a free ‘water conserva-tion kit’ by calling the Public Works Department,” says Anitra Accetturo, water conservation specialist for the city of Bellingham. “Kits include low-flow shower heads, faucet aerators and toilet tank displacement bags.”

Insulate your water heater and any exposed pipes
“Before summer’s over, I check the insulation under the house and around the hot-water heater to make sure it’s tight,” says Friend. “Insula-tion is a simple and inexpensive way to save energy year-round.”
Quick tip: If your water heater is warm to the touch, it is wasting energy — and money.

Use a rain barrel
As long as it’s pouring rain, put it to good use. “A rain barrel collects water from your roof and gutters,” says Accetturo. “The water can be used to irrigate gardens in the dry months or keep too much rainwater from flooding your lawn and streets in the wet months.
“Our water consumption, as a city, doubles between the months of July and August,” says Accetturo. “We attribute that to watering of lawns and gardens — rain barrels offset that use of water considerably.”
For more information on rain bar-rels, visit the city of Bellingham Water Conservation site: www.cob.org/services/environment/conservation/index.aspx. On the Road

Chill out while driving
Try to be smooth when speeding up and anticipate lights to maximize coasting and avoid rapid braking — you’ll notice a reduction in stress and improved mileage. With the price of gas these days, that’s no small saving.

Walk, ride your bike, car pool or take public transportation once a week
Auto fuel is taking a bit bite out of everyone’s budgets. “Leaving the car behind one day a week is a realistic option for most people,” says Mary Anderson, a cycling instructor for EverybodyBIKE, the bicycle educa-tion program for Whatcom Smart Trips.
An ongoing partnership between local government, public agencies, employers and schools, Whatcom Smart Trips promotes alternative forms of transportation. For more information visit: www.whatcomsmarttrips.org.
“Changing our mode of transporta-tion is an easy thing to do for the environment,” Anderson says.

Sustainable Sustenance

Eat local
Frozen foods are incredibly en-ergy-intensive. They must be frozen, stored frozen, shipped frozen, dis-played frozen at the store and then kept frozen at home.
Eating locally grown food cuts your carbon footprint. Plus, our local fruits and vegetables give you a gourmet experience on a diet budget.

Ditch the bottled water
Today, one out of every three serv-ings of water is bottled, requiring 2.7 million tons of plastic. Eighty-six percent of these bottles are not recycled and end up in the garbage or strewn about as litter.

Bring your own bag to the store
Somewhere between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are used and discarded every year. Bring your own reusable bag when you shop; you’ll instantly cut waste and save energy.
Quick tip: Store plastic bags in empty tissue boxes.