Earth Friendly Ideas
From LoveToKnow GreenLiving
Are you looking for earth friendly ideas to help you incorporate a green living lifestyle into your home or office? Here are some great ideas to get you started!
Earth Friendly Ideas for Home
Composting
Starting a backyard compost pile or bin is a great way to repurpose food scraps and other household waste so that it doesn’t end up in the garbage can. When you start composting, you’ll be able to use things that might otherwise end up in landfills as organic fertilizer for your lawn and garden. In addition to reducing household waste, you’ll also be able to avoid using chemical based fertilizers in your yard.
Installing a Home Water Filtration System
Instead of continually purchasing bottled water, you can ensure that you have safe water to drink any time you need it by installing a home water filter system. Whether you install a faucet filter or a whole house water filtration system, you’ll be able to enjoy clean and healthy water directly from your faucets any time you want it. When you have access to fresh, filtered water on demand, you’ll be able to eliminate the use of disposable plastic water bottles in your home. Install a rain barrel to collect water for use in the garden.
Invest in Fluorescent Lighting
Switching from incandescent to fluorescent lighting is easy to do and can have a positive impact on the environment as well as your energy bills. Purchasing fluorescent light bulbs is more expensive than buying incandescent bulbs, but they last much longer and use much less energy. The initial investment you make in fluorescent bulbs for your home will pay off exponentially in energy and replacement bulbs savings over their usable lives.
Update Home Appliances
If your home appliances are several years old, chances are that you don’t have the most earth-friendly and energy efficient models available. It may be in your best long term interest to replace your current toilets and showerheads with lower flow models for maximum water conservation. Updating your washing machine, dryer, refrigerator, dishwasher, and other appliances can reduce your overall energy consumption.
Earth Friendly Ideas for Work
Hold Virtual Meetings
Scheduling virtual employee, client, and training meetings can play an important role in reducing the expense and environmental impact of driving or flying to face-to-face meetings.
Utilize Computerized Faxing
Instead of using a paper facsimile machine to receive fax documents, switch to computer faxes. You can choose to print out the documents that you need, and delete the others. You’ll save both paper and ink when you adopt this style of faxing.
Recycle Office Paper
You can make a positive impact on the environment and on your budget by taking care to recycle office paper. Place a recycling bin in your office so that no paper ends up being thrown in the trash. Take care to make the most of the paper that works its way through your office. You can print draft documents on the back side of waste paper that has printing on one side. It’s also a good idea to cut paper that’s been used on one side into small note pad size sheets to re-use for inter-office notes. You can also create your own packaging material by shredding paper that might otherwise have been thrown away.
Reduce Electricity Usage
Make a point of turning off computer, copy machines, and other electronic office equipment when it isn’t going to be used for an extended period of time. Ensure that no one in the office leaves their computers on overnight, and put someone in charge of verifying that shared electronic equipment is turned off when it is appropriate to do so. Making this simple change will reduce energy consumption, lower the air temperature in your office, and save money on your energy bills.
Making Earth Friendly Changes
If you’re concerned with following a green living lifestyle, it’s a good idea to constantly look for new ways to incorporate earth friendly ideas into your daily lifestyle. Every environmentally responsible change you make, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, can have a positive impact on the planet.
Learn More
This page has been accessed 1,218 times. This page was last modified 14:34, 20 May 2009.
© 2006-2009 LoveToKnow Corp.
Print this page
Follow ltk on twitter
Visit us on facebook