7 Ways to GO GREEN this Earth Day!
Save the Earth – Do Less Laundry!
Ask yourself: Is it dirty? Can I run a full load? Could this be washed in cold water? Is there a shorter wash cycle that would get this just as clean? Could I hang this to dry? Am I using an earth friendly detergent? Am I over-drying my clothes? Am I using eco friendly dryer balls or Woolsies? Am I clearing the lint trap with each load?
Take shorter, cooler showers.
Unless you are in a really messy line of work, most of us are basically clean day to day. Even post workout a five minute shower is more than adequate. This is not only healthy for your wallet by lowering water consumption and the heating costs associated, but for your body. Shorter showers mean less exposure to chlorine, lowering risk of asthma, liver malfunction, thyroid imbalance, digestive and immune issues linked to dysbiosis.
Make your own broth or stock in a crock pot.
If you’re spending money on high quality produce and protein, get every last drop of nutrition out of it. Freeze the carcass of that whole chicken.Save your vegetable peels, ends of carrots and celery, onion and garlic skin, and whatever else collects in your compost bin and store it in the freezer instead. When you have a good amount toss it all in the crock pot covered with water for a few hours or overnight. The broth you have will be healthy delicious and practically FREE! A crock pot will costs less than 20 cents to run a full 8 hours overnight! So why not have some broth? Compost the rest.
Use a glass water bottle.
Sure the initial investment will be dear, but consider the waste. Even if you only drink one bottled water a day you’ll keep 365 bottles of water out of recycle bins, or worse, landfill. Again, this benefits you as well as your bank balance, plastic even BPA free plastics are proving to be less than ideal. This same thinking goes for coffee cups. Invest in a glass or stainless steel mug, and enjoy shrinking your ecological footprint with your latte. Glass or stainless steel straws are awesome too.
Use cloth personal care products.
Using a cloth napkin instead of a paper towel is an easy swap. Parents, can you get on board with changing cloth diapers? The savings are MASSIVE.
And for the ladies…it has been reported that Canadian women spend almost $520-million PLUS TAX, on menstrual hygiene products. All those paper products end up in landfill. That is not a pretty picture. Not to mention if women are using conventional non-organic bleached brands they are doing not only the earth, but their lady bits a huge disservice. A Diva Cup or other reusable sanitary option nearly eliminates this waste, as well as the risks involved with sticking a bleached stick of cotton…well, you know where.
Dispose of hazardous waste properly.
Those old cell phones, batteries, computers, other electronics, and especially those compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs – which contain mercury – need to be kept out of landfills where they can, and do, leach into the ground, potentially contaminating groundwater sources. Consider replacing CFL bulbs with LEDs. While more expensive, LEDs can last 10 times as long, use a fraction of the energy and don’t carry the same environmental risks as CFLs.
Eat local, seasonal, organic food, cooked from scratch.
Less transport is good for the environment and can increase the nutrient content of your food since you can eat it closer to the time it was picked. Try to eat less processed food overall, those huge food plants use a whole lot more energy than your frying pan or barbecue. Remember most of that overly processed food provides little in the way of actual nutrition combined with all that packaging.