Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Why not make every day Earth Day?

There are little changes you can make every day to save on the earth's precious resources. Here's just a few tips of many that you can incorporate into your life.

Kitchen:
• use old rags instead of paper towels for cleaning up messes
• recycle plastic shopping bags instead of buying garbage bags
• have a compost pile or bin instead of throwing out scrap veggies
• don’t buy things that come with excessive packaging
• buy a few good quality microfiber cloths for cleaning so you won’t need cleaner
• use biodegradable dish soap—one drop with hot water cleans almost everything
• don’t buy stuff you won’t use at least once a week
• eat less or no meat
• eat organic food only
• recycle everything you can
Bedroom:
• don’t buy artificial fibers and buy organic when possible: bamboo, cotton, silk, wool, etc
• no appliances
• use soy or vegetable wax candles not paraffin
• have some plants in the room to keep the air fresh
Bathroom:
• use only the amount of toilet paper you need and make it the recycled & unbleached kind
• No chemicals! See kitchen advice for cleaning
• use a shower filter
• Women: use a diva cup instead of disposable menstrual products
• don’t use scented products
• don’t use anti-bacterial soap
• don’t use so many personal care products
• buy make up that has refills or recycles containers
• use a salt stone deodorant—works well and lasts for years and isn’t toxic
• the toilet doesn’t need antibacterial products—you’re not eating from it—just use a brush & cloth
Your Closet:
• detoxify all the clothes you don’t wear and be honest with yourself about that
• give excess clothes away to charity or cut up the unusable stuff for cleaning rags
• stop buying more than you will wear!
• don’t buy artificial fibers
Office:
• buy a Kindle instead of books
• use an mp3 player instead of buying CD’s
• use recycled paper
• you very likely don’t need all the latest plastic gadgets
• add some plants instead of using air freshener