Repurpose What You Can

Repurposing things is a great way to avoid new purchases and help the environment.  I always try to re-use plastic/paper bags from the grocery store and other shops as many times as possible.  I use newspapers from work as packing material.  I always use a refillable water bottle.  Those are obvious, but here are some of other ideas!

If you aren't buying in bulk already, then you are likely accumulating a ton of packaging from the modern food industry.  One of my favorite repurposing tips is to take the jars that salsa comes in, wash them out, and use for organizational purposes, Mason style jars make great cups as well!

This may be obvious to people, but if you do a lot of mailing, particularly for gifts, you should always seek to repurpose the boxes you receive to save on packaging!  Then you can use newspaper or mailing to ensure the package is tightly packed and the contents safe inside!  While I like to send gifts electronically to avoid the damage of shipping cross country via a courier, sometimes you need to send your homemade gifts to your cousin in Los Angeles!

If you ever purchased CD's in bulk to create your own playlists, repurpose the empty container into a bagel sandwich holder!  Obviously not practical for everyone, but it looks great.

Paperclips are great for wire organization rather than purchasing some plastic doo-hicky.

Repurpose old books as shelves, for a cool antique look

I use broken clay pots as garden markers rather than purchasing some sort of cardboard marker that sticks in the ground.  Aesthetically they are much more pleasing, and it gives new life to your chipped pots!

20 Ways to Go Green That Make a Difference - COMPLETE!

On September 12, 2011, I penned a list of 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference.  It took me more than half a year, but I am glad to say that I have finished.   I tried to write up tips that would not be huge investments of time or money, and would actually have a positive impact.  I think that I was successful.  Here is the full list, I have bolded the posts that I think are my best.

1) Drive less 
2) Drive at or below speed limit, saves gas and is safer

3) Eat local food, less resources used for transport and supports local farmers

4) Grow your own vegetables, even if its just herbs in your window

5) Bring your own bags to the grocery store, fully reuse paper/plastic bags if you forget

6) Drink from a reusable water bottle

7) Green garbage?
8) Turn off lights when you are not using them

9) Run full loads in the dishwasher/laundry
10) Conserve water in everyday situations
11) Make things yourself
12) Use rechargeable batteries

13) Buy clothes/furniture sensibly

14) Utilize libraries, and other green options for media

15) Give green gifts

16) Green Investing

17) Volunteer

18) Use natural light and "air conditioning"

19) Limit food packaging, buy food in bulk

20) Use rags or old clothing over paper towels

My next series will be on affordable ways to go green, I have still not developed the list, but I expect there will be more than 10.  Not everyone can afford to buy a Prius, but we can all find ways to go green!

Follow Up: Drink Bottled Water

" In 1976 Americans drank an average of 1.6 gallons of bottled water every year. Roughly 30 years later consumption increased to 30 gallons per person, according to the Earth Policy Institute —- despite the fact that bottled water can cost anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water, which is brought right to your home for pennies a gallon. " (link)

Solution: Buy a reuseable water bottle!

Conserve Water in Everyday Situations

 This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

Conservation of resources is one of the tenets of going green.  Society has made possible many luxuries that are quite affordable, but can have far-reaching costs for the environment and our future.  Running water is taken for granted by many, as it is nearly universal and affordable.  However, wasting this water is not green and should be avoided, no matter what.  Some of the earlier tips including running full loads will save both electricity and water.

 One simple way that I try to employ and think will be incredibly easy to implement in your lives is taking shorter and less frequent showers.  I am not advocating any stop bathing completely and become a dirty hippy, but certainly there are ways to shorten your showers so you can save valuable water.  Showers use gallons and gallons of water, and at minimum 25% of the water used is probably wasted.  There are water conserving shower-heads available as well, for those who want to take the next step.

Another pet peeve of mine is when people leave the water running while brushing their teeth.  This is completely unnecessary and pure laziness.  Simply turn of the water while you are brushing, and turn it on and off to rinse off.  This also applies to washing dishes by hand, turn off the stream while you are scrubbing!

I truly believe that water will and should become much more expensive in the next years.  Whether this is from a "green tax" imposed by governments, which would go to providing for other green pursuits, or if it is due to dwindling resources.  Like the bottle deposit, there should be a high cost for wasting water, which will cause people to reconsider their water usage.  Punishment, especially financial, works a lot better than rewards.  The people who decide to continue wasting should suffer a much larger penalty and some of those dollars diverted to other ways of going green.

Do not Run Partial Loads in Dishwasher/Laundry

  This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

Of course it is probably more green to wash your clothes and dishes by hand, but with modern green technology, the difference is fairly minimal. Also, this series is seeking to provide practical ways to go green that will actually have results. In the words of some economist, "the low hanging fruit."

This tip follows the same thought process as driving less. Strive to get the maximum utility out of the energy we use. In the case of driving you don't take a trip for each errand, instead wait until you have a number of stops to make and hit them all at once. In this case, when you have dirty dishes or laundry wait until you have a full load to run the washing machine.

These machines are designed to run with full loads, and are more efficient this way. Waiting for a full load will conserve water, electricity and cleaning soap in one fell swoop.

Don't wear your clothes just a single time. Often they aren't dirty yet, and can be worn a couple more times. The less often you wash a piece of clothing, the longer it lasts. Also there is more $ in your pocket from spending less on energy and using cleaning soap slower.

For dishes, wash off sticky sauces by hand before putting in the dishwasher, so you don't have to wash again after the cycle. Also feel free to wash by hand if you have time, but make sure to shut the water off while scrubbing.

A final step is to not overuse soap. It is bad for the machine and will cause it to break down earlier. Also you will conserve more soap. Consider eco-friendly soap options if your budget can afford it.

Reusable Water Bottles

This is part of my series: 20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference. This series discusses practical ways we can go green in our lives, that will have a measurable effect on the environment.  This is an alternative to the many lists that offer 100+ suggestions, many of which are not easily applied to our lives or the impact is minimal.

 This tip may seem pretty obvious and simple to many of you readers, yet everyday I see discarded Poland Springs, Dasani, and Smart Water bottles all over the place. First of all, buying these bottles is a raw deal, the markup is insane! Even when bought in bulk (which is bad for the environment) the cost is still high considering it's just filtered water. Don't even get me started on the LA restaurant Bazaar's "water bar".

The solution is to buy a reusable water bottle, I have a Sigg and Nalgene, and my wife has a Camelbak, I'm sure there are other quality vendors like Klean Kanteen, etc, but that doesnt really matter. The point is to get one, it should be available locally for under 20 bucks. Wash it out and start carrying it daily. 

Fill it everywhere you go, the tap at home, if your water is good, or through a filter such as a Brita. Public water fountains and many workplaces offer filtered water, the bubbler at the gym, whatever. Every time you refill it you are saving .25-2$, and you are not potentially creating waste and by limiting reliance on plastic bottles lowering pollution!

If you do have to resort to buying water, buy a large gallon or other container, return it for a bottle deposit where applicable, or put it with your other plastic recyclables.  Then when you are done with it, re-purpose it, like used shopping bags, as its own reusable water bottle (consider BPAs which many water bottles have)

20 Ways to Go Green that Make a Difference

You always see tips to go green that are very small and will not make a difference.  I have drawn up a list of 20 effective tips that will do the most overall good.  Please feel free to leave any posts in the comments that you think I missed, lets only include things that will really make an impact and is practical to implement.  I am going to also expand on each of these in a separate post, and will edit this page with the links each time.

1) Drive less 
2) Drive at or below speed limit, saves gas and is safer

3) Eat local food, less resources used for transport and supports local farmers

4) Grow your own vegetables, even if its just herbs in your window

5) Bring your own bags to the grocery store, fully reuse paper/plastic bags if you forget

6) Drink from a reusable water bottle

7) Green garbage?
8) Turn off lights when you are not using them

9) Run full loads in the dishwasher/laundry
10) Conserve water in everyday situations
11) Make things yourself
12) Use rechargeable batteries

13) Buy clothes/furniture sensibly

14) Utilize libraries, and other green options for media

15) Give green gifts

16) Green Investing

17) Volunteer

18) Use natural light and "air conditioning"

19) Limit food packaging, buy food in bulk

20) Use rags or old clothing over paper towels