Two Day Magazine

10 Easy Steps

With the threat of global climate change finally being seen as something that demands immediate attention, people are starting to ask, “What can I do?” instead of “Why me?” With this in mind, I have come up with 10 simple steps that couples can take to make their lives greener and happier.
 
• Turn Off Lights When Leaving a Room: A lot of electricity is wasted by forgetting to turn off the lights when you leave a room. If you keep forgetting to turn the lights out, just put a small sticker next to the switch that reminds you to turn them off. This not only saves the planet, but saves your pocket book, as well.

• Replace Light Bulbs: Change your incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs to save money on your electricity bill as well as conserving energy.

• Unplug Electronics When Not in Use: Even if your television is turned off, it is still using a small amount of electricity. Unplugging appliances shuts off the flow of electricity completely, thus saving energy. 

• Paper or Plastic: No Thanks! When going to the grocery store with the family, pick up a few reusable cloth bags.  Ikea has started to charge customers for plastic bags and Whole Foods is discontinuing them altogether. Having your children carry the cloth bags is a good way to get them involved in the sustainability movement at an early age. 

• Only Run Dishwasher When Full: The amount of energy that is required to heat the water to wash dishes can become quite substantial when used multiple times a day, so fill it up before you run it!

• Recycling: It is important to recycle cans, plastic bottles, and glass.  Nowadays, stores are carrying drop off boxes to discard used batteries, printer cartridges, and cell phones. Planet Green Recycle is a website that turns recycling into a profitable fundraiser by giving people cash for recyclables.

• Eco-friendly Cleaning Supplies: Many household cleaning supplies are hazardous to the environment due to the chemicals that they contain. Eco-friendly cleaners such as ECOVER are non-toxic and much better for the environment.  A full list of their products can be found here: http://www.ecover.com/us/en/Products/.

• Staying at Eco-friendly Hotels: Going on vacation does not mean that you have to take a vacation from being green.  Many hotels are now being transformed into green hotels. More information and a list of green hotels can be found here: http://www.greenhotels.com/

• Bottles in Toilet: An easy way to save water is to place 12oz bottles in your toilet tank.  Put some sand or pebbles in the bottles to weight them down, and fill them with water. Once you screw on the cap, place them in the toilet tank.  Leave approximately 3 gallons in the tank so that it works properly.  This will decrease the amount of water that fills the tank which saves water and money in the long run.

• Buying Green Clothing: Now that being green has become trendy, many clothing companies are looking into manufacturing sustainable clothing. What a great gift for your partner! The materials that are used in the clothes are all natural and, in many cases, come from renewable resources. Some different companies specializing in this are NAU and Patagonia....even Target is selling organic cotton tshirts, now!