Going Green for Beginners….

Going green does not happen overnight, in fact it’s often an ongoing lifestyle change that continues day after day, year after year. Not ready to give up your SUV or install solar panels yet? Going green does not mean to you have to turn your world upside down to make a difference… I say start small, start simple, start at home. Here are a few very small changes that will make a very BIG impact.

1. Switch out your bottled water for a water filtration system (in other words pick up a Britta or faucet system).”Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. “- Clean Air Council. These plastic bottles can take up to 700 years to decompose! By making a simple switch to using a water filtration system, you will not only keep all those plastic bottles out of the landfills, you will save a TON of money too! Bottled water on average can cost up to 10,000 times more per gallon than tap water. Oh, and did I mention that “Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns even more oil.”- Treehugger.com

2. Recycle, it works! Need a few fun facts to convince you that by simply placing your cans, bottles, paper and plastic containers into a seperate can really does make a difference? Here you go!…
-One ton of paper from recycled pulp saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 7,000 gallons of water, 4,200 kilowatt hours (enough to heat your home for half year), 390 gallons of oil, and prevents 60 pounds of air pollutants.
-It takes 90% less energy to recycle an aluminum can than to make a new one.
-The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.

3. Switch to energy saving light bulbs. Did you know that if every household replaced just three 60-watt incandescent bulbs with efficient bulbs, the pollution savings would be like taking 3.5 million cars off the road!? Its a lot easier to switch a few light bulbs then ask 3.5 million people to car pool or take the bus!

4. Ditch the paper towels and go for that ole dish rag! This will save you money, along with saving trees! The NRDC estimates that if every household in the United States used one less roll of paper towels, we could save 544,000 trees. So, add that to the $$savings you will see by using a dish rag, and this one is a no brainer!