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52 Ways to Save the World: #2

Bring Your Own Bags to the Grocery Store

I'm posting this advice as a reminder to myself, although it is certainly an easy way to make a big impact.  I have a ton of reusable grocery sacks, but I tend to co-opt them for other use.  Primarily to stuff full of mostly worthless papers from work, which, once full, decorate my sofa for a while.  Not an admirable habit.  So, my goal is to clean out those totes and store them in the car.  Because having them on hand is just as important as the intent!

This article is a good place for some thought provoking information.  Maybe you are concerned that if you start bringing your own bags to the grocery store, you'll run out of garbage bags for those tiny cans we all have in the restroom, by our desks, maybe by the bed.  Ha.  I can almost guarantee that won't happen. If you're thrifty, you may also be inspired by the fact that many stores will give you a small (5-10 cents) rebate for every bag you bring yourself. 

Happy Bagging!

52 Ways to Save the World: #1

So I have this new idea.  Also, kind of a resolution.  Every week I will post some great way I've found to reduce my impact on this earth.  And I'll encourage you to adopt it too!  You're all thrilled, I know.  But they'll be easy and affordable.  Which brings me to the first way you can help save the world: replace your very inefficient standard light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights.  They use 75% less energy than regular bulbs and 5 to 10 times longer.  I know that everyone thinks the light is harsh and that they're expensive.  THEY'RE NOT!  You can find bulbs in a wide spectrum-from soft light to bright light to day light.  And they're not really that expensive--the most expensive bulb I bought was $9.47 for a 32 watt 3-way.  It will last 5 years.  And it's 35 watts compared to 150!  So I'll see quite a bit of savings in my electric bill.

If you need more incentive, check out the following:

This article in the NY Times made me think about making this resolution.

The Worsted Witch is always great for green links---she led me to Pocket Farm's discussion of CFLs.

Treehugger's guide to How to Green Your Electricity has lots of good suggestions.  You may actually see them here as I work on this resolution.