Green Advices from "Living Green" V

These advices are from "Living Green" calendar, from http://www.pageaday.com/
(Next set of advices will be published in the beginning of January)

what not to recycle
Some consumer items can’t be easily recycled, among them carbon paper, stickers, laminated paper, and mixed or layered plastics (identified by the number 7). Check with your recycling service or municipality about what they won’t accept, and try to avoid purchasing those items.

loud and proud
If you’re making the effort to use recycled paper in your office publications, why not let your audiences know about it? Include a boldface note reminding them that the document is “Printed on Recycled Paper”—it’s just possible that you’ll inspire others to do the same.

at the threshold
Install door sweeps to close off that energy-leaking gap between door and floor. Even using a draft blocker or a rolled-up towel can help.

green plastic
Credit cards are an ever-present manifestation of the consumption trends largely responsible for the deteriorating state of our planet. Flip the paradigm on its head by choosing a card that delivers benefits in the form of green contributions.do your part: You’ll need to research this subject to find a choice that suits your needs, but you can find one possibility at http://www.workingassets.com/creditcard; the Working Assets card racks up a donation of ten cents per purchase to a wide range of charities, including environmental organizations.

a winning flush
If your toilet dates back further than the mid-1990s, it’s probably wasting water every time you use it. Those manufactured since then are required by law to use just 1.6 gallons a shot. But not all low-flow toilets are created equal; see http://www.cuwcc.org/uploads/product/MaP-5th-Edition-Revised-10-6-05.pdf for helpful ratings of popular models.do your part: If everyone replaced current toilets with today’s low-flush types, the country would save more than 900 billion gallons of water annually.

air cleaner
A simple way to improve your car’s gas mileage is to maintain the air filter. A dirty filter results in a “richer” mixture of air and gasoline, cutting into combustion efficiency. Change single-use filters every 12,000 miles; if you have a washable or reusable filter, clean off the dust and bugs at intervals recommended by the manufacturer.do your part: Replacing a clogged filter can improve gas mileage up to 10 percent.

tread lightly
When you hike at high altitudes or latitudes, watch where you put your boots. The native plants in such places grow slowly. If you step on them, they can take years to regenerate—and may not make it at all.

purchasing questions
Ask yourself a few key questions before making any office purchase, be it a printer, a computer, or a telephone. How long will this product last? Can we lease, share, or trade instead of buying? How much energy/materials does it use? Does it include recycled materials? Can it easily be repaired or recycled later? Advance considerations like these will help you make greener buys.

all you need
Many of us are in the habit of using toiletries lavishly—big dollops of shampoo, shaving cream, and toothpaste every morning. It all goes down the drain, to be dealt with by sewage or septic systems. Can you use half as much? Your purchases will last twice as long, you’ll consume half as many containers, and fewer resources will be used in manufacture and water treatment.

untarnished
Want to shine up the silverware for Thanksgiving without resorting to the petrochemicals in silver polish? Just boil a few strips of aluminum foil in a pan with baking soda and put the tableware in the simmering water. Presto—off comes the tarnish. Dry thoroughly and buff to a high gloss.

solar starter
If you’re interested in trying renewable energy sources, solar powering your water heater is a manageable point of entry. An investment of about $7,000 can slice 10 percent a year off water-heating bills, paying for itself in about ten years. Life expectancy of the system is about 30 years. Some states offer rebates of up to half the cost of the unit.do your part: Helpful details on solar water heat are available on the U.S. Department of Energy’s website at http://www.eere.energy.gov/.

packing up
Bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and other shipping materials are practically made for reuse. Set aside a box or area in the office mailroom for storing these items as they come in so they’re available to coworkers. Your office manager will soon see there’s really no need to ever purchase bubble wrap again.

fresh air
So-called air fresheners really don’t improve your home atmosphere; instead, they release chemicals that numb your olfactory nerves or coat your nasal passages with oil. A better answer is investing in a HEPA air filter or opening windows for a cross-breeze.Among the substances in commercial air fresheners: formaldehyde, 1,4 dichlorobenzene, and petroleum distillates. Now what’s that smell?

home cheapo
In your home office, there may be scant need to keep up appearances—secondhand often works great for this corner of the business world. Look for used desks, file boxes, bookcases, and so on when you visit yard sales or used furniture stores. You can limit needless consumption, cut waste, and even save money.do your part: By choosing remanufactured furniture, American business could avoid $93 million in disposal costs. Worldwide, annual material savings from furniture remanufacturing amount to 14 million tons.

pumped
Solar water pumps can move water effectively in many situations without any help from the electrical grid. Surface pumps are best for wells less than 20 feet deep; submersibles fill the bill for deeper wells.do your part: Visit the Alternative Energy Store’s website, http://store.altenergystore.com/Solar-Water-Pumps/c489/, to learn more.

the clean power transaction
Consumers used to be stuck with whichever power company held the monopoly in their home areas. That’s changing: At least 18 states now permit competition in electricity sales, and 15 require power firms to produce part of their electricity using renewable methods. It takes some study, but you may be able purchase cleaner power where you are.do your part: See the Energy Information Administration’s report on the subject (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/analysispaper/rps/index.html): it lists the 15 states and provides links to their applicable websites. Also, check out http://www.green-e.org/ to identify power companies that are using renewable generation methods.

spay or neuter
The tragic numbers of animals euthanized each year—9.6 million, according to the American Humane Association—is reason enough to help control pet population growth. But there’s more. Feral animals kill mammals and songbirds and have been known to infect wild populations—and they’re often the offspring of family pets. (It’s believed, for instance, that the feline distemper afflicting the endangered Florida panther was transmitted by house cats.) Controlling the population reduces these problems, so make sure you spay or neuter your pet.

foiled again
Holiday cooking seems to spawn a lot of used aluminum foil. It may not have occurred to you, but it can be recycled, just like beverage cans. Check with your local recycling authority. Most want it rinsed off first.

mail order
This time of year, many people buy gifts from direct-mail marketers. Get together with friends, neighbors, and family members to share catalogs, then order from the same sources and have your purchases shipped together to reduce waste.

magazine co-op
Look around your office; chances are the fellow in the cube next to you is reading the very same trade magazine that’s sitting on your desk. Cancel multiple subscriptions and learn to share. Route the journals by affixing a list of your coworkers’ initials to the
magazine’s front cover to make sure everyone gets a turn.

e-greetings
Seven billion greeting cards are sold each year, and many are ultimately thrown away, along with their envelopes. E-greetings are a tree-saving alternative.do your part: Some sources for electronic cards: http://www.e-cards.com/ (part of the proceeds go to World Wildlife Fund and other environmental groups); http://www.hallmark.com/; http://cards.amazon.com/; http://www.123greetings.com/; http://www.bluemountain.com/.

co-op dining
Our nuclear-family-centric culture supports a food production system that favors small quantities heavy on packaging. Though it isn’t always possible to buy your foods in environmentally friendly bulk, Thanksgiving is a good time to buck the trend. Beyond that, think about organizing a dinner co-op with friends and neighbors. Apart from the fun and fellowship you’ll enjoy, the co-op idea enables you to buy ingredients in bulk
and reduce waste every time you gather.

better litter
Commercial cat litter is effective, but the clay in it is a product of strip-mining. Alternatives include litter based on wheat, corn, citrus peel, and recycled newspaper. Some are flushable, which means the leavings are exposed to sewage treatment.do your part: Learn more and see products on sale at http://www.petsmart.com/’s Alternative Cat Litter Section.

holiday lights
Celebrate the fact that light-emitting diode (LED) holiday lights use 90 percent less power than the old incandescent kind.do your part: It’s easy to forget to turn those lights off. Use a timer so you don’t let them burn longer than three hours. Lights left on all day can drive your energy consumption up eightfold.

with these hands
Annual holiday sales in the U.S. amount to more than $200 billion—and there’s no telling how much of the product ends up on the curb. Memorable holiday gifts don’t have to cost a lot of money—and they don’t have to have to consume much in the way of resources. Learn someone’s favorite tune on the piano, promise a month’s worth of back rubs, or issue a snow-shoveling voucher.

multitasking
Though upgrading office equipment means contributing to the landfill, every opportunity to buy is an opportunity to buy greener. Consider replacing single-purpose office equipment with a multifunction system.According to Xerox, an office copier, two printers, and a fax machine use 1,070 kWh of electricity per year; in contrast, one multifunction machine capable of doing all these jobs would use 800 kWh over the same period.

ghosts of christmas presents
With a little planning, you can reduce the heaps of ribbon and wrapping paper left behind on Christmas morning. Reusable gift boxes and bags deliver cheer again and again, and some attractive boxes are gifts in their own right. Those with dainty fingers can try to carefully unwrap the gifts they receive so they can “regift” the paper.

easy does it
Steady, gradual acceleration boosts your car’s fuel economy—according to the federal EPA, eliminating “jackrabbit” starts can reduce fuel use up to 20 percent. So put away those NASCAR fantasies and keep yourself a little safer while you’re at it.

cleaner gold
For all its popularity, gold remains a nasty metal to dig and refine. “The process is hugely destructive and wasteful,” says The New York Times, relying on land-scarring open-pit mining, and on cyanide to remove the metal from the ore. Buy antique jewelry from estate dealers or select baubles fashioned from recycled gold.do your part: Information on recycled gold jewelry is available online at http://www.greenkarat.com/ and http://www.leberjeweler.com/.

chocolate without guilt
While organic chocolate doesn’t metabolize like a stalk of celery, at least it leaves a light footprint on the environment. Green & Black’s, the first organic dark chocolate, is made from cocoa grown in Belize by independent farmers, not plantations, and without harmful chemicals.

batteries not included
By one estimate, 40 percent of all batteries are sold during the holiday season. You can help reduce that number; don’t ask for or purchase gifts that need them.Batteries contain mercury, cadmium, and lead; nearly three billion are thrown away each year.