How are you green?

[gypsystar]

I've been trying to go more green this year and I'm on the lookout for suggestions on how to do it!

We've switched to the squiggly bulbs and I'm planning on buying some reusable shopping bags but I know there are tons of other ways to 'go green'.

Of course, I am saving the rainforest with my little green patch on facebook too :P!

So how are you green?

[lauren grier]

woo for green lol

hm...
I'm a veg
I buy all local and/or organic foods
I use organic/natural cleaning products & personal care products (ok.. except deoderant :D I haven't found a good one lol)
I use cloth grocery bags
I don't have a car :D :D :D that counts right lol
I have the twisty lightbulbs
um.. I dunno I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking about lol

[scrapperjade]

This is what we do at our house:

use the squiggly lightbulbs in all our lights in the house & outside.
re-use plastic bags (ziplocs, bags from the grocery store that you put your veggies in, bread bags, etc)
re-usable shopping bags
recycle anything that can be (pop bottles/cans, juice boxes, cardboard, glass, plastic, newspaper
use biodegradable/earth friendly cleaning products (I only have 1 so far, but want to make my own when my commercial stuff runs out)

[Micheline Lincoln]

I recycle everything(my blue box guy hates my house LOL)
I do not use plastic grocery bags I use the re-usable ones :)
Got twisty lightbulbs
and turn off the lights if I don't need them on(open the curtains inside)

[ShawnaMama]

I try and be as green as pssible too...

*I use the twistie bulbs
*I try and use grey water for thing like watering plants, washing cars and instead of running water to rinse my dishes I just fill the sink and rinse them that way.
*I breastfeed (Is that green or just crunchy?)
*I use cloth diapers
*I use cloth grocery bags...or reuse the paper ones.
*I buy local fruit and produce
*I try to walk, ride bikes or ride the bus as much as possible.
*We recylce
*I make some of my kid's clothes and try and buy second hand for all of us

I'm sure there's more but that's just off the top of my head!

[Paula]

At our house, we:

1. Use the squiggly bulbs
2. Use cloth grocery bags
3. Buy organic food
4. Turn off the water when we brush our teeth
5. Recycle everything that can be recycled including our batteries
6. Use biodegradable cleaning supplies
7. Make compost for our gardening
8. Don't leave the lights on and we also turn our computers off every night
9. Try to walk/ride our bikes wherever we can
10. Have a vegetable garden
11. Can food every chance I get
12. Re-use boxes for storage by covering them with paint or cute contact paper
13. Don't have AC to use in the summer

[ditzyscrap]

Umm...we have SOME squiggly light bulbs.

And on warm days I keep the windows open as much as possible so I don't have to turn on the a/c yet (we set up our windows so that we get a nice breeze going through the house even when it's not really windy out).

We insulated our place a lot to keep the heat from escaping, so I guess that helps a little, lol...it was mostly to save money on heating, but if we spend less money on heating that means we're using up less gas, right?

My hubby and kids are HORRIBLE at this, but when I'm not in a room, I try to remember to turn the lights off. If the kids or DH are home, though...the lights are on in ALL the rooms...makes me crazy. I am trying to get them to do better though!

And we reuse plastic bags. And recycle pop cans. There is NOWHERE to recycle cardboard, plastics, etc here...and even if there was my DH would never go for it, he's too lazy. He'd rather just toss it than figure out which can in needs to go in. Ugh.

[Stacey42]

We have squiggly lightbulbs in some places. The lighting they give doesn't work well in some rooms in our house.
We turn off lights & things.
We have a ground exchange heat pump which saves electricity
We have an underground house which saves heating & cooling (half the year, it's faced exactly the wrong way to get year round efficiency, but the view is better this way)
Starting next week we'll be driving a lot less
We have reuseable grocery bags & reuse the plastic ones
We buy locally -organic or not
We just got a much more energy efficient washer & dryer
Take reuseable water/juice bottles with us when we are out
Use recycled paper plates or washable ones when having cookouts or parties
They don't have the recycling bins in the county anymore, but when we could recycle bottles,cans, paper etc, we did.

[Heather Roselli]

We recycle everything we can. A year or so ago we went from filling up our garbage can to overflowing to literally having just one kitchen size bag of trash in there each week! We recycle paper, plastic, metal, cardboard, glass, etc. We are also switching to the squiggly lightbulbs as ours burn out. I've got the AC on, but I've set the thermostat up a couple of degrees - that helps, right?! ;)

[stayawake]

I try to think green, and make greenish decisions when possible. This thread is giving me some new ideas!

squiggly lightbulbs for us too...
we also use cloth bags (most of the time)
didn't have a car until a month ago, but still bus, carpool, walk etc. most of the time
grow some of our own vegetables
eat local produce/meat when possible (big lover of farmers markets, buy beef from my husbands family farm, etc.)
use phosphate free dish detergant and laundry soap (and wash with cold water when possible)
live in co-op housing (share common yard space, don't have more 'space' than is necessary, conjoined housing saves energy, etc.)
burn beeswax candles instead of parrafin
recycle what our area can recycle
buy food in bulk when possible (reducing waste)

[Brooke W]

We have the "squiggly" bulbs as you call them,lol.
We got an energy efficient heater/ac unit when it needed replacing last year, as well with the new refrigerator.
Sadly we have a local trash collector which means no recycling (and a place to do so is too far away to do it ourselves).
We try to use the cloth grocery bags as often as possible. When we forget them, the plastic bags get reused.
We wash in cold water and use concentrated detergent.
We have some of the new clorox natural home cleansers.
We try to reuse cardboard boxes for other things.
The lights are turned off in rooms that don't need them.
We always turn off the computer and copier every night before we go to bed.

[scarletsierra]

Yay for green!

We:
recycle (though our county doesn't offer it, we take it to the recycling center)
reuse as much as possible, including using cloth for cleaning
use organic/natural cleaning products and some personal care products; also use natural/organic gardening supplies
wash clothes in cold water
use the twisty bulbs
shop the local farmers market
use reusable shopping bags
try to conserve our lights and gas

[FireWolf]

we recycle paper, glass and plastic (paper even gets picked up by the trash company once per month)
we don't drink out of cans (rarely even buy soda)
energy saving bulbs throughout the house
trash is separated (biodegradable in one can, everything else in the other...trash company picks up on alternating weeks and we only do 1 of each per month or less)
buy food in bulk.
we use "green" energy (we have the option of choosing for green with the utility company)
use reusable grocery bags (paper bags are not even an option in the stores here and if you want plastic, they charge you for the bag)
No A/C although that is not by choice....it's just not a common thing here

[juliemarie]

Recycle everything that we can
Buy in bulk so there's less wasteful packaging
Parked my pick up truck, driving it only when necessary to haul something, and bought a car that gets more than double the mpg for everyday driving.
buy locally raised meat
Don't use any antibacterial products with Triclosan
Don't use anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup (although I suppose that's crunchy not green)
I don't believe in paper plates LOL
Use eco-friendly cleaning & laundry products

[juliemarie]

I use organic/natural cleaning products & personal care products (ok.. except deoderant :D I haven't found a good one lol)

Have you tried this (http://www.amazon.com/Naturally-Fresh-Liquid-Deodorant-Crystal/dp/B000KHIIIO) Lauren? I was quite surprised how well it worked :)

[girlflies]

-no plastic bags
-cloth daipered both kids
-only non-biodegradable soaps or chemical cleaners of any kind for housekeeping or laundry (that was my winter project)
eading more labels and consuming more locally and more 'mindfully' than I used to!

[lauren grier]

Have you tried this (http://www.amazon.com/Naturally-Fresh-Liquid-Deodorant-Crystal/dp/B000KHIIIO) Lauren? I was quite surprised how well it worked :)

no I haven't.. does it help with the sweat too ? (this is such a gross post lmao). That's the main problem I've found.. I'll smell all fine and dainty.. but I'll be all drippy lmao -- which is equally disgusting :D :D

[Angela Spangler]

I bought natural dish soap and natural kitchen cleaner. Plus I have the bulbs, but unfortunately, they're not easy to dispose of. They contain chemicals in them that are not supposed to go in the trash. Nice.

[Susan Bartolini]

A note on the CFL Light bulbs. We use them, however, they are a bit dangerous if broken. I found that out the hard way. They contain Mercury....yes, mercury....which is very dangerous for children and pregnant women. If they break, there is a strict protocol to follow for disposal and clean up. Of course, I didn't know that and am sure I contaminated my kids. But now, I just don't use them in table lamps that can be knocked over and broken. Here is a PDF from EnergyStar (http://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/promotions/change_light/downloads/Fact_Sheet_Mercury.pdf) with disposal recommendations.

Other than that, we:

1. Use re-useable cloth bags for groceries.
2. Non-triclosan hand soap (Method products at Target are great).
3. Wash most clothes on cold.
4. Use a programmable thermostat.
5. Try to do errands in one big trip (as opposed to running the car/gas all over the place)
6. Shop at Costco as much as possible to reduce packaging.
7. Buy LOCAL food as much as possible.
8. Buy only organic chicken, meat and milk and then try to get as much of our other food as we can organic.
9. Turn off lights and unplug plugs (like a phone charger) when not in use.

That's about it...

This is a great thread with awesome ideas.

Susan

[uptowngirl]

Great topic b/c I am always trying to find more ways to be GREEN!! I was doing really well starting last year after watching a few programs about it and realized ugh, we totally suck and need to change. She we started small but were trying to move on up with stuff. Well, once we moved in with my parents it all changed b/c unfortunately they have no desire to be green at all. My dad goes thru about a roll and a half of paper towels a day! They leave water running. The go grocery shopping like eveyday and have about 2000 plastic bags frm these trips. Plus more.
I am trying to get them to change but it is hard to get the old folks to change... especially my parents!! Wish me luck and any advice would be fabulous on how I can get them to change!

[nonnie]

Buy Local - at the farmers market
Only have one car - When I start up classes (AGAIN) I will take the bus
Reusable grocery bags
Squiggly light bulbs
I would like to say that we turn lights off - but I have teenagers - that is a pipe dream
Buy Organic -
recycle everything

[EveRecinella]

We eat mostly organic in season food, we only eat meat a couple times a week, have energy saving bulbs, shower head, taps etc. Unplug everything at the source when not in use. We don't have a dryer or a car. I wash the cloths on cold. We use cloth shopping bags, all natural cleaners, shampoos etc. We recycle just about everything we can... that's all I can think of right now!