Earth Day! 8 Things I'm doing and you can too!

In my opinion, everyday should be earth day. Its funny, I used to give my friend Cazi a bunch of crap about his sudden reformation to being green. I believe over the past year I've slowly have learned that it only makes sense to go "green." I don't necessarily believe in Global Warming, or that the melting of the icecaps are going to destroy us all, but I believe in the reduction of the dependence on oil, and the using reusable items that decrease my addition to the landfills.

Think Globally, Act Locally. Over the past year I've started to act locally, even as local as my own home. And everything I've done is easy and inexpensive, and makes only common sense that everyone would want to do the same.

1. Stop using bottled water. Buying bottled water is ridiculous. A Costco package of 24 bottles comes shrink wrapped in plastic around cardboard, then the one serving bottles are plastic. I've seen people go through two or three bottles. Why? Because its "healthy" or "convenient?" A little over a year ago Cazi turned me on to Camelbak Water Bottles. These bottles are made out of lexan plastic, it's non-porous and doesn't change the way the water tastes like and doesn't allow for the spread of bacteria like refilling normal bottles can. I've found since owning one that I drink more water per day than I ever have. I refill my bottle 4-5 times a day at work, thats around 15 cups of water per day. So I urge you, don't buy bottled water, buy a reusable bottle and refill it from the tap or purchase an inline filter or Britta system.

2. Change out regular light bulbs with compact fluorescents. Ideally the LED bulbs are the best but I cant see paying $30+ dollars per bulb. I've replaced all my bulbs in my house with CFLs. Even the ones in the vanity stip in the bathrooms. They even look like the normal bulbs. Example of power savings: I have a vanity strip in the bathroom that has 8 bulbs. Previously there were 120watt bulbs making it 960watts/hour. Say I had those lights on for a half-hour a day for a year, thats 175,200 watts/year. With my 7 watt CFLs I would use 1,278 watts a year. ITS A NO BRAINER. why waste the electricity? If not for enviromental reasons, then for money reasons. In addition to the above savings on energy costs, the average life of a CFL is between 8 and 15 times that of incandescents.

3. Bring re-usable totes to the grocery store. Ive bought about 8 of these bags at a buck each. So what am I preventing with my $8 investment?

• The raw material of plastic bags is oil. Therefore, the more we use plastic bags, the more we waste oil - a non-renewable energy source.
• The petroleum-based plastic bags take decades to break down, so if they are not recycled they litter. It creates visual pollution: in the streets, on the beaches etc. Also, they can clog roadside drains, which could cause street flooding during heavy rainfall.
• Plastic bags can be recycled but it rarely happens: according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, only 1% of plastic bags were recycled in 2000, against twenty percent for paper bags.
• They endanger wildlife and particularly sea life such as sea turtles and dolphins which can die of entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion because they assume that these bags are jellyfish

Whats more that I like about these reusable shopping bags is that I tend to put more in them. They are super strong and the handles don't cut off blood flow when I try to carry all the bags in to the kitchen in one trip. I challenge you all to switch to these reusable bags.

4. Recycle. Since moving to my new house, I've started recycling. I bought two blue trashcans, one for home and one for work, and started saving bottles and cans. I've encouraged my cooworkers to not throw away their soda cans and to use by blue can. Ive had it only a few weeks and its overflowing. I've since gone paperless at work and a coworker and I setup a paper only trash can that when full will be recycled rather than just thrown in the trash. The trash company gives us 3 cans. Why not use em.

5. Use bamboo whenever possible. Bamboo grows so quickly, the root system isn't damaged by harvesting and it's so plentiful -- "For a lumber harvester, the yield can be 25 times what you'd get from regular ol' trees" -- growing it is really green. My cutlery organizer is made from bamboo. My sheets are also made from bamboo, they are crazy soft.

6. Look everywhere for a green alternative. I use Seventh Generation trashbags. I bought a doormat made from recycled tires from wal mart. I bought High Efficiency front loading washer and dryer that uses a third of the electricity and gas. I had a tankless water heater installed instead of a normal hot water heater also only using a third of gas of what a normal hot water heater uses. I participated in Earth Hour and turned off all my lights and electronics.

7. Read the "Green" blogs frequently. I read several blogs frequently learning about sustainability and ecofriendly things to do. Check out my frequently read blogs:

• Treehugger.com
• Re-nest.com
• Ecorazzi.com

8. Call your Representative or Senator and ask them to enact tough and fair climate change legislation.

Think about it, being green is just common sense.