Well, finally, I am updating (after about a six-month interruption). My buddy Justin linked to my blog from his, Critically Acclaimed, and I am rewarding his faith in me! :)
As promised, here are five more easy steps to being nicer to the earth - they take a little more effort than the first five, but they still won't shake up your life too much.
6. Recycle whenever you can. There are so many things that can be recycled these days. We usually think of paper and bottles and cans, and that is a great place to start. Those can be broken down and turned into new versions of their old selves - new glass bottles, new aluminum cans, new paper. Plastics are a little trickier, but there are some really neat things people have been creating using recycled plastic (for example, yarn made in part from recycled bottles - more on that in a future post). Then, of course, we can look to other items that can be recycled, often by taking pieces of them and refurbishing them or breaking down the items to the core elements and recycling the parts individually. I've posted some examples before. Check out this cool site to see what else can be recycled and if there is a recycling center near you.
7. Get rid of the junk mail. Not only is this nice for the environment (less paper), it's nice for you (less annoyance!). Get yourself removed from credit card offer lists, unwanted catalogs, and other junk mail lists. When it comes to catalogs, I don't know of a single site where you can be removed from catalog lists, but what I do is visit the Web site for the store itself. There is usually a place to unsubscribe from its mailing list, or else you can find a customer service e-mail address and send them an e-mail with the request. Edit (9/21/09): I forgot about Catalog Choice. I haven't actually used this site, but it might be easier to get yourself removed from catalog lists - since it is all in one place. I've also recently started asking charities to stop sending me snail mail - I send them a polite e-mail, telling them that I support their cause but would like them to remove me from their mailing lists. I also tell them they can add me to an e-mail list if they'd like. And besides being nice for the environment and for you (see above), it's also nice for the charity because they can save some money on marketing costs.
8. Replace your bulbs. Yes, CFL bulbs contain a little bit of mercury. But almost everything I've read indicates that the energy savings outweigh the slight danger. If a CFL does break, follow the EPA's instructions for clean-up. CFL's last about 15 times longer than an incandescent bulb, which means you won't have to replace bulbs as often. I suggest replacing your old bulbs with CFLs as the old ones burn out, rather than immediately replacing all your bulbs (since that seems kind of wasteful to me, plus could get pretty expensive). CFLs can and should be recycled (The Home Depot is a good option). And hey, switching your bulbs can make you feel more European, since the EU has banned incandescent bulbs.
9. Be thoughtful about what you buy. This is one of the areas where I struggle the most, and I'm trying to be more and more mindful about my purchases. But I like my stuff! So I'm striving to...
...buy less. Do I really need all those new clothes? Or here's a big one: just because it's on sale, does that mean I should buy it? If I don't need it, I need to not buy it.
...buy used. Thrift stores and antiques are our friends. I'm a bibliophile, and I absolutely love Half Price Books - not just used, but half price! So great.
...buy recycled. If you decide that you do need an item, and you can't find a good used option, try to buy things made with recycled content. Pretty much any office supply or personal care item (toilet paper, paper towels, etc.) can be made with recycled material. Look for the percentage of recycled content on the packaging and strive for a high percentage of post-consumer content. (Post-consumer comes from a completed product that was used by consumers; pre-consumer materials are things like scraps from the manufacturing process. It's good to recycle those as well, but using post-consumer material helps keep virgin materials from being used as well as provides a use for materials collected for recycling.)
...buy recyclable/renewable. Think about what is going to happen to your item when you are finished with it. Take for example a beverage you buy at the grocery store. I try to only buy drinks that come in glass or aluminum containers, because those materials are much easier to recycle than plastic. Or look for clothing or wood items made with bamboo, which is a highly-renewable material that doesn't require pesticides to grow. There are some issues with the amount of processing bamboo has to go through to become an end product, but it is still often a good alternative to cotton and polyester fabrics or other types of wood.
10. Go for organic and/or local. I'm talking about at the grocery store here. This is particularly important for non-processed foods. (I support buying organic processed foods as well, but the processing counteracts some of the environmental benefits.) Local AND organic is the ideal, but if you have to make a choice, consider these factors. Local is probably more important for the environment - less fuel is used to get the food to you. Organic has less of an environmental impact in the area where it was grown, and since it is grown without chemicals or pesticides, those chemicals don't end up in your body. There is debate about whether organic food is actually more nutritious than conventionally-grown food (see this article from the Seattle Times), but that's not really the point. As long as they are equally nutritious, then I think organic is the better option, because I'd rather keep the chemicals out of me whenever possible.
