Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Five Free Ways to Reduce Carbon Footprints
 
      My sustainable living seminar attendees frequently comment that the information on reducing carbon footprints is confusing and they have all but given up trying to make changes. They complain that the suggestions they read are expensive and ask for free if not low cost ways to help our Earth. I agree installing solar panels and even replacing all your light bulbs with LED lights can be costly. Here are some cost free suggestions that reduce carbon footprints and will save you money! As you reap the savings perhaps switch your light bulbs to LED lights in one room per month.  
 
1) Each time you place an order to be shipped to you, ask the shipper to tuck your packing slip inside the box and not in a pouch on the outside of the box. Those pouches take years to biodegrade. There are over a million packages shipped each day. Eliminating these pouches is a huge overall reduction of paper and plastic. This one small step also reduces the precious energy used to manufacture the pouches as well as the fuel to ship them from the factory to the store. 
 
2) Stop using Styrofoam plates and cups. They do not biodegrade and are one of the biggest contributors to toxins in our landfills. Forgo using paper plates or plastic eating utensils as well. Although it is a bit of a hassle, take washable plates, silverware and cups to picnics or get togethers. Use only washable eating plates, glasses and utinsils  when you entertain at home. The holiday season is not far off and millions of people buy paper plates, plastic utinsils and paper cups to entertain as Mother Earth sheds another tear over the waste. Perhaps hire a high school student the night of your party and have her wash dishes as guests bring them to the kitchen. Whatever it takes but invest in reuseable dinnerware. You will save money down the road.     
 
3)  Use washable glasses in the bathroom and save the money buying paper cups. Plus they save landfill space, the energy used for manufacturing them, the paper used to box them and fuel for shipping. If even one million people stop tossing bathroom cups in the landfills each day, it reduces waste by a staggering 360 million cups per year. Now extend that by the 300 million residents of the United State for a total yearly savings of around 100 billion bathroom cups each year. Takes your breath away doesn't it?  Ten years from now it has saved over 10 trillion cups from finding their way to the landfill.
 
4)  Rather than spending money on paper napkins, buy washable cloth napkins. See the above numbers for the number of napkins kept out of the landfills if each person would switch to cloth napkins. Likewise invest in a few washable, reuseable towels like the Mary Moppins Swifter towels. Use them in place of paper towels in the kitchen. It saves you over $30 a year buying paper towels, reduces landfill waste, the fuel used for shipping them and energy used to manufacture them plus the plastic used to wrap them.  
 
5) Buy concentrated cleaners. On my website http://www.goclean.com/greenregister.php you can read the astonishing waste racked up by "ready to use" cleaners and how they affect the entire eco-system. Sign up to be a Mary Moppins Greener Cleaner and you will also receive a copy of my practical guide to convert your home into a healthy place to live - free of toxins.   
 
You have now walked far more gently on Mother Earth and saved a nice chuck of money doing it. Going green feels great doesn't it? Gee even the air smells fresher with less toxins being emited from the paper manufacturing plants and all for making just a few small changes.
 
Can one person make a difference? You bet you can especially when you share this with others. It takes each of us making small contributions to make a huge impact on the future of our lives and the life of Mother Earth.
 
This article may only be copied giving proper credit to Mary Findley and her website Mary Moppins www.goclean.com. copyright @2010 all rights reserved world wide.