Sustainable Changes

In many ways, we are still armchair environmentalists. We’ve made several easy changes, but haven’t taken it up a notch to the next level. We need to. I know we should join the 90% reduction movement. This page is a list of our changes, and I created it in part to keep us motivated towards the next stage. But maybe you’ll find an idea or two that’s easy for you to implement.

I honestly believe the waste, the misuse of our resources and a variety of other factors, are making our national and world outlook bleak. All civilizations have a turning point, and we are clearly at ours. We have caused damage that is unrepairable. In many ways, our small family’s conservation effort is to help us adjust early to when peak oil hits the marketplace in full force.

This is also a moral issue. Dominion implies Stewardship, not simply Domination.  In America, we have such abundance and we often overlook the rest of the world who deals with water or other environmental issues everyday. If you tithe in your church (and even if you don’t), think about starting a tithe for creation - reduce your emission, trash, etc. by 10%. It’s a start.

List of Changes/Things we do

(this list is in progress and just what I could think of in a 10 minute brainstorm – more to come)

1. Hang the laundry
2. Brought in hand towel to work to eliminate need for paper towels
3. Switched to handkerchiefs over Kleenex
4. Re-use baggies if just something like bread was in it
5. Bike/Bus is primary transport vehicle
6. Turned water heater down to 120 degrees
7. Insulated water heater (it’s old and not efficient at all)
8. Keep AC/Heat at 78 in summer, 60 in winter
9. Turn off lights if not in room (see this Mythbusters episode)
10. When our light bulb supply ran out, I switched to CFLs
11. We buy our dry goods in bulk from the local co-op to save on excess packaging
12. We use our own canvas bags at the grocery store
13. Local produce during the summer
14. Try to buy organic if company is reputable and not too expensive
15. Reduction of meat consumption
    
16. Get books/magazines from the library
17. Using tap water (Brita’s aren’t recyclable in the U.S.)
18. Switching to online bill pay whenever possible
19. Switched from strip-mined clay based cat litter to corn-based (World’s Best Cat Litter)
20. Unplugged electronics that weren’t in use, but using up energy telling us the time (Microwave, stereo…)
21. Recycling glass, tin and aluminum, plastic #1 and #2, and household paper
22. Trying not to buy convenience foods if they come in non-recyclable containers (ie: fresh pre-grated parm cheese in the plastic #6 container bad, parm cheese in a block better)
23. Take the stairs rather than the elevator
24. Use revolving doors if an option (saves up to 75% of heat loss compared to standard doors)
25. Wearing clothes twice before washing if smells fine/not dirty
26. Wash clothes in cold water (except the sheets, I’ve got dust allergies)
27. Turning the TV off when there’s “nothing” on
28. Reset computer energy saving mode so it goes on much faster if I’m away