50 Earth Day Tips 1. Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)
CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. If every family in the U.S. made the switch, we’d reduce carbon dioxide by more than 90 billion pounds! 2. Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer. Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment. 3. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. 4. Install a programmable thermostat Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill. 5. Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases. Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most efficient models. If each household in the U.S. replaced its existing appliances with the most efficient models available, we’d eliminate 175 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year! 6. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
You’ll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. 7. Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year) instead of hot. 8. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible. You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year. 9. Turn off electronic devices you’re not using. Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you’re not using them will save you thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year. 10. Unplug electronics from the wall when you’re not using them Even when turned off, things like hairdryers, cell phone chargers and televisions use energy. In fact, the energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year! 11. Only run your dishwasher when there’s a full load and use the energy-saving setting You can save 100 pounds of carbon dioxide per year. 12. Insulate and weatherize your home
Properly insulating your walls and ceilings can save 25% of your home heating bill and 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Caulking and weather-stripping can save another 1,700 pounds per year. 13. Be sure you’re recycling at home
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates. 14. Buy recycled paper products. It takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide. 15. Plant a tree. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%. 16. Get a home energy audit. Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your energy bill and 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year 17. Switch to green power. In many areas, you can switch to energy generated by clean, renewable sources such as wind and solar. 18. Buy locally grown and produced foods. The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community. 19. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen. Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce. 20. Seek out and support local farmers markets. They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. 21. Buy organic foods as much as possible. Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere! 22. Avoid heavily packaged products. You can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%. 23. Eat less meat. Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath. 24. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible.
Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! 25. Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates. Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. 26. Keep your car tuned up. Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere. 27. Check your tires weekly to make sure they’re properly inflated. Proper inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference! 28. When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle. You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid! 29. Try car sharing. Need a car but don’t want to buy one? Community car sharing organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance and insurance 30. Try telecommuting from home. Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the number of miles you drive every week. 31. Fly less.
Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. You can also offset your air travel by investing in renewable energy projects. 32. Don't let the water run while shaving or brushing teeth. 33. Take short showers instead of tub baths. 34. Keep drinking water in the refrigerator instead of letting the faucet run until the water is cool. 35. Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads. 36. Repair all leaks (a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons a day). 37. Water the lawn or garden during the coolest part of the day (early morning is best). 38. Water plants differently according to what they need. Check with your local extension service or nurseries for advice. 39. Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only – not the street or sidewalk. 40. Use soaker hoses or trickle irrigation systems for trees and shrubs. 41. Keep your yard healthy - dethatch, use mulch, etc. 42. Sweep outside instead of using a hose. 43. Turn off your computer monitor, printers, copy machines, and the lights when they are not being used. 44. If possible, take the stairs instead of using the elevator. 45. Buy recycled content, remanufactured, and recyclable office products, and recycle them when appropriate (including e-cycling electronics). At a minimum, buy recycled paper and recycle it again. 46. Clean Out Your Files and recycle papers you no longer need. Many organizations sponsor cleaning weeks; check with your office management staff. 47. Use spell check and proofread before you print or copy. Print double sided whenever possible. Minimize the amount of paper you use. 48. Buy reusable office supplies instead of disposable supplies. 49. Set up an area to store and exchange reusable office supplies, such as binders 50. Recycle fluorescent bulbs properly to prevent hazardous mercury from entering the environment. |