What are some ways that I can go green and really save green ...
Reuse grocery sacks, or take tote bags to the store, so you don’t use the plastic or paper bags.
Walk or bicycle rather than drive, whenever you can. Ride the bus rather than drive.
Turn off lights in any room you’re not in.
Buy organic fruits and vegetables, to support farmers who don’t use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. Buy locally grown food whenever possible, so that the food you buy isn’t burning fossil fuels to get to market. (I don’t think I phrased it well . . . but a tomato that’s shipped 1000 miles to a supermarket burns more energy in fuel for the truck than it can supply in energy to you in the form of nutrients. There’s a huge energy deficit there. Buying locally means less fuel is burned in transport, and less pollution is in the atomosphere.)
Use vinegar rather than commercial cleaner to wash your windows and mirrors.
...It#39;s the Environment, Stupid.: The Power of the Individual
Curitiba, Brazil was one place where this succeeded. To clean up communities, former mayor of Curitiba, Jaime Lerner, instituted a “garbage purchase” program where residents of low-income areas would trade in their garbage for bus tokens or food. To reduce traffic congestion he created a bus system as efficient and frequent as the best subway systems in the world, without digging a single tunnel. (I was lucky enough to hear Mr. Lerner speak last year at The New School. He’s great!) excerpt from the article: “These days, Dr. Suzuki worries most about how people have become estranged from nature, habituated to seeing the world ‘through a fragmented lens,’ as he puts it, and oblivious to the fact that the economic abundance of the modern world depends on the health of its air, soil and water….Dr. Suzuki said he used to urge people to think globally, act locally. ‘That was a mistake,’ he says today. ‘When people think globally, they feel helpless.’” So he suggested that people do small things, on an individual level, such as using nontoxic lawn care products, in order to make a difference. We can’t underestimate the power of the individual because that power can have a great positive impact, but it can also have a very severe negative impact, especially when those larger connections aren’t grasped by the masses. Americans live in a very consumer oriented society, even when we’re a country under duress, we’re told by our fearless leader to shop. The products we buy are designed to be disposable. We don’t recycle because it’s easier just to throw things in the garbage. We think to ourselves, “so I threw the Diet Coke can in the trash. What’s one frickin’ aluminum can gonna do? I can’t be bothered, I’ve got more important things to do.” Here’s what one aluminum can means:
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