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Tips For Living Green

Our tips for living green section will cover everything you need to know if you plan to join in the greening the earth movement. Doing a few of these things is better than doing none, doing a lot soon becomes a pleasant habit and you want to do them all. It truly does help to at least become aware of some of the problems our world is facing, and then, one little step at a time, become a part of the solution. It truly is impossible to study green living and not come away with a different point of view. You will begin to make small changes in the way you look at things, these changes feel good and you make more.

Before we get into the tips for green living lets discuss some of the key terms that are going to be used. We want to start thinking green by seeing everyday things in a slightly different way.

Water : Did you know that only 3% of the earths water is freshwater? All the rest is saltwater. You may have know that, I'm pretty sure it was taught in school. You may not know, however, only 20% of the earths population has running water and more than one billion people do not have access to clean water.

Paper : Paper is made primarily from wood pulp and water. Why is this important? Paper is the most common form of waste in the world. More efforts are being made to recycle paper and that's good, but the process used for recycling still uses large amounts of energy. Using less paper means saving trees, energy, water and the chemicals used in manufacturing. Trees need to be protected for many obvious reasons like preventing erosion and absorbing carbon from the air.

Landfills : Landfills are where we take our trash and unused junk. They can, under many different circumstances, create problems for the air we breath and the water we drink. One possible solution to the landfill problems is not putting so much stuff into them.

Recycling : Putting less stuff into landfills requires recycling. Recycling reduces the need for raw materials to replace these items and it reduces the amounts of trash in the landfills.

e-waste : Our new love of, and reliance on, electronic products has brought about a new kind of waste with new risks involved. The chemicals and hazardous materials found in electronics are one of the biggest causes of landfill water and air pollution.

Renewable Resources : Renewable resources are those that regenerate such as trees, sunlight, water and wind. While renewable resources will never run out, some do however, need to be replenished.

Nonrenewable Resources : Nonrenewable resources have, for all practical purposes, a limited supply. Included in this group are energy sources such as oil, natural gas and coal. These types of energy sources are considered non-sustainable, meaning it is possible to someday run out of them.

Waste : Anything we don't want becomes waste. It can be material like rubbish, garbage, trash and junk. Waste comes in different forms and should be disposed of in different ways. There are the biodegradable types, the stuff that can be recycled, the stuff that needs special handling and the stuff that still has use in the hands of a new owner.

Plastic : The latest rage is all about plastic, all of those senseless plastic water bottles filling up our landfills. Plastic is a petroleum product meaning it is made from a non-sustainable source. Plastics made from PVC are known to release toxic fumes when burned and lead to water pollution when buried in landfills. It is true that plastic containers can be recycled but are we all making that kind of effort?

Pollution : Simply put, pollution is when harmful substances are released into the environment. Pollutants can cause diseases and illnesses capable of making us sick and even killing us.

Kilowatt-hours (kWh) : This is how your electric use is measured. Chances are, the more electricity you use the more coal had to be burned to produce it. Burning coal is a huge source of air pollution and a contributor to global warming.

Now we know some of the terms, in a new way, understanding these tips for living green should be a little easier. Since we all love to shop, or at least some of us, lets stat there.

landfill It is probably no surprise that the United States is the world's top consumer nation. We spend about four trillion dollars per, year shopping on average, twenty four minutes a day. We shop till we drop without a care for what will ever become of all this stuff. This stuff has to go somewhere when it's no longer new to us and we don't want it any more.

If you are an average American you produce 4.54 pounds of trash everyday. Over a year this adds up to 1,657 pounds. That's a lot of trash and most of it winds up in over crowded landfills. A lot can be said about trash, and the excessive amount of it, so I will keep it simple and to the point. The world produces more than 1.5 trillion tons of solid waste every year. The United States ships it's excess waste to foreign countries. More than half the electronics imported into the U.S. are exported out to third would countries as trash. Now we can talk about shopping and hopefully begin to look at it in a new way.

Shopping tips for living green

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