Green is in!

Everyone is talking about "going green" these days! It's everywhere, even in the Economic Stimulus package being pushed by our newly elected president. Billions of dollars are to be allocated to research and implementation of green energy. Finally, a government that makes it a priority to spend some money on much needed research in this subject. Whether or not it belongs in the stimulus package, is a whole another topic of discussion. So, back to the real topic.

The average eco footprint of a person living in the US is 9.7 hectares. The eco footprint measures the area of oceans and land required to support your lifestyle. You can measure your footprint at http://www.myfootprint.org.

My shameful result stated that if everyone lived like me, we would need 3.2 planets!! Now, I consider myself to be pretty conservative when it comes to consumption of food and energy. There are some things, though, that are hard to give up or nearly impossible. Below are a few things that I try to incorporate in my life.

Reduce, reuse and recycle:

We are just so used to certain things that they become second nature to us and we hardly give it a thought. Take grocery bags for example. Plastic grocery bags are the most ubiquitous consumer item on Earth, numbering in the trillions. Only 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled. Every year, Americans throw away about a 100 billion plastic bags after they've been used. Since these bags are made from petroleum and natural gases, that's equivalent to dumping nearly 12 million barrels of oil! So, invest (a few dollars at most) in reusable totes. Supermarkets sell these for about a buck - not much compared to the price of a barrel of oil these days. I find them to be more user friendly than the plastic bags.

Another example of such waste is paper products. We are so used to reaching for that roll of paper towel to clean up that we don't stop and think how they will end up in a landfill somewhere. Tissue paper manufacturers like Kimberly-Clark, use only 19% of recycled materials to make toilet tissues, paper napkins, towels. Due to this, about half a million acres of forests are destroyed every year in Canada alone. This action has a lot of other consequences attached to it, such as destruction of animal habitat. Consider using re-usable rags to clean up that spill before reaching for a paper towel. Micro-fiber cloths are great for cleaning around the house. They can be used with just water. This will eliminate extra chemicals from household cleaners as well! I like the Scotch-Brite cloths. I have one for cleaning glass as well. Does an excellent job with just water or a mixture of 50-50 water-vinegar solution.
These cloths can be used to replace those Swiffer cloths too. Use either dry or with a spray solution of vinegar-water to clean hard-wood floors.

Go Vegetarian:

I must admit that I was quite surprised when I came across this as a step to go green. Believe it or not, the farm animals raised for food consumption, contribute about 18% of the greenhouse gases. A cow can produce hundreds of liters of methane each day. Now I'm not going to spell it out and say how exactly that happens. Use your imagination! Methane is 23 times as powerful a global warming gas as carbon dioxide. A vegetarian lifestyle has other purposes as well as religious ones. If you can't go vegetarian, reduce the consumption of meat.

Also, the following little things help in a big way:

- Turn off that faucet. Water consumption is fast becoming an issue as big as carbon. Also, replacing leak faucets, installing low-flow shower-heads helps. Low-flow faucets reduce water consumption and the cost of heating water by as much as 50 percent; using a low-flow toilet can save Americans 2.1 trillion gallons of water and $11.3 million nationwide every day.
- Turn down the thermostat by just one degree.
- Unplug small appliances when not in use. Even when turned off, items like your television, computer, and cellphone charger still sip power.
- Install compact fluorescent bulbs in all your home light fixtures, but remember, compact fluorescents contain mercury, so look for low-mercury models and be sure to dispose of old bulbs safely through your local hazardous waste program.
- Dry your clothes outside when possible. I also have a line in my basement to dry clothes.

There are a lot of things out there, some too radical for my taste, to live a greener life. The things I listed above are the everyday things that I go through and try to consciously follow. I hope these tips help you go green!