Going "green" can mean different things to different people. However, going green typically means that you're adopting environmentally sustainable lifestyle practices, which can range from using alternative modes of transportation to your patterns of energy use in your home to your purchasing tactics at local grocery stores, supermarkets and farmers markets. Going green not only reduces your ecological footprint, it can also save you money, according to the Worldwatch Institute.
Commute By Foot or Bike
Living close to where you work, even close enough to walk or bicycle to work, is an important and effective way to reduce your carbon footprint and go green. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, walking, biking or taking public transit to work twice a week can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by 1,600 lbs. per year. The EPA recommends that you save up your shopping trips and errands so that you drive fewer times, and that you should ask your employers if you can work from home at least some days of the week, if possible, to reduce air pollution and traffic congestion and save you money. Choosing to live close to where you work makes for the easiest and most ecologically sustainable commute possible, and you get the added benefit of physical activity too. Walking to and from work--instead of sitting in gridlocked traffic, inhaling other commuters' fumes--is a great way to reduce your stress levels and maximize your free time.
Buy Locally Produced, Organic Food
Buying locally produced, organic food is a constructive and healthy way to go green. According to LocalHarvest.org, cheap energy and agricultural subsidies promote a system of industrial agriculture destroying soils, polluting water, weakening the social fabric of American society, making peolple sick and concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few corporations. Buying locally produced, organic foods helps you promote local growers and ecologically sustainable farming practices; practices that consider the impact of current farming techniques on the food security of future generations. Buying locally produced, organic food, especially at farmers markets, is an effective way to meet your fellow community members and learn about other ways to go green. Consider asking a local grower if you can tour their farm and learn about their sustainable farming practices or consider starting a garden of your own.
Insulate House
The U.S. Department of Energy states that heating and cooling constitutes 50 percent to 70 percent of the energy used in the average American home, and that a lack of insulation--or no insulation at all--along with air leakages are the biggest energy drains in most homes. It's common for houses in the Northern part of the United States to have insulation, but many houses in the South lack adequate insulation and are inefficient at heating and cooling. According to the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association, NAIMA, insulating your house has a moderating effect on your indoor climate, such that it prevents extreme temperature swings, keeping your house cool in the summer and warm in the winter. As a way of going green, and as a way to help you curb energy wastage and save money, consider insulating your house with ecologically sustainable sources of insulation.
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