I am trying to become more green. I met with Heather of KatonahGreen.com for advice. This is her guest post.
If you want to green your lifestyle, reduce your carbon footprint and that good stuff you've been hearing about, but want it to be painless, try these 5 steps to going green.
1) Awareness is the first step. Try this calculator to estimate your carbon footprint online. http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/
2) Watch a green film. That's right. I think the foundation to making lasting change is education and awareness. So for the first year of 'going green' commit to watching one film a month on my recommended films list, starting with the short National Geographic piece “Global Warming 101”, then “Food, Inc.”, then “The Story of Stuff” Check out KatonahGreen.com for more recommended films.
LINKS: National Geographic: http://www.hulu.com/watch/14833/national-geographic-environment-global-warming-101 Food, Inc. trailer: http://www.foodincmovie.com/ Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
3) Buy local lettuce. For one month, commit your salad dollars to buying only locally grown lettuce. Find out where your local farmstands and farmer's markets are and go with the intention to buy enough lettuce for the week. Try out LocalHarvest.org for listings. You'll be surprised at how much you will learn about regional agriculture and the effects of climate, water and economic issues that effect local growers. Link to image: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_RaGlGFb8eeE/SPvdZv6uYII/AAAAAAAADX0/ym9Ljy_BrrI/s512/ARUGULAastro-6014.jpg
4) Do a cost analysis on your car's monthly fuel comsumption vs. a car payment on a hybrid or smaller, more fuel-efficient car. Try this calculator: http://www.hybrid-cars.org/featured/compare-hybrid-gas-mileage
5) Stop the water bottle insanity! Install a reverse osmosis water filtration system and invest in some cool re-usable water bottles that you'll want to use. I highly recommend stainless steel bottles. How did we ever get convinced to buy water from another area of the country that often travels 1,000's of miles to get here, requiring large amounts of fuel for transportation and powering the bottle production plant, and bottling facility in order to produce a product that negatively impacts our health while screwing with our ecosystem?? In 2006 (most recent data I found)Americans threw over 22 billion water bottles into landfills! That is astounding. http://www.thegreenguide.com/food/buying/tapped-out
Once you lay the foundation for a green lifestyle, the next steps will simply evolve naturally. I promise that you will start seeing your own ways of 'going green' in every aspect of your life. By the way, Twitter and blogs are great ways of getting the latest eco-news and tips. Follow me on Twitter @katonahgreen and sign up for my blog at http://www.katonahgreen.com/
1) Awareness is the first step. Try this calculator to estimate your carbon footprint online. http://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/
2) Watch a green film. That's right. I think the foundation to making lasting change is education and awareness. So for the first year of 'going green' commit to watching one film a month on my recommended films list, starting with the short National Geographic piece “Global Warming 101”, then “Food, Inc.”, then “The Story of Stuff” Check out KatonahGreen.com for more recommended films.
LINKS: National Geographic: http://www.hulu.com/watch/14833/national-geographic-environment-global-warming-101 Food, Inc. trailer: http://www.foodincmovie.com/ Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
3) Buy local lettuce. For one month, commit your salad dollars to buying only locally grown lettuce. Find out where your local farmstands and farmer's markets are and go with the intention to buy enough lettuce for the week. Try out LocalHarvest.org for listings. You'll be surprised at how much you will learn about regional agriculture and the effects of climate, water and economic issues that effect local growers. Link to image: http://lh4.ggpht.com/_RaGlGFb8eeE/SPvdZv6uYII/AAAAAAAADX0/ym9Ljy_BrrI/s512/ARUGULAastro-6014.jpg
4) Do a cost analysis on your car's monthly fuel comsumption vs. a car payment on a hybrid or smaller, more fuel-efficient car. Try this calculator: http://www.hybrid-cars.org/featured/compare-hybrid-gas-mileage
5) Stop the water bottle insanity! Install a reverse osmosis water filtration system and invest in some cool re-usable water bottles that you'll want to use. I highly recommend stainless steel bottles. How did we ever get convinced to buy water from another area of the country that often travels 1,000's of miles to get here, requiring large amounts of fuel for transportation and powering the bottle production plant, and bottling facility in order to produce a product that negatively impacts our health while screwing with our ecosystem?? In 2006 (most recent data I found)Americans threw over 22 billion water bottles into landfills! That is astounding. http://www.thegreenguide.com/food/buying/tapped-out
Once you lay the foundation for a green lifestyle, the next steps will simply evolve naturally. I promise that you will start seeing your own ways of 'going green' in every aspect of your life. By the way, Twitter and blogs are great ways of getting the latest eco-news and tips. Follow me on Twitter @katonahgreen and sign up for my blog at http://www.katonahgreen.com/
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