9 Things You Can Do To Lessen Your Environmental Impact (part 3)

...continued from yesterday's post

Happy Earth Day!  The countdown continues with the number one thing that we can do to Go Green, have fun, and save money.

1)  Grow your own
Even those of us with the blackest of thumbs can have our own beautiful, sustainable, and rewarding gardens.

Plant greens to save green and help the environment with:

• Less chemicals in the environment:  Most farms use hazardous pesticides, herbicides, and engineered fertilizers.  Although I'm not as paranoid as some about the possible risk of consuming these types of things, when the crops are rinsed, all this gross stuff is flushed into the water system.
• Waste reduction:  Grow your own and you don't need any of that annoying packaging.  Obviously, this will help preserve valuable landfill space.
• Emission Reduction:  As discussed earlier, supermarket produce often travels very far before making it into your kitchen, burning a lot of gas and rubber.

In addition, it'll reduce your food costs, lower stress levels, improve the nutritional value of your meals, and make you look cool.

I promise, it's easier than you think, and it can pay for itself after a few months.  Even for those of us with very limited space can have some super herbs and veggies using hydroponics.  This weekend's Groupon* features City Hydroponic (save over $51-$94) with locations in Bronx and Brooklyn, which offer free hydroponic growing classes.  Even if you're not nearby, they offer shipping and their super knowledgeable staff are happy to answer any of your gardening questions.

*yup, another shameless plug

9 Things You Can Do To Lessen Your Environmental Impact (part 2)

...continued from yesterday's post

Sorry to contradict you, Kermit, but it is easy being green.  Here are 4 more things we can do in honor of Earth Day tomorrow:

5)  Don't feed the bears (or other wildlife)

I know it can be cute and fun when you have Tuppence to feed the birds, but feeding wild animals can not only be dangerous (flashback of being attacked by an angry goose when I was 7), but it can also make animals dependent upon people for food.  In the end, this will lead to starvation when people aren't around to feed 'em.  Second to offering live cobras to mongooses (mongeese?), probably the most popular violation of suggestion 5 is feeding bread to ducks and other lake fowl.  It fills their 'lil bellies quickly, but doesn't offer them any nutritional value and is harder to digest... while their tummies are full, they're not able to ingest any of the good stuff they should be eating.  This is especially harmful in the spring, when they need proper nutrition for breeding and raising their young. 

4)  Shop locally for produce

Brooklyn probably knows as well as anyone the economic and social benefits of buying local, but here are some green reasons:

• Most american produce is plucked about a week before making it to supermarket shelves, and, on average, is shipped 1,500 miles
• Smaller farms generally use more sustainable farming methods and use less heavy machinery
• Buying local puts you closer to the source, so you can ask specifics about their farming methods
• Local farms help preserve the local landscape and help the local wildlife, air, and water quality

3) Recycle!

You've heard enough about this since you were a kid, I feel silly even mentioning it - but, I'm willing to bet that only about 30% of Americans recycle regularly... and those that do may still be sending some of these items to landfills:

• Toner Cartridges
• Batteries
• Steel Containers
• Organic Material
• Oil
• Plastic forks/spoons/knives (instead of reusing them)
• Take-out food containers (maybe you could dine-in next time?)

2)  It's also cool to "precycle" - selecting products that use recycled materials and/or have minimal packaging.  Cut down on usage of disposable plastic.

9 Things You Can Do To Lessen Your Environmental Impact (part 1)

Yippee!  It's 4/20: Only 2 days left 'till Earth Day!

As a recovering tree hugger, I thought I'd share a few simple things that everyone can do to lessen their burden on the planet.  I'm not asking that you build a car out of mushrooms, liberate a poisonous snake from your local zoo, nor switch to an all recycled garbage wardrobe; over the next 3 days, I'll be sharing nine ideas that I hope you find easy and rewarding.

9)  Reduce your mail

Opt for paperless billing and save hassles, time, trees, and sometimes money (as many companies offer incentives for switching to online bill payment options).  You can also save a lot of paper from the trash by asking for a halt to junk mail by writing:

   Mail Preference Service

   Direct Marketing Association

   11 West 42nd St., PO Box 3861

   New York, NY 10163-3861

8)  Keep your tires well inflated
The US wears out over 20 million pounds of rubber from their tires weekly.  By inflating your tires every couple of weeks,  you can reduce this waste while getting better gas mileage.

7)  Switch to paperless products
Using cloth napkins instead of paper not only helps reduce waste, but makes you look fancier.  Also, use rags instead of paper towels.

6)  Get out of the house
By setting aside a couple extra hours a week to get out of the house, you can significantly lower your electricity usage while being more social and/or more fit.  Experience your city!  Scope the talent at Prospect Park, patrol the Brooklyn Bridge for jumpers, or check out Groupon* for other cool places to go/things to do.

next

*shameless plug: Although I am a little sorry, this won't be the last.

Where is this?

This is a cool little spot in Brooklyn - do you know what it's called?  Reply here, or Tweet the answer to @BK_Will_Groupon