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.