Partly, yes, but I've come up with a few easy suggestions to follow that you may not have considered.
1. Buy Used Books
Don't be afraid of the word 'used'. I know, used books don't have that same "new book" smell and the pages aren't as exciting and crisp to turn - but other than that, a book you buy at Barnes and Noble tells the same story as the one you buy at a used book shop, from a friend, or even online.
- If a friend recommends a book, ask if you could borrow it when they are finished.
- Check out the used books available on websites such as Amazon, you'll be surprised at how cheap they really are. I brought one a couple of weeks ago for under $5.00, shipping included.
- Please, please see if you can find a used book store in your area. These places are actually really neat, and trust me, you'll feel special shopping there. Many of them are really suffering because of the lack of customers, so you'll not only be saving trees, but you'll be helping local businesses.
Speaking of "saving trees" - how much merit does this argument actually have? Trees can be regrown, right? So what's the big deal?
Cutting down large quantities of trees to manufacture paper occurs at a faster rate than the amount of time is take for trees to fully regrow. Sure, over time forests can regrow, but for ecosystems with an abundance of trees, attaining a proper climax community can take hundreds of years.
Some interesting websites:
http://www.ecstaticrelations.com/booksintotrees/
http://www.rain.org/~mkummel/stumpers/02feb01a.html
2. Eat InNot only is buying a few weeks worth of food at a grocery store cheaper, healthier, and more efficient than eating out, it is also a better decision in regards to the environment. What's wrong with eating out?
- Fast food stores require a huge amount of energy to process, store, and produce the foods that they offer. This includes the production of tremendous amounts of dangerous emissions - CO2 from factories and delivery trucks, and an alarming amount of methane from the overabundance of cows in dairy farms and slaughter houses (believe it or not, cows have a major impact on global warming).
- Fast food trash makes up a very large percentage of the total amount of liter produced on a daily basis. This includes paper cups, plastic cups, napkins, straws, plastic wraps, paper bags, ketchup packets, and more - many of which is not properly recycled. I could go into a huge rant about how much litter is actually in this world (some of your houses are likely built above previous dumb sites), the north pacific gyre, and dangerous wastes that end up in less developed countries, but that's for a later time...
Anyway, compare this to eating at home - grabbing a bagel with cream cheese and an apple for breakfast as opposed to getting a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit with an iced coffee; healthier, cheaper, and need I say less detrimental to the environment.
3. Turn off the Television and Unplug
I won't go into how over 90% of the things on T.V. are completely useless, but the important thing to note here is how so many people leave their televisions on when they're not being watched - I know I used to be guilty of this, I would leave the television on all day as a child just to have some background noise because I was afraid of being at home by myself. I could have just as easily turned on the radio, played piano, or gone outside. I know a lot of people that still do this today - they have the television on constantly. One of the largest energy users in your house is the television, along with the washing/drying machines and the fridge.
Unplugging appliances that are not in use can also greatly reduce the amount of energy being used, and your monthly bill. Many appliances, even when turned off, are still using energy just by being plugged in.
- Go around your house and see if you can find any lamps, power strips, radios, or other appliances that you rarely use and unplug them.
- Turn off the TV when not in use, or try to find alternative ways to entertain yourself.
- If you go on a long vacation, unplug everything in your house - trust me, you'll notice a difference in your energy bill.
-Don't leave lights on, either - and if you're going to turn them off, make sure you are ready to do so as simply turning on a light takes 10 times the energy used in comparison to the light just being on.
I'll keep the rest short:
4. Paper Nor Plastic - Plastic bags and paper bags alike are both detrimental to the environment, although if you had to chose, go paper. The better idea is to get tote bags (they can now be brought in almost any store) and take those with you when you go shopping. Keep some in the backseat of your car so you always have them handy. Or, if you buy something that you can easily carry to your car or home, just do that.5. Sprinklers at Night - Watering and turning on sprinklers for your lawn during the day isn't very beneficial. To put it simply - when the sun is out, more water is evaporated and less gets into the soil where it can be used by the plants. Watering at night, or once the sun has gone down, greatly increases the amount of water that actually ends up being used by the grasses and plants in your lawn.
6. Open Windows, Use Blinds - you can keep your house cool by opening windows as opposed to having the AC on. If it's too hot in the house, use your shades to prevent sunlight from entering.
7. Recycle - Seriously, just do it - it's not that hard.
So, there you have it. Even if you couldn't care less about the environment, we all want to save money. Following these steps can help you save a good deal, and don't require much effort.
Recommended site: http://www.firstchoicepower.com/save-green/no-cost-savings.html
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Wildlife of the Day: Pronghorn
Interesting facts:
- Fastest 'new world' land mammal (55 mph)
- Don't jump
- Live in grasslands
- Endangered due to fencing and hunting
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