Visit your local Farmers' Market!

There is nothing sweeter than fresh fruits and vegetables from just down the road!

There are dozens of websites out there to help too! Just Google your location and eating local, and shop away!

Enjoy the taste, I've always found local foods taste sooo much better!

Get a rain barrel

Collect water when it is abundant, and use it when you need it!

Reuse

The media has done a wonderful job of selling us on the attractiveness and benefits of buying "new", "improved", "special", etc. products. However, we already collectively own so much that we could all survive for quite a while on the existing products - if we just reused them a few times!

• Garage Sales

• Buy/Sell Used Items

• Freecycle

• Reusables: Switch from disposable to reusable products: food and beverage containers, cups, plates, writing pens, razors, diapers, towels, shopping bags, etc.

• Buy Durables: Buy products that will last and take care of them.

• Teach Thrift: Teach your children the value of being thrifty (the wise economy in the management of money and other resources; frugality).

• Frugal Printing: Use both sides of each piece of paper -- for note taking or printing documents from your computer (at home or work). Create note pads by stapling together once-used paper.

• Library

• Refurbished Computers

• Rechargeable Batteries

Make your own cleaning supplies!

The big secret :

You can make very effective, non-toxic cleaning products whenever you need them.

All you need are a few simple ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, lemon, and soap.

Making your own cleaning products saves money, time, and packaging-not to mention your indoor air quality.

Eat locally!

Do you know where your food comes from?

One study estimated that in North America, a basic meal travels 2,400 km to get to our dinner table. However, eating locally reduces the distance food needs to travel and the level of emissions and pollution released into the air before it can be put onto our tables. There is also a myriad of benefits to eating locally- not just cleaner air.

What are the benefits to eating locally?

• To begin with, a locally grown apple is fresher and has more taste than one that has traveled great distances.

• Fresher foods also contain higher levels of vitamins than food that has been imported.

• Less packaging is needed for transportation, creating less waste.

• Buying locally helps conserve precious farmlands and different wildlife habitats,
it puts you in touch with your community and local farmers, and it gives you a direct link to the land.

Unplug your appliances!

Many things in your home, from your plasma television to your simple little toaster, draw power all day
and all night just by being plugged in. According to researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory,
a typical American home has 40 appliances drawing power 'round the clock.

Together they consume 10% of residential electricity use nationwide.

Save energy with blackout curtains

Whether it's summer or winter, blackout curtains can help you save cash on cooling and heating bills
- and every bit of energy you save is a little less strain on the environment.

Recycle your pet!

Did you know that you can turn a cat into 16 birds or a dog into 22 ferrets simply by recycling them?
OK, so that's not really true; but by getting a recycled pet you can lessen the collective environmental
impact of our need for animal companions while doing something very humane to boot.

Wash in COLD water!

Water heating accounts for 90% of the energy consumption of washing machines.
You can greatly reduce the energy consumption of your washing machine by washing in cold water.
Unlike dishwashers, washing machines can clean with great results in cooler water temperatures.