Weekly Green Tip
Diaper Conscience
Babies fly through 5,000 to 8,000 diapers before using the “big kid underpants”. That’s 3.5 million TONS of waste in American landfills. Can you imagine that kind of mass? It’s nearly 2.5 million cars worth of baby waste and diapers! There are environmentally friendly versions of diapers as well as washable cloth diapers. And mothers report potty training goes much more quickly with cloth diapers because children learn to associate the behavior when they can feel wet creating their own desire to potty like a big kid.
Glass takes 1 million years to decompose. If you’re not going to wait around to see those benefits, recycle glass containers as well as broken glass (like mirrors and picture frames) to reduce glass related air pollution by 20% and water related pollution by 50%. That was easy!
When you’re checking on your goods baking in the oven, use the light not the door. Make an exception if and when you need to do a tooth-pick check on treats like cakes and brownies, but just keep the glass clean and use the light to check in on your baking items!
Save time, energy, money, AND water with this tip. Are you still washing your dishes before you wash them in the dish washer? I’ll admit that some dishwashers don’t do a great job, but most do and those that don’t may need to be replaced with a new energy and cleaning efficient one. This can save as much as 20 gallons of water my skipping the pre-wash! Scrape the bulk off and let the dishwasher do the heavy work for you and you’ll save water and energy used to heat that water as well as your own time and energy!
Save the planet and your pennies by turning off your computers at night. This is a hard one for me as well, but it is simple to get into the habit of turning them back on in the mornings while you organize and prepare for your day. Computers also have a “wake on LAN” feature if you have a computer that you only use for file and/or print sharing. Also, most household electronics don’t actually turn off when you hit the power button. Instead, they go into a standby mode. This is wasteful of electricity (and your money) and it’s easy to avoid by putting the electronics that don’t need to be in a standby mode on a powerstrip where you can turn them all completely off at once.
If every house in America replaced one incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent one, the effect would measure the same as removing one million cars from the road. Tossing all of your bulbs is wasteful, so start with those that burn out and those in areas where you have the lights on daily like your kitchen, bathroom, and porch. Don’t forget that these CF bulbs come in a large variety of styles now and come in the same shapes and sizes as traditional bulbs including the classic bulb shape. If the color bothers you, try installing them in rooms like your laundry room where you aren’t trying to relax. However, the new bulbs are designed to mimic the glow of traditional incandescent bulbs so the only thing that you will likely notice is a short warm-up period and a lower electric bill.
