How do you contribute to GOING GREEN!!??

Question

How do you contribute to GOING GREEN!!??

Answer 1

Glad you asked this question! I was going to post the same one myself, but when I typed it in, I saw yours!  I have done only a few things to go green. Here's my list (so far)

1. I bought one of those new light bulbs. Don't know what they're called - the funny shaped, coil ones.

2. I turn my themostat up a few degrees when I can.

3. I turn off lights when I'm not in the room.

4. I bought a Brita water filter pitcher, and I'm using that instead of buying bottled water.

5. I ordered from www.reuseablebags.com a heavy duty, recycled cotton bag for grocery shopping. It's really cute - looks like a brown paper bag, but it's cotton. Has dual handles - one set for hand carrying, one for over the shoulder. Only $7.95 plush S & H.

6. I'm trying to use less gas by combining errands and trips.

I know it's not much, but heck, we can ALL do something, even if it's just a small effort like mine. I think it would make a difference.

Answer 2

I have little interest in "going green".  While conserving the environment has always made sense, today's "green" movement is more about Socialism and strict Government control masquerading as environmentalism.  They seek to seize control of businesses, elimination of private property and generally lower the standard of living in the United States until people are much less self-sufficient and far more depending on an all powerful Centralized Government in control of all resources.  In other words, the Green Movement it a movement toward tyranny.

Don't fall for it.  I know it is difficult because your head has been filled almost from birth with enormous amounts of propaganda.  If you attended public schools you probably learned more about recycling than about the Founding Fathers.  

Stand up to the oppressors!  Do not let them take away your liberty with law after law, rule after rule and regulation after regularion.  

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Answer 3

I recycle more than i used to. Like when i get rid of my old copybooks from school, i recycle them, instead of throwing them out in the trash. I drive less too.

Answer 4

If you want to make a difference, maybe about all you can do is recycle more. I do not want to help out at all whatsoever. I think it is not only more trouble than what it is worth, but i think it could make things worse. Perhaps this is just a program too to try to make money off people, i don't know. God is in control of everything after all. If He has a plan to make the world worse off, He will. He will during the Great Tribulation anyways. If He does not want the world to suffer right now, then it won't. So count me out.

Answer 5

Well I use public transportation, and I ride my bike a lot around where I live.

Answer 6

Wow....there are a lot of hard headed answers to your question.  Going green is great, and here are a lot of painless ways we can do it.  There will also be some side benefits, such as saving money and time in the bargain!

-Replace all your lightbulbs with compact florescents (those curly-wurly lightbulbs).  They cost a bit more initially, but they will pay for themselves in a month or two in a smaller electric bill.  Plus, they last a few years.  Despite the word 'florescent" the quality of the light is not harsh and every bit as warm as a regular light bulb.

-Only buy rechargeable batteries.  initially, the cost of the batteries as well as the charger will be more, but remember you will never have to replace those batteries, at least not for a very long time.  When the battery goes dead, recharge it.  That way, you wont have old dead batteries in landfills.  You can even get a solar powered battery charger (check on eBay).   Just get a good one that works, or else you might just end up with a useless piece of plastic that takes up space in a landfill.

Don't buy bottled water.  Instead, buy reusable water bottles (you can even get nice steel ones but they're expensive), and keep them in your fridge.  If the tap water quality where you are is not great, buy a Brita filter for your faucet (not much)

If you can, use public transportation as much as you can.  If you were to even use the bus or commuter train once a week, you would substantially reduce your carbon footprint.  If you do it more, even all the time, so much the better.  Given gas prices these days, you would save a bundle.  In addition, your employer may offer TransitCheck, a pretax allowance to cover public transportation costs.  Public transportation also has other benefits: since you are not driving, you are free to read, listen to your ipod etc.

if you like to take coffee with you to work, brew your own and use a commuter mug.  If you buy your coffee somewhere, ask them to put it in the commuter mug.  Then you can reuse it.  If you always lose commuter mugs (like me)  At least use paper cups.  Don't use Styrophoam under any circumstance.

If you eat at a lot of places that use plasticware, consider buying a "hobo knife"  That is a fork, knife, and spoon that folds up like a swiss army knife.  Most even slide apart so you can use the fork and knife separately (again, check eBay)  Or persuade the establishment to carry wood disposable ware (yes, they just started making it, and it's pretty good)  if you are having a party or picnic at your house, get the wood ware, as opposed to the plastic ware.

Get into the habit of bringing your own bags when you go grocery shopping.  Two or three durable cotton bags are all you need.  Plus, they're better at holding heavy things, and things hold their shape better than in a plastic bag.  It is inevitable you will end up with a few plastic bags; use them as can liners in smaller wastepaper baskets or for leaning up after your dog.

Get used to downloading music/movies instead of buying CDs/DVDs.  The amount of packaging not going into a landfill is substantial.

If you live in a house, or if it is practical, consider composting your organic garbage

While we're on the subject of trash, be sure to have separate containers in your kitchen for paper, cans/bottles and plastic.  And be sure to recycle each, if it is available in your community.

If you are just going to fax a document, print it out on the back of an old document.

Get as many document sent to you electronically.  Only print them out if necessary.

Don't leave your A/C running all day.  Time it to kick in an hour before you come home from work and to switch off when you leave.  most A/Cs these days have a timer.

Consider buying a small solar panel for small electrical tasks such as charging your cell phone or ipod.  Just make sure it is a good one that works.  Again, the last thing you need is another useless piece of plastic filling the landfills.

Unless you have a reason for washing your clothes warm or hot, wash them cold.  In this day and age, most detergents get clothes just as clean, so it doesn't really matter.

Use a bagless vacuum cleaner (uses a reusable cartridge instead)

Donate your old clothes to charity, don't just throw them out.

When your cellphone dies, send it off to be recycled, don't just toss it out.

When you are considering buying a new car, review very carefully the gas milage, the emissions and other issues as relates to the carbon footprint.  Think whether you really need an Escalade, a Ford Explorer or a Hummer.  I bet you don't.  In Europe, where gas is charged by the liter (that's right....think a one liter bottle of soda) they think about this long and hard.  Most families fit just fine into a compact.

Don't litter.  Don't tolerate it from other people, either.

Make an effort to buy recycled paper as much as you can.

When at a fast food restaurant or cafeteria, only take as many napkins as you need.  Do not take a wad, use two and throw the rest out.  If you take too many, leave the extra ones on the table, or if you can leave them by the napkin dispenser.

Replace your old appliance with energy star appliances.

Do not scoff or be dismissive of new types of alternate energy i.e wind farms, solar, water etc  Keep your mind open.  Encourage development.  There's a lot of untapped energy out there going to waste.  Do not dismiss anything as pie in the sky.

If you do even half these things your carbon footprint will be at zero.  If you do all them, you will be repairing the earth.  If everybody did them, we would be in good shape indeed, and the world would be a very, very clean place in no time.  Just getting used to these things would free us up to worry about development of other things, like technology (green, of course)

I think a lot of people, when they think going green, think of making a lot of ridiculous sacrafices, like moving out to a bean farm and living in a sod hut, or throwing away their TV, or having to reuse toilet paper, and they get scared.  Then they get dismissive of going green, and ridicule it.

The things I mentioned, they're not hard, not painful.  Working them into your routine is not going to impact your life seriously or at all.  The problem is that a lot of energy and resources are being wasted, wrecking the environment, but benefitting nobody.  All going green is making sure that every drop of energy, every resource benefits us, and just keeping our world clean.

Not a hard concept if everybody were to put their mind to it.  The ideas I mentioned are just a few of the many.

And don't worry about the hard- headed, flat earthed conspiracy answers to your question.  Way off base.

Those are just a few of my ideas.  I'm interested in more!

Answer 7

"Going green" can be done in so many ways but since this is the Weather section of Yahoo Answers, I guess you are thinking about the reduction of CO2 in the atmosphere.

I contribute by spending my holidays on my sailboat. A cheap and 'green' way to travel, using the solar energy that creates low pressures and resulting wind.