I was wondering... how can i improve my habits at home to become "green"?

Question

What techniques or styles can i use to cook, clean, and shop greenly?

Answer 1

My favorite question.

Im going through college for this, cant wait.

Now starting off it might be a little costly but then again it might not be.

So LED lights are amazing to have a great David Suzuki invention. Then after that try to buy more recyclable products. Decomposing is another good thing to have. Then another good option is water control. Try to die down on the usage like dish washing and laundry, try cold water laundry it will help for power. You will use way less. Also with your lawn avoid pesticides try some alternatives there are tons of options. check out  http://www.davidsuzuki.org/   it will show you tons more options for greener house life! hope i helped

Answer 2

Ditch your car, any good green person should have a bicycle. Actually it has been proven that a modern dishwasher uses less water than washing by hand. But then if you can reduce the amount of water you should save some coal. Compost your garbage that should save the local landfill and sewage treatment plant some trouble. Buy your food fresh from the farm carry it home i n a basket. Turn off the electricity. That could be a problem though if you use it for heat. Of course you will have to burn wood and when all your neighbors all start burning wood what happens to the trees  and the air. Frankly this is an absurd exercise in futility. The only real solution is for us all to kill each other the the one that wins out can deal with it. Of course if you want perfection you can make him take slow acting poison before he kills you. The we will really have wild kingdom.

Please note I am not trying to be a troll here. However be advised that what I have said has a note of truth in it. The largest way any of us pollutes is through the use of electricity and automobiles. The recent move to paper bags saves petroleum but pollutes water. Nothing does a water destroying  act like a papermill and every chemical imaginable being dumped in water. If you don't believe that look at the Little Pigeon river in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and the pathway of cancer along it.

Electric cars don't help. All energy comes from somewhere and 85% of electricity comes from Coal fired steam plants in the U.S. The inevitable plugging in of cars will cause a belch from coal fired electric power plants no one can imagine. If we are to overcome the Greenhouse effect we must use a combination of nuclear energy and electric cars all else will be to little to late.

I recycle cans and bottles, use compact florescent lamps exclusively, have an energy balancer on my breaker box, keep my cars tuned . LED lamps are great for limited use unfortunately they have a way to go for general use.  Do what you can. If everyone does what they can we may slow the heating but, only nuclear can close the gap and save us from the eminent meltdown. We haven't gotten serious soon enough.

Answer 3

i cant say enough about this.  

cook:  when you're making cookies, it says preheat the oven before you even start making the batter.  wait until you're actually putting them on the sheet before preheating and you'll save some energy.  my whole family is starting to think green and we get recycled napkins, eco friendly dish and laundry soap, and different dishwasher soap that saves a lot of that.  that'll all help if we all do that.  

when shopping, use cloth-reusable bags, recycle any plastic bags, and dont buy food that has a lot of packaging.  

extras:  turn off lights when you leave the room, don't leave plug in stuff (chargers, coffee pots, toasters, can openers) plugged in because it continues to use power, turn off the over when you're done and if its winter, open the door a bit to let the heat enter the house and save you money on heating bills, don't leave doors open.  try not to drink pre-bottled water, and recycle.  

now, you can recycle numbers 1-9s (in virginia at least).  recycle all your paper (notebooks, scraps, newspapers, and magazines)

remember: you can't save the world, but every little thing you do will help contribute and take us one step closer to a safe, and clean environment!

Answer 4

With shopping: remember, the less you do, the better!  So ask yourself if you really need each thing you buy, and be aware when you indulge yourself so that you can remember moderation.  I am a huge tech junkie, but I find that when I force myself to buy less, it makes the times when I do get something that much more fun.  But yeah, less is more when it comes to the environment.

Answer 5

Going Green is the best thing we can do.  I went green, organic the whole nine yards.  I shop on line with an organic store.  No phosphates, no Chlorine, organic and all plant based laundry soaps, drier sheets, spot removers, dish washing detergent, soap, shampoo, bath and body, cosmetics, pharmeceuticals and supplements and vitamins.   It's awesome.  These products are less expensive than Wal Mart's and they clean ten times better and work better without all of the chemicals and fillers.  Plus because these are plant based there is no need for safety caps and they are safe for children and pets to even consume.  They don't advertise either, so I can't on here.  But If you want to try these products email me for thier name and website.  I have an organic garden and this company even makes organic pesticides for farmers.  We raise our own meat and dairy and they sell stuff for livestock too!    The more we can do for ourselves the safer we are from illness and the more we are helping everybody around us including the planet.  This store has customer reward programs too...I get paid for shopping their, Wal Mart never pays me plus I wouldn't use Wal Mart's products any more anyway.  Good Job We all Should Go Green or at least do what we can.  Every little bit helps... :)