Comments on: What small steps have you taken to go green?

By: Susan Cannan

Susan Cannan — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:17:04 +0000

we recycle all bottles, cans, newspaper, cardboard even if you can’t get any money for them (ie-glass bottles here in HI can get you 5cents back). We grow our own container veggies as we don’t have a backyard. We combine all errands that need to be done by car into one run where as we used to grocery shop every day, now we make a list for the week and get it all in one shot. We make sure we do full loads of laundry and not little ones and use cold water. Shorter showers, turn off water heater during the day when no one is home to use hot water, tank is so small doesn’t take long to heat up at all, acutally still very warm when we get home. I’m sure there is more, just can’t think of them right now.

By: Cheri Conklin

Cheri Conklin — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 00:56:36 +0000

I have recyled for years,in my office I print on boths sides of paper before I recycle it. Our city collects all recyclable products. We try to do all of our errands at one time. We wash full loads only of laundry. None of these are big steps, but they all help.

By: Pam Holcombe

Pam Holcombe — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:46:31 +0000

When you think about the concept “going green” a lot of people interpret this as going “cold turkey” and giving up all the conveniences and luxuries they have come to think of as necessities. In reality it’s just making simple,sutle changes in your everyday life. I didn’t see it until I read some of the comments posted that I have been going green for years. It didn’t dawn on me because as I said it’s little changes that you make that make a big difference. For instance my husband and I have been composting for at least 10 years. We have 2 compost bins outside and a container that I keep under my sink where all my raw vegetable scraps,coffee grinds and other organic matter go in. When it’s full my husband dumps it in the compost bin &”no” there is never a foul odor. We have a garbage disposal that is very rarly used. My husband is an avid gardener so he always has good rich compost for his garden. We buy organic milk in the cardboard cartons, cut them in half when empty and use them for seed starters. We can many of our own vegetables reusing the canning jars. We also have natural “worm dirt” because my husband layers our garden with old newspapers, covers it with a layer of dirt and the worms move in.
We have had a programmable thermostat for over 10 yrs and just recently changed all our light bulbs to the new energy effecient ones. We have cut way down on our paper towel use by switching to all cotton dish cloths & towels. We have also planted a variety of fruit & nut trees on our property that are now producing beautifully. The only problem is that we have to share with the squirrels but in a “nut shell” so to speak suttle little changes that you make are soon a way of life and that’s a good thing.