Monday, December 29, 2008

Live Better, Live Cleverer

By Simon M Skinner

It seems all you hear today is about living a greener lifestyle. You need to reduce your carbon footprint and your environmental impact. We all know that this is important, but it can feel like being lectured at times.

By eating healthy, organic foods you are not only helping your body by giving it fresh food, you are saving the earth from being contaminated by pesticides. Organic meats help by keeping the environment free of antibiotics and growth hormones. Plus you're avoiding all those nasty things from going inside of you! By eating fresh, organic foods, you are avoiding all the processed foods that do a better job of clogging your arteries than they do of providing nutrition.

Joining your local Freecycle list is another great way to live greener. Don't throw things away ? put them on the list and look there for things you need instead of buying new items. Odds are, someone will want what you've got to give away. By the same token, if there's something you need, it is more than likely to be found for the taking there as well. This keeps these items out of landfills and saves everyone money.

Composting your food scraps can save you money in garbage waste and provide you with great soil next season for your own garden. It also keeps a lot of good stuff out of the landfills. Just keep adding your fruit and vegetable wastes, egg shells, coffee grounds, and grains to the compost pile. You can add your raked leaves and lawn clippings as well. Don't add meat or bones... they will attract insects like flies and will take longer to compost. Water the compost down once in awhile to get the enzymes activated. Come spring, you'll have some nice compost soil to add to your own vegetable garden for more healthy eating.

Other things you can do will just make your home more comfortable. Larger windows can help let in more natural light so you don't need to turn your lights on early. Using compact fluorescent bulbs can save you money and will save energy. Use energy-efficient appliances and don't leave your air conditioner on when you're not at home. You'll be amazed at how much this impacts your energy usage.

Small things like recycling cans, bottles and plastic packaging helps lower your garbage bills and helps reduce your carbon footprint. Use cloth bags when you shop instead of taking their paper or plastic bags. Some stores even knock off a few cents when you use your own bags. All of this will help reduce pollution, which is healthier for you because you'll be breathing cleaner air.

Contrary to popular opinion, it is easy to be green and even easier too go green. It saves you money while doing something good for the environment. Before you know it, living green will be second nature and you'll be looking for ways to add some more green living to your lifestyle.

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