How YOU Can Go Green

Contrary to popular belief, going green isn't hard, and isn't expensive.  In fact, going green can save lots of money on electricity and heating bills.  It can also help relieve a guilty conscience.

Tips on shopping:

• Buy in bulk.  Not only will you save money, you will pollute less when you throw the packaging away.
• Look for the recycling symbol on product's packaging.  That means that either it is recyclable, or made of recycled materials.
• Some stores offer recycling programs for plastic bags, and this is a great way to help the environment.  In fact, NC is pushing for plastic bags to be illegal, at least in their coastal region.

Tips on saving energy at home:

• Configure your laptop and desktop to the most energy efficient mode.
• Use a cold rinse cycle on your washer.
• Turn the TV off when you aren't using it.
• Unplug charging devices when they aren't in use.  These devices, even when not in use, use minimal amounts of power 24/7.
• Instead of watching TV, playing video games, or chatting online, go outside or pick up a good book.  The best way to save electricity is not to use it at all.
• Open up the blinds, and turn off the lights.  Not only will this save electricity, it will brighten your room with a softer, more natural light.
• Set a delay timer on your wireless modem.  Not only will this save electricity, it protects your computer at night.

• Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to turn your computer off every chance you get.  Turning your computer off still drains about 2.8 watts, and sleep mode on a Mac drains just 4 watts.  This is hardly any energy saving, and wears down your hard drive because of the high speeds at start-up.  Therefore, it is better to just make sure your computer goes into sleep mode.

Tips for helping the environment at home:

• Recycle all that you can.  It may sound obvious, but it is surprising how much people still throw away.
• Save scrap paper.  Any old one-sided printed paper makes great scrap paper on the back.
• Plant a garden.  Plants rid the air of green house gasses, and if you have a houseplant, it acts as an air purifier.  Gardens can either look great, or give you fresh produce, which saves you money when you go to the grocery store.
• Keep your neighborhood clean, and free of trash.

Other Tips:

• Be creative.  There are tons of good ways to help the environment.  A google search on "helping the environment" returns almost 77 million hits.
• Spread the word.  Encourage your neighbors, friends, and coworkers to help to.  If one person can do this much, how much can 100, 1,000, or even more do?  If every viewer that has ever been to the blurb were able to turn 1 60 watt light bulb off for 2 hours a day, over the courseof 1 year, Blurbers would save a combined nearly 300,000 dollars based on the national average.  In Hawaii, the state with the highest electricity rate per kilowatt hour, Blurbers would save a total of nearly $700,000, just by turning off a light bulb for 2 hours a day.  As you can see, there is strength in numbers.

Signed,

The Blurb's Senior Assistant Editor In Chief

So what do you think?  Share your stories of helping the environment, and your ideas by commenting here at The Blurb.

Comments

[Michelle F.]

Hey Michelle Here, AKA one of the first blurbers :D
Thanks for the tips on going green..im actually going green as we speak. Thanks for keeping the blurb awesome guys

-Michelle Flachofsky

[The Joker]

As I read, I saw the power saving on your computer tip and I put it on the lowest power performance, yet it looks like nothing changed at all.

-The Joker

[writing a dissertation]

Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!

[Sallie]

I’m so thrilled that you have mentioned this. We are killing our home and we need to stop it. I think giving tips to people is a fantastic idea and I stand behind going green. We are not only killing our planet but the animals that live on it. Animals are our food source and without them we die. People need to step up and do something about it.