Mom's Ratings:
 Good Idea
Great Idea
Green Hero |
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The Lazy Way to Go Green!
It's easier to be Green than you think
Hi Kids! I know you'd like to Go Green, but
you think it's too hard or too inconvenient.
Well, your Mountain Mom is here to set you
straight. It's easier than you think! I'll
show you the easiest ways to go Green. If you're doing nothing
now, just one change will make a big difference.
Up here in the mountains, we're more self-sufficient,
and the results of going Green are more meaningful.
Start now: just pick one thing to do. I also
have a list of things that don't help. You can choose the easiest things to do
(or not do), or something that makes the most difference.
Don't worry, I'm here to help. Start with
one of the Top 5 ways to Green yourself up,
below, then check the Green List for the best things to do next. And visit
Mom's Blog!
Recent Additions: Be a Green Advocate, New Air Conditioner use, Indoor Plants,
More things that are NOT Green |
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Mountain Mom's Green Top 5
If you can't do anything else, pick one of
these Green activities. These are either
the easiest, or make the biggest difference!
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Recycle Aluminum Cans: Of all businesses in this country, the aluminum
industry gets the greatest
savings from using
post-consumer product.
When they use less
electricity, the need for
a greater peak
capacity is reduced, lessening
the need for
more of those big, expensive
towers. We complain
about one cellular tower,
why not those bigger
power towers? I wish I
drank more beer. Mom's
rating:
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Drive Slower: You already know driving lightly on the gas
pedal saves you a good
percentage of gas,
but also consider your
speed. Sure, you can
get away with driving "just
a little"
over the speed limit. But
for every mile
per hour over 45, especially
in an SUV, you're
not escaping the gas police
They catch up
to you at the gas station.
Consumer Reports tested a Toyota Camry at 55, 65 and 75 mph.
Increasing the speed from
55 to 65 caused
the car's mileage to drop
from 40 to 35 mpg,
and an increase to 75 mph
caused the mileage
to drop another 5 mpg!
That's a 25% decrease
in gas mileage from 55
to 75! Nothing else
can make this much difference.
On my last
trip to Santa Fe, I went
about 5 mph slower
and NEVER went over the
speed limit. In some
areas where traffic was
too heavy to let
me go at the top speed,
I throttled back
to go with the flow. My
car usually gets
about 33 or 34 mpg on that
trip, but this
time I got 40! And it's
not a little car!
Oh, and driving slower
saves lives...like
maybe yours. Also, by now
you're already
combining trips, so let's
go in another direction:
consider buying a few things
online. The
UPS truck is already coming
down your street
every day, why not have
them pick up a few
things so you can save
that trip, and time.
Also see Walking.Mom's rating:
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Compact Florescent Lights(CFL): Some energy advocates make these sound
like the end-all of energy
savings. They
help, but only if you replace
several. Some
of the CFL's I buy are
slow to light up.
In some places that's not
a big deal, but
in the bathroom, I actually
need to stop
while the light warms up
so i don't trip
over a miss-placed toy.
Fortunately, the
bathroom light fixture
has multiple bulb
sockets, so in one of them
I have a 40-watt
bulb that lets me see what
I'm about to stumble
over right away as I race
to the john. We
also have a bunch of "60
watts or less"
fixtures, or some that
can't take the heat
of a hotter incandescent
bulb. I replaced
those with 25-watt CFL's
that give out more
than 100 watts of light.
They run cooler,
longer and we get lots
more light! Buy 'em
when your power company
subsidizes them for
less than $1 each. Mom's rating:
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Walking: Don't sell this short. When you walk a short
distance for errands, you
keep from using
your car when it wastes
the most gas and
makes the most pollution:
that first mile
is the worst. Those new
"Lifestyle Centers"
now encourage you to drive
from store to
store when you were perfectly
capable of
covering that same distance
in the mall.
Park next to the store
that gets you your
heaviest bags, and walk
to the rest. I won't
mention the exercise factor.
Mom's rating:
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Become a "Green Advocate" This one is so easy you don't need to do anything. Just "Talk the Talk" and encourage
your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues
to do something green. Go ahead, badger them,
give them ideas, make them feel guilty, but
don't let them know you don't "Walk
the Walk." If you want to actually do
something, make copies of my lists or give
them Green Gifts. One of my affiliated Green retailers, GreenAndMore, has a long list of very clever Green gifts.
Give one to a friend and make sure they feel
guilty if they don't use it! At the end of
the day, you can go home to your not-so-green
ways and feel just a little better about
yourself. Mom's rating:
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Go Greener >>
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