Great Ways to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

You and your family can recycle, reuse, and reduce more than you think! If you care about family and planetary wellness, take simple steps to reduce your carbon footprint. Each positive action helps protect our environment, and contributes to worldwide efforts to keep the planet inhabitable for our children’s children.

Great Eco-friendly Ways to Live Greener and Greener Each Minute

For More Ideas See the Five Points Below...

1. Bring reusable bags and containers when you shop, travel, or pack lunches. Choose products that are returnable (like library books, CD’s, and DVD’s), and refillable (bring your own doggie bag container to restaurants). Don’t rely on single-use items like plastic bags and containers to pack leftovers. Avoid individually wrapped items, snack packs, and all plastic water bottles. Use biodegradable containers and bottles made from glass, stainless steel, or pottery instead.

2. Retrain yourself and your children to conserve resources like water and electricity. Encourage all family members to turn off water while brushing their teeth, and switch off lights when they are not in a room. Unplug your appliances like your toaster, when it's not in use. Use cloth napkins and cloth diapers, instead of disposables. This will help in a BIG way to cut down on junk in the landfill. Reasons Why it's Smart to Use Cloth Diapers.

3. Cut down on gas usage by turning off your vehicle while waiting in line at the drive through coffee (bring your own cup) place or when picking up kids from school.

4. Buy in bulk whenever it's practical, because packaging materials are greatly reduced this way. It will save time shopping and save some green too. Bulk items are usually less expensive than individual portions of stuff.

5. Figure out how to minimize your waste. Use less water by watering your garden early or late in the day. Use eco-friendly forms of transportation like buses and bikes. Support companies whose products conserve natural resources, don't pollute the environment, and are manufactured with recycled materials that are minimally packaged. It doesn’t take much to go greener this year. All you have to do is think and act green.


And here's additional green reading ----- 

Smart-Ways-to-Green-Your-Lifestyle, 

Eat-Less-Meat-and-Save-the-Planet, 

How-Will-You-Celebrate-Earth-Day-2015?

Divest-from-Fossil-Fuels-Reinvest-in-Eco-friendly Investments,

Select-a-Car-Color-that-Pleases-You.

The quote for today follows: "Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find." ~Quoted in Time Magazine

How many of these things do you do now and which new eco-friendly steps are you willing to adopt in the future? Please comment directly on this post in the space provided below. Sharing is caring and I thank you in advance for your support.

This post is the Green Feature at the-healthy-happy-green-and-natural-party-blog-hop-170

This post has been shared at Traffic-Jam-Weekend-Linky-Party-112

This post ha been shared at Healthy-Happy-Green-Natural-Party-Blog-Hop-169

This post has been shared at Healthy-Happy-Green-and-Natural-Party-Blog-Hop-168

This post has been shared at Healthy-Living-Link-Party-127

How to Save Water, Money, and Empower Yourself

Did you know that saving water is good for your pocketbook, conserves a dwindling, precious natural resource, and empowers you? To assure we have enough water to meet daily needs now and in the future, we need to do our share. I'll describe which efforts worked for me. Please try them as well as think of additional ways you can save water too.

First, ask yourself whether you’re for water and take the “WaterSense Pledge.” It’s as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Check toilets for silent leaks (the link below explains how).

2. Twist and tighten pipe connections.

3. Replace the fixture if necessary. 

See more at WaterSense Pledge

Then, look for the WaterSense Label, which is affixed to products that have been independently tested and certified to meet EPA WaterSense criteria for efficiency and performance. Following are many easy ways to save water, so read to the end. After you're through, please take a moment to comment. I'd love to hear whether you're concerned about a water shortage throughout the world and what are your tips for conserving water too. Here's the sign that will appear in stores that sell WaterSense Products.

TOILETS

We recently updated an older model toilet to a new gravity-flush water efficient model. Our old toilet was stained from the hard water we have here in Arizona, and the toilet had started to leak. My husband and I were mindful to purchase a new one that limits water consumption to 1.28 gallons or less per flush and is designed to resist staining. It does the job, reduces water consumption, and saves money too, because low-flow toilets reduce water usage by 40% to 50% a year.

We found out that if a toilet was made before 1991, and you replace it with one that carries the WaterSense label, you may be eligible for a tax rebate from your local water supply company or municipality. The store where you purchase your new toilet will supply rebate information and discuss details about rebate programs in your area. 

By replacing old, inefficient toilets with the WaterSense labeled models, the average family can save at least $110 per year in water costs, and $2,200 over the lifetime of the toilets. Nationally, if all old, inefficient toilets in the United States were replaced with WaterSense labeled models, we could save 520 billion gallons of water per year, or the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls in about 12 days. 

For more information contact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Helpline at- 1-866-987-7367 or write the Office of Wastewater Management (4204M), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20460.

See what makes it easier to pick out a new toilet from Consumer Reports at Consumer Reports Help for Selecting Low-Flow Toilet

WASHING MACHINES

Wash only full loads of laundry to get the most out of water use. Your washing machine water level should assure that clothes are immersed in water and move easily, but goes no higher. When it’s time to replace this appliance, choose one that has a top Energy Star rating. In the long run, you'll save dollars and water. Energy Star certified clothes washers use about 20% less energy and 35% less water than regular washers. They also have a greater tub capacity which means you can wash fewer loads to clean the same amount of laundry.

SHOWER

Convert to a water efficient shower head and cut your showers by two minutes. Even a one or two minute reduction can save up to 700 gallons per month.

DRINKING WATER

Keep a bottle of drinking water in the refrigerator. This beats running tap water to cool it for drinking. This measure saves 200 to 300 gallons a month. 

SINKS

Be sure to fix all leaking faucets. The water that comes out of faucets in your home or apartment accounts for more than 15 % of your total indoor water use or 1 trillion gallons of water across America each year. The aerator tip of the faucet determines the maximum flow rate of the faucet. If you have an older kitchen faucet, consider getting an inexpensive new, water-effective one.

When preparing fruits and veggies, refrain from using running water to clean them. Instead, fill the sink or a large bowl with water and immerse produce to clean. Afterward, water can go to water plants in your garden and cuttings can be dumped on your compost pile. This can save 150 to 250 gallons of water per month.

"When you're brushing your teeth, turn off water, while you are actually brushing. Use short bursts of water for cleaning your brush. This saves about 80% of the water normally used.” For additional tips about conserving water go to the Water Project Website Water Project 17 Tips for Conserving Water

LANDSCAPE

For home landscaping water needs, remember automatic landscape irrigation systems are a home's biggest water user. To make sure you're not over-watering, adjust your irrigation controller at least once a month to account for changes in the weather and install a rain shutoff device, soil moisture sensor, or humidity sensor to better control irrigation. Create a visually attractive landscape by selecting low-water, drought-resistant plants. Conform to water conservation methods like watering early in the day and plan for water harvesting of rainwater and gray water use.

Here’s a thought provoking article from Robert Brears who eloquently states, “We live in an interconnected world where water and food scarcity will impact us all no matter where we live in the world.” See it at

Interconnected World by Robert Brears

When you take simple steps to reduce, reuse, and conserve water you are being proactive and this is empowering. Help yourself, your family, your country, and the world by doing your part in saving this finite resource. "Water is key to all life and survival." Nancy Andres

The quotation for today follows:

Water is the driver of Nature -Leonardo da Vinci 

Source

This post was shared at 

Tuesdays with a Twist #73 is LIVE!

This post was shared at

at the Healthy-Happy-Green-Natural Party Blog Hop #40 and here'the link

the-healthy-happy-green-natural-party-blog-hop-40/