Being environmentally friendly is one of the easiest things to begin. If you follow these detailed steps that I am about to outline, you, too, could become the Grandmaster of Environmental Friendliness (GEF)
Step One to becoming a GEF is to take an assessment of everything around you that could possibly harm the environment. For instance, how much gas you use a week, how many grocery bags you use, do you use so much electricity that one would think you, yourself, were powering a small city. Take this assessment, write all your findings down (the information about electricity you could get from a monthly bill) and figure out how to make the numbers smaller. Here are a few tips:
Gas: Walk or ride a bike. I live in Florida so I understand that walking at noon in the midday really is unbearable sometimes, so plan around it. I live near a grocery store, so once or twice a week, just before sunset with my tote bags in hand, I walk to the grocery store. It’s convenient and it’s a bit of exercise. Kids running around the house restless? Take them for a walk and gets some shopping done. Just broke up with your boyfriend/girlfriend and need a pint of Blue Bell Butter Pecan Ice Cream to brain freeze all your sorrow away? Call them on the phone while walking, tell them how you feel, and walk in the store knowing you’ve saved the environment, if not your dignity also.
For those who simply can’t walk that Roman mile to the store, it’s okay to drive there – just make sure you plan it around a time when other driving is necessary (dropping the children off, coming home from work, after a drive-by).
Grocery Bag: WOW! This is something that is very near and dear to my heart. I know it may sound a little crazy but plastic bags are killing the world. The average plastic bag takes 500 years to decompose! That is way too long to for anything to decompose. So help the environment out and get a hold of a tote bag. The average tote bag replaces two to three plastic bags. The kicker is that you can you use them over and over and over again. This one small change helps the environment every time you shop. How can you beat that.
Lastly, electricity. Unless you are “off the grid” (not using electricity that comes from a power plant) you are hurting the environment (don’t worry, I am “on the grid” too). Plain and simple. The places that provide you with electricity generates the electricity from nuclear power plants, which release more carbon dioxide than we could imagine. But, wait, there is help. Electric companies are catching the Green fever and providing what is being called Energy alternatives, and they are great! One very cool energy alternative is wind powered energy. Very easy to decipher how it works, wind powered energy is a great way to defer your contribution to the depletion of the environment to something that uses nature as a means of energy production. Please call your local electric company to see if they offer energy alternatives.
Next time we will talk about Sun Lamps.
Until next time
Stay Green Orlando
