A couple of months ago when I started my job at Disney and my commute changed to a little over an hour at 100 miles a day, I realized that I needed to sell my Jeep to decrease the cost in how much I was spending on fuel every month and purchase a Toyota Prius. At least, that was the initial reason. However, since that purchase, I’ve become ever more aware of the carbon footprint my family has on Earth.
I have always been somewhat interested in making that step towards a greener life but have never really made an effort. Purchasing my Prius has encouraged me to continue to evaluate my life and see where I can make small changes here and there.
After looking through National Geographic’sThe Green Guide, I learned that we can make a difference even with small and simple changes. You certainly don’t need to sell your car to be more green. Little changes here and there will better the life around you.
About a year ago, my wife and I replaced has many light bulbs around the home as we could with CFLs to not only save money by not having to replace our bulbs as often, but to also save money in electricity usage throughout the year.
According to a recent report, citizens of Southern California drink the most bottled water in the nation. Many of us have gotten used to this luxury and think that tap water is absolutely horrid and disgusting. Yet won’t people don’t realize is how bad that plastic bottle is for our environment. My wife and I are guilty of drinking lots of bottled water as we don’t have a tap in our refrigerator. We would buy three cases of Kirkland Signature bottled water from Costco about once a month (I think each case may have had 35 bottles or so). With that I decided that was one of the changes I wanted to make to reduce the amount of plastic waste I was generating. I have completely stopped drinking bottled water altogether now and only drink tap water. When I am at work, I fill up my durable plastic drinking bottle with the Arrowhead water they provide us that is delivered in the large bottles that Arrowhead reuses. This change is small and tap water doesn’t taste as bad once you have acclimated to it. In fact, I actually prefer it now. I was not able to convince my wife to completely switch over to tap, but she has switched over to Arrowhead bottled water as they now use 30% less plastic.
As someone who tends to print out content from the computer more than I really need to, another change that I am testing out is using recycled printer paper in my laser printer. The first ream I am testing is Staples brand 100% recycled paper. It is thinner than I would like my paper to be. After this ream is up, I may switch to 30% or find a different brand to try out.
Overall, I have attempted to take a second look of what I use in everyday life to see how I can improve my green factor. I hope that you will see how easy it is to make simple changes in your everyday life and encourage others to do the same.
I invite you to join me in making a difference. Sign up with MakeMeSustainable.com to learn more about how you can.
For more resources on the small steps you can take, visit the following for more information: