Green Shopping Tip #1 - Bring a Reusable Shopping Bag!
When you go shopping bring a reusable shopping bag with you so you don't need to get a plastic or paper bag at the store. According to the EPA "In 2009, the category of plastics which includes bags, sacks, and wraps was recycled at 9 percent." So about 90% of these bags end up in landfills. (http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/plastics.htm).
Eco Friendly Reusable Shopping Bags
Green Shopping Tip #2 - Reusable Water Bottles
Don't buy bottled water, especially water travelling long distances, like from the South Pacific to the U.S.. The green shopping alternative? Get a water filter and a reusable water bottle. You can get some water bottles with the filter embedded in the bottle. Look for filters that can produce water quality that meets NSF Standards 42 & 53. Check out these great eco friendly resuable water bottles.
Eco Friendly Reusable Water Bottles
Green Shopping Tip #3 - Dry Your Clothes With A Clothesline!
Think about a clothesline to dry your clothes, there are types for indoor and outdoor.. and if that really isn't working think about getting a dryer that supplements heat with mechanical centrifugal force to remove the water from your clothes. Check for the Energy Star label and information, this is a good guide when you are green shoppping for appliances.
Outdoor Clotheslines
Green Shopping Tip #4 - Drive An Electric Car Get A Tax Break Shop for an electric car.. get a tax credit! Check the site from the gov about how much, but last look it was $7500.. green shopping can get you tax credits - http://fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxevb.shtml
Green Shopping Tip #5 - Get a Push Mower
Buy a human powered lawn mower.. This has no brainer benefits: no gasoline or electricity, no noise, no emission, etc., but check this out. The EPA estimates that every summer 17,000,0000 gallons of gasoline gets spilled (http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/toolkit/chap2.html) by people trying to fuel up their mowers. To put that number in perspective, that is more gasoline than most of the serious oil spills in history. The Exxon Valdez, the African Queen, the Sea Empress, and many more were all much less. Check out a few great mowers below.
Push Lawn Mowers
Green Shopping Tip #6 - Use Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs
Replace your incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). There are some articles about mercury levels and CFLs, but using CFLs results in far less mercury than results from burning the coal needed to keep your incandescent bulbs a light. You also save money. I went to the local hardware store with my 50 watt halogen flood bulb to conduct a green shopping test... could I get a CFL of the same size and light output from a local hardware place. It was there.. on a lsightly lower shelf than the halogen, but nonetheless there it was. Tonight the side by side test with the halogen to see if there is a difference.
Eco Friendly Light Bulbs
