For the past month, I’ve been bombarded with “Going Green” in my magazines. Then I ended up watching the Discovery Health channel on Thursday, which incidentally was a day that was called “Be Well.”

I’m all for the idea of “Going Green.” I think it’s a great idea, and more people should get into it, even if you’re only able to do one or two things to help the environment. The one issue that kept coming up for me & my friend was the fact that they said that buying organic (clothes & food) is a lot more accessible, the food’s fresher, all natural, the clothes are much more comfortable. None of that was the issue, the issue for us was the cost of buying organic. Maybe if we were living on a better income, it’d definitely be a lot more affordable to buy organic, but til then, we’ll stick with other ways to help the environment.

What can you do to help? What can you do to be a little bit healthier? You don’t have to do all of these things, but every little bit helps.

Take public transportation to and from work. If you plan on going into the city, take the Metro instead of driving into the city, it’s less stress & it’s accessible.

When you go grocery shopping, let your vegetables roll around in your carts instead of putting them in plastic baggies. You still gotta wash them when you get home anyway, so why bother with the plastic baggies. Bring your own bag to the grocery store. I know IKEA has started to charge 5 cents per bag & all the proceeds will be donated to American Forests.

If it’s possible, start buying your veggies & fruit at the farmer’s market. It’s cheaper, and so much better for the environment. The produce is not being trucked over thousands of miles. It comes from your local farm. You’ll contribute to your community as well as the environment. The produce tends to be cheaper & fresher. If you do see holes in the leafy greens, it’s a GOOD thing– it only means that there was no chemicals used to ward off those pests. All you have to do is WASH them when you’re ready to eat your fruits & veggies. Make it a weekly thing!

Do your laundry in cold water.

Buy CFL (compact fluorescent lights) bulbs, they use 70% less energy, as well as lasting 10,000 hours.

Turn your computer off (if you can’t, power-saving sleep mode), it uses 60 to 80% less energy.

When printing, try to duplex instead of using one sided.

A side note: My department is in the “printing” industry as my supervisor has said, which I don’t disagree with. I have tried to encourage our department to reduce our use of paper. We usually print out one draft for our technical writer to proof. We also print out a final copy (it’s often duplexed) & send the proposals out to clients. And we print out one copy (single sided) for our records. As well as however many copies that is requested for distribution among the team. I’ve suggested to duplex our draft (it was said that there usually is confusion, the pages get mixed up…). I’ve suggested for us to use the program Adobe In Copy. It was said that it’s hard on the eyes (due to reading on the computer monitor). How about our sales team use Adobe In Copy instead of sending us faxes with corrections (though many of them do just email us the corrections). I won’t even say what I was told about the sales team using In Copy, I just thought it was wrong. Luckily, the supervisor said instead of distributing copies to the team, they will just distribute CDs, which will save us about 25,000 pieces of paper a month. That’s something. We do recycle everything here. But I think it’d be interesting to try Adobe In Copy, not to say that I won’t keep trying.

Instead of buying bottled water all the time, use the water filters.

Bringing your lunch? don’t use plastic bags, paper bags, etc. Use the reusable containers. I also keep my silverware in my desk drawer so I’m not using the plastic forks, spoons, & knives that are distributed at work.

I’m not that big on buying books, etc., but I go to the library and check books out. I just know I’ll only read the book once. (maybe I should apply that rule to magazines as well, but i do read them more than once….and I promise I’ll donate it to some doctor’s office or something.. oy.)

At my place, we have recycle bins on every floor. And they distributed papers telling us what we could recycle, it had never occurred to me until then, that we could pretty much recycle all of the bottles & cans we use. Quite naturally, we do recycle all the cans & plastic bottles that we use in the kitchen, but not the stuff in the bathrooms. I’m doing that now, being conscious about making sure I throw those in the recycle bin as well.

Don’t take your clothes to the dry cleaners! If it’s possible, wet clean. The chemicals that are used in the dry clean method, is harmful to the environment. If they store it in those plastic bags, remove immediately & put it away from your other clothes to let it air out.

Doing any home renovations? Try buying bamboo wood. Bamboo reproduces quickly. And it looks great & durable!
Cut back on meat in your diet (instead of having it every night, try only 3 nights a week). You’ll save a lot more money. It’ll make you feel healthier & encourage you to be a little bit more creative when it comes to cooking lunch & dinner.

There’s so much more you can do…. if it feels overwhelming, just do one thing at a time. Every little bit counts. I know I’m trying. If you have any cool ideas that we can help make the environment just a little bit better, please do share with us.