As the shift to a greater ecological consciousness continues out of the necessity of long term survival, you might be wondering just what it is that you can do to help out the effort. Here are a few things to get you started on reforming your life in tune with the balanced harmony of our planet.

Garden

The first thing that you can do is plant a garden. By growing your own food, you cut down on the energy required for transportation. This eliminates the need for petrochemicals to be created in order to be sprayed as fertilizers. Best of all, you get to eat fresh, organic food and gain the satisfaction of knowing that you have the ability to feed yourself.

Washing Machine

The second thing that you can do is upgrade your washing machines. Consider buying an energy efficient washing machine if your old one uses up too much water or too much energy during the washing process. Top manufactures such as Beko washing machines make some fantastic energy saving machines now so it’s a great time to get a new far more eco-friendly washing machine.

Use cold water or a cool wash with your washing machine. Heating water during a wash cycle uses up a lot of electricity. Since electricity is overwhelmingly created by burning fossil fuels, this also cuts down on the carbon emissions being released. With modern eco laundry soaps hot wash cycles are a thing of the past.

Get Bargains

To get great bargains and help the earth a good thing that you can do is stop buying new when you can get “new to you”. Check out Craigslist, Freecyle, or your local thrift store to find quality used goods for a fraction of the price of new things. This prevents resources from being used to create new items and extends the life of ones that already exist.

Bulbs

An illuminating idea to be greener is to swap out your old incandescent light bulbs for CFLs. This decreases the energy which is used to power the lights that brighten your life. Although it is a small step, many small steps are necessary in a journey of a thousand miles.

Power Down

An important step to become slightly more ecologically friendly is to turn off your computer whenever you aren’t using it. This saves electricity and it saves you money. This is yet another example where helping the planet can also help you.

Thermostat

You need to make sure you lower your thermostat in winter and increase it in summer. A difference of a few degrees can vastly lower your electricity costs. Plus, it means less coal and natural gas needs to be burned in order to provide you with unnecessary levels of comfort. This also lowers the amount of carbon dioxide and other pollutants floating around in the atmosphere, contributing to the severity and speed at which our shared climate is changing drastically.

Home Office

When you work from home, not only do you eliminate the commute to and from work, but there is an immense amount you can do to make sure you are working green. Use recycled copy paper, for web work use a green web hosting company that uses eco-friendly ways to power the servers, don’t print unless you have to and print double sided if you can. Check out these eco office articles for more ideas such as this one on cutting out plastic in the office.

There are many other things that you can do to cut down on your environmental impact. To get more ecologically preferable ideas look around on blogs like treehugger.com, and thedailygreen.com to help you on your path towards a more sustainable life for yourself, our planetary habitat, and future generations.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

7 Ways to Be More Eco-Friendly at Home 2011

As recent headlines suggest, going green in the workplace is a steadily growing trend. There are even awards for companies that can do it the best. While going paperless and switching to recycled office supplies is usually an executive decision , because going green can be challenging, inconvenient, and let’s be honest, expensive—employers might not be so gung-ho about turning their facilities into an eco-friendly workplace. But that doesn’t mean that you as an individual can’t do small things around the office
that will help in the preservation of the environment. Here are some simple yet effective ways you can go-green at your place of employment.

Green Transportation

Rather than driving to work every day, risking the emission of harmful toxins into the environment, try arranging a carpool with co-workers. Not only will you reduce your carbon footprint, but you can also save a bundle on gas money as well. If your place of employment is generally close in proximity to your home, you can also consider riding a bike to work. You don’t have to necessarily ride your bike every day, but once or twice a week can substantially reduce the amount of carbon released into the air. If your job doesn’t necessarily require you to be in the office, let’s say for instance you’re some sort of writer and can theoretically work anywhere as long as you have computer and internet access, ask your employer about the possibility of working from home. Make sure to tell your boss telecommuting is a good way to eliminate cars on the road and can  also be very cost effective—one less person in the office means less toilet paper and office supplies will need to be ordered.

Green Office Attire

Even if you have to wear stockings and a blazer to work every day, that doesn’t mean that you can’t wear clothes that are safe for the environment. Believe it or not, there are tons clothes made from organic cotton, wool and hemp-based materials. Another option is to buy clothes from thrift stores and consignment shops rather than purchasing them new at department stores. And if at all possible, try to avoid purchasing clothes that need to be dry cleaned as most facilities use cleaning chemicals that are harmful to the environment.

Green Office Practices

There are tons of easy things you can do in your office to go green. The first is to bring a few desk plants to decorate your cubicle. It will make your desk look more pleasant and absorb many indoor pollutions. Bring reusable containers for your home lunches and reusable dishes, silver and glassware to prevent the waste of paper products. Also remember to bring a dishtowel—you’ll need to wash these items and drying plates with paper towels is a no, no. You can also try to eliminate paper all together by emailing letters and converting all you files digitally. If you need to use paper for printing purposes, print on both sides of the paper. Whatever you do, make sure that if you do use paper to dispose of it in the proper recycling bins.
Another good way to go green in the office is to invest in a power strip chord. Because all electronics can be inserted into this strip, including computers, printers, lamps and chargers, conserving energy can be as easy as flicking off a switch.

Strike Up A Conversation

If you want to persuade your coworkers to go green as well, sometimes it’s as simple as leaving your bicycle helmet on your desk. It can spark a lot of questions of why you ride your bicycle to work and you’ll have plenty of answers.

This guest post is contributed by Kitty Holman, who writes on the topics of nursing schools. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: kitty.holman20@gmail.com.

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Guest Post: Simple Green Office Practices

This isn’t your typical Flaunt It! Monday people. This is something I ran across last night and it really deserves a HUGE Flaunt. So, today I am asking you to read this and take action.  See how YOU can go out and Flaunt this innovative trip that will start in less then 24 hours.

Yesterday I was followed and asked for help by @ShockingBarak. I didn’t pay much attention at first until I was asked to RT. That’s when I went to their site and saw their mission. Now I know all of you remember the trip our auto mongrels took to our state capital to beg and plead for money to keep their doors open, right?  Driving their hybrid SUV’s big enough to sleep my whole family comfortably? How can we forget? Shocking Barak hasn’t forgotten either and decided to show people the way it could have been done!

Our plan is to retrace the route of the automotive CEOs who went to Washington DC asking for government loans. But instead of looking for aid, we’d like to present President Obama with a homegrown solution to the transportation crisis. Having worked with Brammo, we’re fans of what they’re doing. We want to spread the word and we want to have a little fun while we’re doing it. So join us as we surf from plug to plug in a quest to meet Obama, fueled by nothing more than electricity and the kindness of everyday Americans.

The Brammo Motorcycle they refer to is a light weight, mass produced, 100% electric motorcycle.  It produces no emissions, no noise pollution, is made from recycled parts and can be recycled. Read more…

So, in itself a very innovative idea right? So, what can you do to help? Are you in the path they are taking from Detroit, MI to Washington, DC? Can they swing by and charge up? Can they crash for the night and enjoy your company? Can you provide them with a homegrown or local meal or snack?

Oh yah, the biggie, they need us to reach out to President Obama. So, if you happen to know someone, that knows someone… or maybe we can all just make some noise!

If you are not on their trip route, like me, there are still ways you can help! Tweet or Facebook the trip and the mission! Show your support by blogging about it. Maybe even buy a few Carbon Credits to help offset the emissions to charge the vehicles? I’m just thinking off the top of my head early this Monday morning. I’m sure there are many ways you can help if you are close by or far away. That is why I am here to tell you about it! So get out there, and make this viral, or comment below with thoughts on how we can help, or tell us what you are going to do to help!

I have not been asked to post about this, I am not being paid to post about this, I just love the idea and want to share & support. I hope you will too!

Post from: Eco-Office Gals

Flaunt It! Monday: Shocking Barak