6. Recycle, reuse, reduce 7. Buy smarter when grocery shopping 8. Embrace canvas bags At Whole Foods you will receive a store credit for every bag you bring with you. And since Earth Day on April 22 Whole Foods no longer offers free plastics at all. Now that is smart indeed. Only 10 % of these famous white free grocery bags get actually recycled. We ‘reuse’ them mostly as trash bags or dog waste containers but this white pollution is choking the waterways, cities and environment and will not be biodegradable. Companies like Coca Cola and Anheuser Busch have joined the canvas bandwagon and give away neat bags with their green emblem. I suppose they could become collectors items too. Show me the bag! Tip: Just keep a couple of canvas bags in the trunk of your car or have the groceries delivered if you live in a big city. Another alternative are the tiny nylon bags that you can have in your car's glovebox or even in your purse. They are quite sturdy and folded up fit in the palm of your hand.
Give your mom, sisters, in-laws and friends ideas about smart shopping and we can leave the paper and plastic behind in no time.
10 Steps to Get Energy Smart(continued)
Did you know that our landfills generate methane gas, which is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a green house gas? So you can feel really good about recycling those newspapers. Just a stack of four feet high can save a good-sized tree. Add the plastic bottles, cans, metal products and glass and your are saving 70 to 90 percent of the energy and pollution, including CO2 and methane, that would be produced if the products came from new resources.
Getting your groceries and dairy products from local producers can save on transportation costs and therefore emissions since your meals don’t have to travel 3,000 miles. This is the average distance of a North American meal from farm to plate. The food that is grown locally was most likely picked within the past day or two, so it’s much fresher too.
Going shopping for the first time in an average American supermarket as a European I was instantly struck by the lavishing amount of ‘plastic or paper’. When I handed the lovely bag person my canvas bags he looked at them and then neatly tucked them in a plastic bag….After reassuring that I wanted to actually use my own bags he was baffled but started putting my groceries away. Now that was in 1994 and we have come a long way since then. In most of Europe people still bring their own bags but if you happen to be without one, you can buy a sturdy recycled plastic bag for approximately $1. Some American stores won’t carry any free bags anymore, like for example in California. Big lot stores like Costco and Sam’s don’t offer them either. China, Bangladesh and some 30 remote Alaskan villages have already banned the flimsy plastic altogether. Parts of South Africa, Taiwan and Ireland are passing similar laws.
9. Buying green power
In Missouri, AmerenUE Pure Power is a voluntary renewable energy program for their customers. By choosing to pay an additional 1.5 cents per kilowatthour (kWh) for power used, the residential customers support the purchase of certified renewable energy certificates. Ameren has been implementing this program since 2007 and they already have a growing community of people willing to fund wind farms built with the extra money they spend each month. More information about REC’s are found through The Center for resource solutions.
10. Ask your city to be cool
The ‘Cool Cities’ program calls for reducing global warming pollution by seven percent below 1990 levels by 2012. By asking your Mayor to sign the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement you are having a direct impact on your cities green status. Call, write or meet with your federal and state legislators. Tell the public officials that you want them to make decisions in the interest of reducing CO2 and to foster investments for renewable energy.
Of course there are many more steps to be creatively energy wise. You can make your own list and share them with family and friends. Happy savings!