Now 61 Easy, eco-friendly ways you can help sustain planet Earth. We found a few more ideas to add to the list. Hopefully can can hit 100 or more soon! As always, choose what is comfortable for you and your family from these eco-ideas, and you will have done something important to grow a greener world!
1. Air dry your laundry.
Organic Baby Matress
2. Ask your utility companies for an energy audit.
3. Avoid clothing produced in sweat shops around the world. Women and children deserve fair labor practices.
4. Avoid down and feather products for the sake of the animals. Feathers are painfully harvested from live caged birds who are kept alive to regrow their feathers for additional "harvesting". Replace with organic cotton or organic wool bedding products.
5. Avoid electric bug zappers.
6. Avoid laundry detergent with phosphates or chemical enhancements.
7. Only use recycled plastics in your home.
8. Avoid poultry and meats from animals raised on hormones and steroids. Buy only cage-free and free range animal products. Cut down on your family's consumption of meats and poultry.
9. Avoid products from farms that practice inhumane treatment of people and animals.
10. Avoid products tested on animals.
11. Buy locally grown or organic food.
12. Buy organic bedding.
13. Buy organic coffees and teas with the Fair Trade label.
14. Buy organic cotton underwear.
15. Buy organic grains, pastas, herbs, and essential products, in bulk.
16. Buy recycled and biodegradable toilet paper.
17. Use recycled gift wrap.
18. Compost yard debris and food scraps.
19. Consider giving homemade gifts.
20. Decline drinking straws in the restaurant.
21. Diaper Baby in soft organic cottons.
All natural and organic herbs, spices and teas from Frontier
22. Don't buy a larger home than you need.
23. Don't buy a second home. Vacation rentals are shared, economical and far less wasteful of resources.
24. Don't buy big cars.
25. Don't buy everyone in the family a car. Teach sharing.
26. Donate to your favorite environmental organization.
27. Donate unused clothing and furniture.
28. Eat meatless at least twice a week more than usual.
29. Eat more farm stand or organic vegetables and fruits every day.
30. Garden without chemicals and pesticides.
31. Grow your own organic herbs.
32. Hand-wash clothing instead of dry cleaning.
33. Install and use ceiling fans.
34. Lower thermostat in your home to 68 degrees, and 55 degrees when away from home.
35. Lower thermostat on your water heater to 120.
36. Recycle, recycle, recycle.
37. Reduce disposable products in your home.
38. Reduce watering of your yard and garden.
39. Repair faucet leaks.
40. Replace incandescent bulbs with energy efficient lighting.
41. Sew with organic cotton and natural fabrics.
42. Shorten shower time by 25%.
43. Support environmental legislation. Nag your congressman.
44. Support Fair Trade practices to reduce global poverty and hunger.
45. Support your local farmers market or co-op.
46. Use cloth napkins, or recycled paper napkins.
47. Use organic and herbal soaps, shampoos, and natural cleaning products.
48. Use public transport, or carpool to work, at least once per week.
49. Use recycled paper for writing and printing.
50. Use washable coffee mugs.
51. Walk or bicycle. Leave the car in the garage for awhile.
52. Shop secondhand shops for clothing, furniture and more. There is a huge after-market for pre-owned products in great shape in local shops. (Hate to tell you this, but those hand-me-downs were absolutely the right thing to do.)
53. Opt out of the mountains of paper flyers and coupons that hit your mailbox every week.
54. Here's a new one being practiced in schools and business offices: Two-sided printing cuts paper use and waste nearly in half, and reduces costs too.
55. Don't leave your reusable bags at home - After a shopping trip place them in front of the door so you won't forget.
56. For plastic bags that inevitably end up in your house, reuse them for cleaning kitty litter, or pickup up and disposal of your best friend's (the dog) poo.
57. Online banking, paperless billing and electronic payments.
58. Saved documents that are no longer needed should be taken en masse to a local, secure, paper recycling facility for secure shredding. Make sure confidential documents will be well secured.
59. Walk or bicycle. Leave the car in the garage for awhile.
60. Reusable coffee filters.
61. Encourage your employer to start a "project green" project with IT that shuts down computers at night and automatically "wakes" early in the morning. The energy savings can be significant.
~ Susan Fullen-Yurek, The EcoSleepShop®