Steps to Living Green

Living green is a choice. Steps to making that green living commitment will make a change in the environment of your home, your community and ultimately, the world. You define your particular environment as your body, your home, your immediate community or the greater global earth.

Living green should be done in small steps and incorporate more changes as you move along in the process. There are certain areas of your living that have a larger impact than others on green living. For instance, installing solar panels on a poorly insulated home makes no sense!

Your first small steps to living green include shutting off the lights and fans, or anything else that is electric, as you leave a room. This will cut back on the amount of electricity that you use personally, which impacts the output of waste material from the generation of electricity. During particularly hot and cold months the drain on electrical resources is tremendous. If everyone shut off the lights and fans when they left the room the drain would be significantly reduced.

Another option to decrease electrical use is to decrease or increase your thermostat by one degree depending if you are heating or cooling your home. You will find that you will adjust to the temperature difference quickly and you will save money each month. You can increase the efficiency of the building in which you live that will also decrease your energy use. Insulate and seal around windows, doors, and at all attic and basement penetrations.

There are more steps to living green and decreasing your electrical expenditure. You can contact an Energy Star Home Energy Rater to have your home analyzed. Some energy companies will also come to your home to do this for you. When you purchase new equipment for your home such as a refrigerator or hot water heater be sure they are Energy Star certified.

Consider your appliances when you begin to make changes at home. Some appliances never really shut down. For instance, your television set really goes into standby mode, which uses about 10% of the energy it uses when it is on and running. By plugging appliances into a power strip and shutting off the power you will be saving even more energy.

Next in your steps in your quest to living green is to consider recycling your paper goods, aluminum and any other product that your waste management company recycles. There are some cities that have easily accessible aluminum recycle plants that pay for the aluminum. This is a great side business for the little people in your home, and it helps to encourage your neighbors to join the recycle movement.

Begin to compost your vegetable material. This provides you with great fertilizer for your garden and potted plants. You will produce less garbage and have a garden that is the envy of your neighbors. Remember that you cannot compost animal by-products such as meat, and dairy. Composting belongs only to the vegetable and fruit crowd.

Another small step to living green is to increase your water efficiency. Try taking shorter showers and reserve that long shower for the day you take over your boss’s job. Be diligent and repair leaky faucets and toilets. A small leak adds up over a short period of time. You’ll also save money on your water bills. Try using a rain barrel to collect rainwater for watering your garden and flowers.

There are many more steps to living green that will impact your home life, before you even consider impacting your community on a larger scale. These are some great small ideas to get you started in your steps to living green.