Ten Actions for Living Green

Ready to make choices and take action to live a more sustainable life, 365 days a year? Here are some Living Green 365 tips to get you started!

Harness the power

It can take a lot of energy to get through the day. But it doesn’t have to be this way!  We can use energy more efficiently, to get just as much done. Be smart about your energy use:

• Purchase only compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs)
• Install a programmable thermostat and set it to 65 degrees in winter and 78 degrees in summer

Calculate the impact of your actions

• CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb and save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
• If every home in the U.S. replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR CFL, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.
• Programmable thermostats can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.
• Move your thermostat down just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer to save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Water: Cherish every drop

Living in Minnesota, water seems plentiful—it’s all around us! But water is precious, and we shouldn't take it for granted. Recognize the value of water:

• Install water-saving devices and fix leaks
• Use a rain barrel to water gardens

Calculate the impact of your actions

• Water-saving showerheads use only 2.5 gallons of water (or less) per minute; older showerheads use 5 to 7 gallons per minute.
• Install a water-saving showerhead to save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide per year thanks to the energy savings from less heating of water.
• Switch to an ultra-low flow toilet, which use only 1.6 gallons of water per flush, to reduce indoor water use by as much as 20%. Older toilets use 3.5 to 7 gallons per flush.
• If your faucet is dripping at the rate of one drop per second, that would waste 2,700 gallons per year! That adds to the cost of water and sewer utilities, or needlessly strains your septic system.
• Recycle rain water to reduce your personal energy consumption by using less treated water. Use a rain barrel to hold back up to 6% of the rainwater falling on your property. This helps reduce flooding and pollution in the stormwater system.

Take the road less traveled

These days, it seems like we’re always going somewhere.  How often do we stop to think about how we’re getting there? The next time you head out the door, focus:

• Take the bus or carpool to work at least twice a week
• Bike or walk for trips under 2 miles

Calculate the impact of your actions

• Avoid 10 miles of driving every week to eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
• Share a ride with someone at least two days a week. You'll reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year.
• Before you buy your next car, consider car sharing. Community car-sharing organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance and insurance.
• Talk to your boss about telecommuting, to reduce the number of miles you drive every week.

Eat close to home

Most of us probably don’t think about where our food came from before we take a bite. But where, and how, our food is grown does make a difference. Make commitments to get the most out of each mouthful.

• Buy locally grown and organic food from farmers’ markets.
• Join a Community Supported Agriculture farm.

Not only will you get great-tasting food all season long, you also support local farmers and reduce the distance our food has to travel to market.

Calculate the impact of your actions

• The average American dinner travels 1,500 miles before reaching the dinner plate. Eating local food greatly reduces the consumption of fossil fuels and wasteful packing materials.
• Buying locally keeps money in your community.
• Local farmers’ markets reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth.
• It’s important to buy organic as much as possible. Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms.
• If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.

Get the most out of life

Recycling is often the first step that most of us take when we’re commit to living green. Being diligent about sorting the recyclables from the rest of your waste is important.

Take recycling even further! You can reduce waste and reuse a lot of stuff.

• Purchase products with less packaging and more recycled content.
• Set up a compost pile in your back yard for kitchen trimmings and yard waste

Calculate the impact of your actions

• Recycle half of the waste your household generates to save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
• Avoid heavily packaged products and cut down your garbage by 10% to save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide.
• Yard trimmings and food scraps make up nearly 1/6 of what the average household throws into the garbage.
• Use homemade compost on your yard and garden to reduce your use of petroleum-based fertilizers and water.

Sources for impact estimates

• Climatecrisis.net
• Reduce.org
• Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District
• Metropolitan Council
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency