Improve your Environment: Ways to Take Action

At Home

• Replace traditional light bulbs with CLF (compact fluorescents) bulbs.
• Plant trees to add shade to your yard. This saves energy and can decrease your home cooling costs by up to 50%.
• Re-use and recycle plastic bottles. The energy used to make 1.5 million plastic bottles each year could instead power up to 250,000 homes.
• Cut down your trash by 1% and reduce CO2 emissions in the air.
• Turn your thermostat up 1 degree in the summer and down 1 degree in the winter. This simple switch can decrease your heating & cooling costs while saving energy. You shouldn't even notice a temperature difference!
• Wash your clothes in cold water. It can save you up to a year while saving energy.
• Recycle paper. Every ton of recycled paper saves enough electricity to power a 3 bedroom house for a year.
• Switch outdoor lights to motion sensing lights. If your lights come on only when there is movement, rather than staying on all night, it will save on your energy costs and help the environment.
• Turn off your water faucet while brushing your teeth.

At Work

• Put your computer to 'sleep' rather than using a screensaver, using 70% less electricity.
• Print and copy on both sides of the paper, saving on paper trash.
• Recycle office paper.
• Shut down your computer at night rather than leaving it running.
• Hold meetings by phone rather than traveling when possible.

Shopping

• Take reusable bags with you to the grocery store when possible rather than using their paper and plastic bags. Around the world, 1 million plastic bags are used per minute at a cost of 2.2 billion gallons of oil a year.
• Buy products that use less packaging.
• Purchase recycled products.
• Purchase digital music online rather than CD's from the store.
• Reuse towels at hotels.
• Use solar powered chargers for small electronics.

On the Go

• Switch to a hybrid powered car.
• Get rid of the SUV gas guzzler.
• Ride a bike.
• Carpool.
• Use public transportation.