apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It's really more of a don't do, but don't buy stuff always comes to mind first.

I guess shutting down junk mail would be a "do".

--Stop running the water continuously while brushing your teeth.

--Close your shades during the heat of the day, at least on the sunny side of your home.

--If you live in a warm climate, bake in the winter, not the summer. If you cannot live without making your own zucchini bread in July, do it early in the morning when the house is cool.

--Run appliances like dryers during off-peak hours, when the entire world doesn't have their AC going.

- Don't take a bag if you don't have to! Even if you can't always remember to bring your own, you usually don't need a bag if all you're getting is a pack of gum.

- Take the stairs. Green and healthy!

- For girls: learn to love your hair when air-dryed. It can be done! I wash mine at night and let my pillow de-friz it a bit, then use a touch of water in the morning to re-shape.

- Unplug your electronics when you're done charging, and turn off everything you can at night (we have a few big power strips that get flicked before we go to bed.) Added bonus -- way cooler in the summer.

In Seattle, we can put kitchen scraps/compost in our yard waste bin. I have a little plastic trash can with a lid that I put any organic bits (coffee grounds, soiled paper, fruit peels, etc), and then take it and put in the yard waste bin. That way I don't have to hassle with composting, but am still being green - and reducing my trash by quite a bit!

Next time you run out of windex or whatever "all-purpose spray cleanser" you use, rinse the empty bottle and refill with half vinegar, half water. A little rubbing alcohol will help it evaporate faster (esp. if you do a lot of mirrors and windows).

Clean glass with old newsprint rather than fresh paper towels.

Don't buy stuff just for the sake of having new stuff, or because everyone else is. You do not need a new iPod, cell phone, and winter coat every year. You do not need a whole new wardrobe every season.

Stop subscribing to magazines. They're really just catalogs you pay for. You can access most of the information they contain online (either from the magazine's website or via a general search).

Don't just buy locally, travel locally. It might take a little more of an open mind and research, but think of the energy you'll save! Save long trips for when you get a week or more off and try to travel by land or water rather than air.

Buy locally grown/brewed spirits (it's just special water).

Hang your laundry to dry instead of using a machine (solar and wind power, direct from the sources).

-- Wear a hat when it's cold inside. That's worth a couple of degrees on the thermostat.

-- Open the windows when the weather is good and close them when it's not. And spend time in the rooms that are the right temperature. (In my house the office is the warmest room and the kitchen the coldest.)

-- Throw catalogs away as soon as you get them so you won't be tempted to buy things you don't need.

-- Entertain at home rather than going out. Cooking from scratch is a great way to save resources.

"buy locally, travel locally" - I've referred to it as playing tourist where you live. We did it when I was young and my family moved alot - so I've been to the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Yellowstone, and the park in Idaho where the trained the astronauts for the moon mission (forget the name, remembered the astronaut connection!)

My tip - check the temps in your fridge. I checked ours last night; previous renters/ landlord had them nearly maxed out. Since I keep it full, I don't need that. I imagine turning it 2 notches warmer will help! (before, I could freeze things in the bottom of the fridge it was so cold).

Regarding "travel locally", that works well if you mainly travel for weekend getaways. It doesn't work so well when you live across the country from the whole rest of your family. I'm willing to do my part to live sustainably, but I'm not going to forgo Christmas with my brand new neice, sorry.

Though I am willing to experiment with traveling over land wherever possible -- did the 2-day trek via Amtrak for the holidays a few years ago, and it wasn't really that bad at all.

Traveling locally is NOT a quick-and-easy "insultingly simple green tip" for everyone.

If dishes are going in the dishwasher, they ordinarily do not need extensive rinsing and soaking. (I can't break the husband of this habit.)

--don't throw away [ratty] clothes without first recycling them into dust/dishrags (they work well as swiffer pads too)

Print on both sides of paper - and set your printer to "draft" mode. For most jobs, it doesn't make a difference qualitywise, is much faster, and of course means fewer cartridges.

Don't throw catalogs away so you don't buy stuff, recycle them!

call the company that is sending you catalogs and tell them not to!

Set your computer to go on standby (low-power sleep mode) or hibernation mode (turns off, but remembers where you left off) when you're not using it. Most PCs (including monitors and peripherals) use 100-200 Watts or more.

Even if you're just leaving for a few minutes, turn off your monitor or set it to turn off automatically. That will save you 30 W for LCD monitors and 80 W for CRT monitors. Don't use screen savers -- they aren't needed to "save" new screens, which aren't prone to burn-in like early monitors. Computers use more energy just displaying them than they do just sitting there. (Processors use more power the harder they are working.)

Despite what you might have heard, it's not true that turning your computer off will shorten its life span. Computers also throw off a lot of heat.

Consider making your next computer a laptop. Only rarely will they use more than 30 W, and they use only 3 W when in sleep mode. (I once heard an anecdote about a contest to build a low-power-consumption computer. It was easily won by a guy with a standard, off-the-shelf laptop.)

http://it.med.miami.edu/x1159.xml

Eat less.

I put all my electronic things on timers. I'm not home during the day, so I don't need my TV or speakers or cell phone charger to be sucking up energy. My TV uses as much electricity in 24 hours on standby as it does when I watch it for an hour. The timer still uses a little bit of energy, but I'm not cool enough to remember to unplug things after I use them.

Switch to green power. It's an easy, quick choice and you never have to think about it again. If you live in NYC and have ConEd, try this site: http://www.conedsolutions.com/ Green power is a little more expensive, but between turning things off and using my AC only on truly hot days, my bills have stayed roughly the same.