7 ways to make changes in your own life to help the environment

Rather than see a problem that we need to feel guilty about, what if we made living sustainably into a game? From that standpoint, my friend Phillipe came up with 7 easy ways to make direct changes to how to live a more environmentally sustainable life:

1. Stop Junk Mail. Check out these two sites: http://www.stopjunkmail.org http://tinyurl.com/5aqxw
2. Buy less (stuff), drive less (with a gasoline engine). Buying less reduces the demands on manufacturing, which is the most direct way for you to reduce your impact on the environment. Driving less causes less emissions, which in turn is easier on the environment. If you need to meet people, consider free conferencing services instead (www.freeconference.com)
3. Buy used (stuff), carpool (with gasoline engines) or use transportation that pollutes less. Buying used means the life of the product will be extended before it find its way into landfill. Check out (real) flea markets, www.Craigslist.Com, www.eBay.Com, and ask your community (email lists, facebook, etc) if anyone wants to sell you the item you’re looking for. Carpooling (http://www.ridenow.org/carpool and http://rideshare.511.org/) or using public transportation (http://511.org/) means more people get moved by the vehicle you’re using, which means less impact than if more people used their own vehicle. Transportation that uses less emission (biking, walking, etc) is even better!
4. Fix or re-use (stuff that you already own) — or find someone who can. Sure you could have something bran-new, but that means both throwing something away and buying something else – a double impact on the environment. Trying to fix something that already exists will get your brain to function at a creative and analytic level to learn how to make this “thing” work. When in doubt, ask your community (lists) for help. Someone WILL likely show up ready to give you a hand.
5. Reduce the amount of packaging. Buy local. Buy in bulk. If you buy something and don’t need the extra bag, tell the cashier and carry it in your hands. Better even, always keep old plastic bags and other canvas bags/old backpacks/paper bags in your car and use them to carry anything you buy. Buy in stores that have lots of bulk food  to reduce the amount of packaging (and use those plastic bags to put the food in it instead of taking new plastic bags in the bulk food section). Buy local to reduce the amount of gasoline that was used to food to you (the more people who do this, the more local food stores will carry). Even better, go to farmer’s markets (Check www.ecologycenter.org for Berkeley Farmer’s Markets). For shipping boxes, find a UPS store that will take them rather than putting them in the recycling
6. Examine closely what you put in the trash. Become conscious of how your choices affect the amount of trash you generate. Turn it into a game! Get creative! How long can you extend the time before you have to empty your kitchen trash can?
7. Recycle as much as you can Ask your city for a flyer telling you what can be recycled. If your city doesn’t recycle some items, find other cities close by that will, collect the items over a few weeks, and then walk/bike/drive over there on recycling pick-up day to put the items in someone else’s recycling box. A great place to look for all this information for the San Francisco Bay Area is www.stopwaste.org!

OtOther fun articles:

• Green special: My trail of trash: http://tinyurl.com/6f2j2o
• www.EcoGeek.Org: Science, technology gadgets and…baby seals. We’re in a bit of an eco-mess, but we’ve got the brains to lick any problem. And that’s why EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet.