What can I do? I’m only one person!

In fact, there are any number of ways that you can personally help to have a more environmentally friendly home and community as a side effect you will likely also experience an increase in your personal health and well being and possibly save some money at the same time!

Start today and choose 1 or 2 ideas from the list below that you can fit into your daily routine.  As your new habits become routine, check back and try out a few more.

Encourage your friends, family, co-workers and neighbors to choose 1 or 2 items of their own!

We are continually adding to our list of helpful green tips, if you have a tip of your own that you would like to share we would love to hear from you!

In the Car

• Use a hybrid or small car which is practical to get around in and has higher fuel efficiency.
• Check the tire pressure the first of every month to ensure it is still sound to save on petrol needs.
• Live as close to your work as possible to reduce your commute and travel emissions.
• Carpool to office with friends and colleagues who live around you.

In your Personal Life:

Buy only what you really need:

• Next time you want to buy something you don’t need, wait thirty days and then make the decision to avoid impulse buys.
• Create the habit of taking only what you need in every situation.
• When choosing an item, think about the amount of energy used to make it before making the purchasing decision.

• Take your dry cleaning fabric to an Environmentally Friendly Cleaner; less use of chemical expand the life of your garments
• Use the dryer for your towels & sheets, use hangers for your clothes to dry naturally save fabrics and save you money.

Be responsible when throwing items in the trash:

• When dealing with hazardous waste (chemicals, paints, batteries), make sure you find out the proper place to dispose of them instead of adding them to the regular trash.
• Pass old clothes, books, shoes, electronics, and other household items to schools, orphanages and shelters in need.
• Bring your clothes to a dress maker to update and bring your shoes to a shoemaker instead of buying new one.
• Send extra hangers to your local dry cleaners.
• Keep and reuse all your rubber bands, paper clips, boxes and packaging material.

Be Mindful of your Water consumption:

• If your clothes are clean, do not get them washed after wearing them just once.

Use as little fossil fuel energy as possible:

• Dress warmly when it is cold instead of using a heating device.
• Garments such as socks and undergarments do not need to be ironed, so save the energy.

Try to avoid unnecessary waste:

• Always carry a cloth bag with you to bring home any purchases.
• Plan ahead and combine all your errands into one trip to save on emissions.
• Carry your own coffee mugs to office. Avoid using disposable cups.
• Try not to litter or waste water or food.  Encourage others to do the same.
• Buy products with less packaging. For example: Always buy ice cream in a cone so as not to add to the garbage created from the spoon and cup.
• Do not accept free promotional materials that are being handed out with lots of
  packaging.
• Walk wherever possible, and find stores near your home to get the things you need.
• If you have a choice, look for items sold in glass jars or easily reusable materials rather than plastic.

Enjoy your local surroundings:

• Take nature trips to natural parks nearby, but remember to leave no traces and respect the environment.
• Discover new parts of your region rather than take holidays far from home.

Invest in Change

• Invest in renewable energy consumption, their market is growing at a time when many markets are unstable, and you are also helping to develop their scale and efficiency.

Green Celebrations

• Never release balloons outside, and avoid using them for outdoor events.
• Create innovative décor and cards from recycled materials for weddings and special occasions instead of high-energy consuming materials.

• Ask for birthday presents to be eco-friendly and wrapped in newspaper, recycled one,  just be creative.

• For the next festival you celebrate, avoid adding emissions to the air with fireworks.

Stay Informed:

• Ask your favorite magazine and newspaper to offer more coverage of the green space.
• Sign up for The Climate Project – Canada monthly newsletter and visit our website for updated information on Climate Change.
• Organize a screening of The Inconvenient Truth movie with your friends.
• Check the internet for a Carbon Calculator website so you are conscious of your
  carbon footprint.

In your Home:

Save Energy:

• Keep the window shades open to allow natural light so you can turn off some of the lights.
• Keep plants in your home to help moderate the temperature, air quality, and keep you naturally feeling cool.
• Outdoor light bulbs can be changed to LEDs, which require even less energy than CFLs, and are non toxic to recylcle.
• Regularly cleaning the condenser coils found in the back or bottom of the refrigerator will maximize its efficiency.
• Keep the refrigerator away from heating appliances (ovens), windows and heating ducts.
• Check to make sure your refrigerator door seals when closes so that you don’t consume extra energy to keep things cool. When purchasing a home, ask the developer what energy saving principles they have implemented
• Keep your water heater on for 5-7 minutes only (and only when you really need warm
  water) as heating water takes a significant amount of energy.
• On cool evenings leave your windows open instead of switching on the AC or use an air conditioning running on a solar panel.
• Turn off lights and fans when you leave a room.
• Completely shut down your TV and computer from the power point when you are not using it.
• Read through your energy bill and find out the amount of electricity you are consuming.
  Then make a goal to reduce your consumption by 5% next month, 5% the following month, and see how much lower you can go.
  • The money you save on your energy bill, use it to donate for green initiatives, or investing in a more energy efficient appliance at home.

• Implement solar thermal heating in your building and you will actually start saving money very quickly.
• Ask your building society to change the building and hall lights to LEDs and CFLs. CFLs will save up to 66% in energy consumption. LEDs require even less energy!
• Use task lighting; instead of brightly lighting an entire room, focus the light where you need it.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

• The plastic bags you already have at home should be washed and reused.
• If you use toilet paper, paper towel or Kleenex stick to the bleach free ones that are made from recycled sources.

Conserve Water & Keep it Clean

• Wash dishes in a tub instead of under a running tap.
• Replace chemical cleaners with good old fashioned baking soda and vinegar and go for biodegradable dishwashing soap.
• Take short showers!
• Study your water bill and set goals to reduce your water consumption by 5% more
  every month for the next 6 months. See how low you can go.
• If there is a garden near your building, ask that the groundkeeper only water during the
  early morning or evening to avoid extra water needed to compensate evaporation.
• Leave grass clippings on top of a garden to act as a natural fertilizer.

• Fix your water leak right away. .
• When painting your home, use natural Indian paints or free VOC paint like (NATURA) from Benjamin Moore in lighter colours to bring in more natural light.

• Look into rainwater harvesting for your buildings water resource needs.

At the Dinner Table:

• Try and buy foods and goods that were produced locally.
• Stick to a vegetarian diet as much as possible. The consumption of livestock leads up to 18% of the world’s greenhouse gases.
  • If going vegetarian is too hard of a move at least try to avoid beef as this is the biggest contributor to green house gases.
  • If you must eat meat or fish, buy it from local sources and flavour it with local ingredients.
• Eat un-processed and un-packaged food whenever possible.
• When ordering food in, ask in advance for them not to include the napkins and plastic utensils.
• Steam rather than boil vegetables to save 25% of water needed.
• Do not ask for a plastic bag from a shopkeeper if the items are few enough to carry by hand.
• Eat more raw vegetables which are healthier for you as well as saves on cooking energy
• Pack lunches in reusable lunch bags and washable glass containers instead of plastic wrap and bags.
• Reuse the water used to wash veggies and fruits for watering your plants.
• Heat the water in a kettle not in open pot.
• Use smaller pots for cooking small portions.
• If you need two cups water for tea fill your kettle with only two cups. A lot of energy will be wasted heating up a full kettle full of water.
• Instead of boiling water for drinking, buy a filter on the market that uses little or no energy to purify your water.
• Soak lentils and rice for several hours before cooking to reduce the time and gas needed to cook it.
• Allow hot food to cool off before putting it in the refrigerator.
• Do not put uncovered liquids in the refrigerator. The liquids give off vapours that add to the compressor workload.
• Replace paper napkins in your home with cloth napkins.

• Do not wash the inside of your fridge, microwave with chemical, only hot water and baking soda.
• Replace paper napkins in your home with cloth napkins & reduce the number of paper napkins when eating out.

In the Community:

• Plant a tree that is indigenous to the area where you plant it.
• Donate old eyeglasses to a nearby optometrist clinic.
• Write to your favourite actor, restaurant owner, hotel owner, movie theatre, or band and ask them to go green with you.
• Write to your local MP, ministers in the government, and police station, about why the environment is a priority for you and your vote.
• Support environmental organizations with your actions and funding.