Going green can seem like a big challenge and a major lifestyle change. When you take a closer look at the numerous aspects of green living, though, it’s clear that you can be much more environmentally friendly with just a few changes. Here are five tips for living an all-around greener life.
Greening Your Automobile Expenses
Many people don’t realize that they have a variety of options to meet their automotive needs. If you’re still using a car that requires regular gasoline or diesel, then you have plenty of room for improvement. When you’re in the market for a new car, consider buying an all-electric vehicle. Going electric saves you money by cutting out your weekly trip to the gas pump, oil changes,and engine repair costs. With an electric car, you can also use green electricity for an even more eco-friendly vehicle.
Greening Your Wardrobe
Fashion isn’t just about cotton, silk, and synthetic materials. Major players in the fashion industry constantly experiment with countless fabrics and materials. When it’s time for a wardrobe upgrade, be sure to look for new shirts, pants, and dresses composed of eco-friendly fabrics. Seek out clothing made from some of the most sustainable materials in fashion, like wool, which has a lower impact on the environment than most synthetic fabrics do. Other choices include bamboo, which is a great alternative to silk, and hemp, which is a breathable and pesticide-free replacement for cotton.
Greening Your Diet
You can make your diet much more environmentally friendly by relying on local, organic, and sustainable foods. You can find many of these by visiting a nearby farmers market, where you’ll discover a whole selection of locally grown and organic produce. This is a great way to reduce the amount of throwaway packaging you consume each year, which means you can contribute much less paper and plastic to your local landfill. Local food also requires less transportation and fuel to get to its final destination, making this a greener choice than consuming food from across the country or across the ocean.
When you eat local, you’ll also find numerous options for eating healthier food produced with fewer harmful chemicals. Consider eating even more locally by taking gardening classes and learning to grow your own food at home.
“Whether you start big by converting
your home to solar power or start small
by making a few changes to your diet,
going green will benefit you,
your community, and
the environment.”
Greening Your Home
A significant amount of your weekly and monthly budget goes toward household expenses, but you can adopt a few green habits to lower your costs and help the environment. Make small eco-friendly changes by installing sensors to turn lights off automatically and using smart thermostats to streamline your heating and cooling. These smart gadgets help you save energy by programming different temperatures throughout the day and allowing you to change your thermostat settings from just about anywhere via Wi-Fi.
Though small changes can go a long way, consider pursuing big changes, too. Making the switch to solar energy costs less than paying for traditional electricity, so you can save big everywhere in your house by converting to solar power.
Greening Your Vacation
Even taking a vacation can become a green project for you and your family. When planning your next trip, consider both how you travel and where you stay. Many hotels promote sustainable operations by using renewable energy, adopting recycling programs, and serving local food. When it comes to transit modes, remember that not every vacation has to be a road trip. Once in awhile, consider doing a staycation or taking the train instead of driving. No matter where you choose to go, taking an eco tour is a great way to see a new destination while helping the environment.
When you sit down and look at your budget, you might find the task of going green a little daunting at first. Decide where to focus your energy, and then put your eco-friendly plan into action. Whether you start big by converting your home to solar power or start small by making a few changes to your diet, going green will benefit you, your community, and the environment.
What are your favorite green living tips?
Share you thoughts and comments with us.
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These are awesome suggestions.
These are great ideas!
My house has no off-street parking, so an electric car is not an option–we’d have to run the power cord across the sidewalk and trip everybody! We have a hybrid car, which uses its gas engine to recharge its battery so that it can use its electric engine some of the time and thus use less gas. Here’s a one-year summary of our real-life fuel consumption. We also save gas by driving less often and shorter distances than most Americans.
Hi Becca,
Thank you so much for sharing your one year summary of your real life fuel consumption with us. I look forward to reading it.
These are great tips! So far, my family is more focused on greening our vehicles and diets. When we got a new car we made sure to get a hybrid that was fuel efficient. We’re also pretty involved in our local CSA which is where we get almost all of our veggies (we pick up the rest at the local farmers market). CSAs are a great option for people like me who don’t have room to garden. My tip is to join one if you can. 🙂
Hi Gina,
I love your green lifestyle tips. I have a wonderful farmer’s market nearby but I have been looking for an organic CSA in my town. I hope to find one soon.
We have been talking about going green and these tips will give us a starting point.