Average Joe Goes Green - Part 2 - The Easy Stuff

We started with the easy stuff we all read about: changing over from incandescent bulbs to compact florescent (CFL), and making sure we recycle our glass, plastic and paper. Oh, by the way, although CFL bulbs can last from 6-20 times longer than incandescent bulbs, they still do need to be properly recycled when they finally do burn out as they contain trace amounts of mercury. At this time, most curbside recycling companies do not accept these for recycling, so you will need to bring these to stores such as Ikea, Home Depot, Ace Hardware and other major retailers.

The wife and kids were real into our Going Green project, and our electric bill showed a slight reduction after transitioning to the CFL’s, so I started looking further. There were many simple things we found we could do, and techniques to reduce our paper, water and energy consumption. Reducing energy usage is a no-brainer, as that can help save us money in the long run. But I had to question what was the urgency in reducing paper and water? Doesn’t everyone use paper? Why is that an issue? And what about water? That just falls from the sky, and it’s quite inexpensive. Why should we be concerned about conserving our water?

Here is what I found out about paper. As most of us know, paper is made from trees. Trees remove carbon dioxide from the air and replace it with oxygen. Carbon dioxide is a major component of greenhouse gases which is said to be the major cause of global warming. Besides losing the important filtering of our air, the processes to turn trees into paper is extremely energy intensive (which generally burns fuel to generate electricity which produces massive amounts of greenhouse gases) and uses trillions of gallons of water. Then, although some paper is recycled, much of it, especially paper colored with inks like in magazines and catalogs, ends up in landfills. There, the inks, much of them petroleum and solvent based, can eventually leach into our water supply. And what about water? Unless you own a pristine spring, the water you use in your homes must go through many complex filtering and cleaning processes before it is deemed safe. Again, these processes consume a large amount of energy: energy which creates more greenhouse gases.

Armed with this knowledge, we began to take action. We started by electing e-statements from our financial institutions; e-billing from our regular suppliers; started reducing our junk mail (it is estimated the average American receives 42 lbs of junk mail every year); changed our shower and faucets to low-flow nozzles; used a simple milk container “device” to reduce the amount of water consumption for our toilets; and went back to using a broom to clean our walkways. We actually reduced our water usage by over 20%, and saved a few bucks in the process.

We are on the road to greenness! Our family is having fun, and I see that we could also potentially use Going Green to help the family budget. In future articles, I will continue to detail our family’s experience with Going Green in the hopes of helping everyone enjoy a healthier and greener today and tomorrow.

Keith Winn is the COO of GreenProfit Solutions, Inc. which assists businesses in becoming environmentally responsible. You may view their website at www.greenprofitsolutions.com or e-mail Keith at kwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com .