It should be an easy concept. Although we grew up as Kermit the Frog fans, singing along to “It’s 
not easy being green,” things have changed. Not only is it easy, it’s time. It’s as easy as reconsidering your day-to-day activities.
The grocery store. You have your deli meat, your weekly dose of vegetables, and maybe a bottle of wine or soda. But when you get to the checkout, the answer to paper or plastic should be a given. Neither.
There is an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags consumed worldwide. These non-biodegradable plastic bags end up as litter, wind blown into the ocean, and kill turtles and whales that mistake the bags for food.
The latest in trendy stores like Whole Foods and other organic hot-spots, is to BYOB (a.k.a bring your own bag). Specific websites have even been organized with plenty of Earth-friendly fashions to choose from if khaki just isn’t your color. It only gets better from there—many stores today offer a bonus—cash. A reimbursement for bringing your own bag—and helping to save the planet.
The gas station…or not. How many times have you stopped to pump gas and while you’re on your way towards ‘full,’ you throw out extraneous water bottles. These are the same water bottles that have been rolling around in your backseat floor for a week now. While I personally believe that there should be a law mandating that for every garbage can, there’s a recycling bin right next to it, it hasn’t come into play yet. So keep one of those canvas bags in your trunk to organize your recyclables until your next run-in with a recycling bin—most likely at your home.
Greening nine-to-five. Similar to my mandate proposal, there should be the blue pail option near every garbage or paper distributor as well in the office. Copying machine? Recycling bin. Printer? Recycling bin. Or better yet, stop printing. Unless you actually have to bring something somewhere that doesn’t have an accessible computer, there’s no need to waste the paper. Either keep it on your screen or e-mail to whomever you need to show. It can be easy going green.
Seeing the light.
According to CBS, if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs. What’s more, you save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each environmentally-friendly bulb’s lifetime. And hey, you also need to recycle them once they’ve shone their last light at cool places like IKEA.
Teaming up with Fido. Yes, Fido can help save the planet too! And best of all, it’s 
good for him! Earth-friendly pet-care products are also pet friendly. Check out alcohol and pesticide-free grooming products and when you’re done attempting to bathe your pooch, treat him to toys made with organically grown cotton or natural dyes. These products also help reduce pet allergies and are biodegradable.
Although you’re allowed to keep your pal Kermit high up on his pedestal, it’s time to face 2008. Everyone’s talking about it, so it’s time to show them how easy it actually can be.
Please consider the environment before printing this column.
Michael Stephen Said:
on May 1, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Recycled plastics are OK, but they are not degradable and will still lie around in the environment for decades. However, ordinary plastic and recycled plastic can now be made oxo-biodegradable.
This is done by including d2w additive (see http://www.degradable.net) which makes it degrade, then biodegrade, on land or at sea, in the light or the dark, in heat or cold, in whatever timescale is required, leaving NO fragments NO methane and NO harmful residues. Oxo-bio passes the tests in American Standard 6954, and is made from a by-product of oil refining which used to be wasted, so nobody is importing extra oil to make it.
There is little or no additional cost.
Plastics made from crops, are up to 400% more expensive, they are not strong enough for use in high-speed machinery, and they emit methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) in landfill. Also, it is wrong to use land, water and fertilisers to grow crops for bioplastics and biofuels, which drives up the cost of food for the poorest people. See The Guardian 26th April 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/26/waste.pollution?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront
The same applies to growing cotton or jute to make durable bags. These rapidly become unhygienic and become a durable form of litter, but they can be made from oxo-bio plastic to last up to 5 years.
Oxo-bio plastics degrade in the upper layers of a landfill, but they are completely inert deeper in the landfill in the absence of oxygen. They do not emit methane at any stage.
Paper bags use 300% more energy to produce, they are bulky and heavy and are not strong enough. They will also emit methane in landfill
Compostability of plastics is an irrelevance because compostable plastics are far too expensive and there are very few industrial composting facilities. Moreover, as it is difficult and expensive to separate compostable plastics from other plastics, industrial composters do not want plastic of any kind in their feedstock. Home composting of plastic packaging is dangerous and should not be encouraged, as it is often contaminated with meat, fish, or poultry residues, and temperatures do not rise high enough to kill the pathogens.
Chantel Said:
on May 3, 2008 at 9:16 am
Uuummm HELLO! Being green IS an easy concept. You all probably are doing things that are helping the environment and don’t even know it. Every time you pay a bill online…GUESS WHAT? You’re participating in green activity. Same thing with carpooling and getting direct deposit. Little things like that are what got me to join the green club not to long ago. I didn’t even have to make major changes in my routine to be honest. The most dramatic thing I did was probably switch to bioheat, and I’m glad I did. It’s hands down the most amazing thing happening right now in my house. And in the winter OMG it turns my cold days into warm and cozy ones. I was sold when I found out that it’s heating oil blended with products like rice and cotton oil. It’s biodegradable and non-toxic. I’m telling you it’s the hottest thing happening in the green community right now.
Working for NORA is what encouraged me to go green in the first place. I got a lot of cool facts from:
http://oilheatamerica.com/index.mv?screen=bioheat
Check it out and see what kind of fabulous tips you can use too!