GET GREEN: How many light bulbs does it take to change a world?

You can fix a leaky facet, block the draft beneath the front door, and use higher efficiency light bulbs. These are such simple deeds that I bet you wouldn’t think twice about doing them. But, by taking “living green” to the next level, you can make an even larger impact; not only on your wallet, but for the planet. Here are two green-conscious things you can do right now that you might not have ever considered…

1)Junk Mail: Return to Sender
Here’s a BIG “beef” of mine. Everyday I find at least one or two credit card mailers from banks asking me to open up another credit card account. Here’s what I’ve started doing.

Inside the mailers are useless materials that don’t have your name or any of your ID information. There is also a return postage envelope. I stuff the envelope with the material that does not have any ID information and mail it back to the sender.

Remember: Do NOT put a return address sticker on the envelope. That way, the sender is then paying for their useless garbage. Now, I know it’s a VERY small protest, but if more people started dong it, I'd hope there would be less mailers.

Why is this in the "GET GREEN" section? At least 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail and 28 billion gallons of water are used to produce the paper. All of these resources are wasted to produce items many people don't even look at. About half of all junk mail is thrown out unopened or unread, and the rate of response to junk mail is less than 2 percent. The result is that more than 4 million tons of paper are wasted every year, according to the Native Forest Network (now known as the WildWest Institute).

Junk mail also has a direct negative economic impact as well. An estimated $320 million of local taxes are used to dispose of junk mail annually, and transportation of junk mail costs about $550 million per year, not to mention the air pollution generated during transport.

You can fight back. Read about effective ways to reduce and even eliminate junk mail.

But, better yet, stop the junk mail from coming into your home for GOOD! Go to: http://charityguide.org/volunteer/fifteen/junk-mail.htm.

2)You Don't Know What You Don't Know

If you’re like me, you don’t even know you’re paying for energy that you don’t know you’re using. Even if you hit the off switch on many appliances they continue to draw power. Anything that has an LED bulb that glows even after you turn it off will continue to suck energy. The TV, cell phones, computers, and printers are just a few vampires lurking in your home.

It’s very easy to just unplug them from the wall sockets and plug them into a power strip instead. Then when you leave the room or go to bed just flip the switch and that will cut the flow to the appliances. The “glowing appliances” could be sucking the average home owner $200.00 a year. Now that’s worth knowing about!

To read more about what you can do, go to:http://charityguide.org/volunteer/fewhours/global-warming.htm.

~Eileen Koff, CPO
To The Next Level