Recycle

In 2005, U.S. residents, businesses, and institutions produced more than 245 million tons of garbage, which is approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day. That is up from 2.7 pounds per person per day in just the last 35 years. When you consider the energy used to transport waste to the landfill and the landfill gases that escape into the atmosphere, each pound of waste we create generates roughly 1.5 pounds of greenhouse gases. Recycling half of all household-generated waste can reduce your CO2 footprint by 2400 pounds per year.

Most everyone has heard the phrase "reduce, reuse and recycle." This advertising campaign captures the main components of a strategy aimed at reducing the amount of waste we generate.

• Reducing or preventing waste means consuming and throwing away less. It includes purchasing durable, long-lasting goods, seeking environmentally friendly (non-toxic) products and packaging, and redesigning products to use less raw material in production, have a longer life, or be used again after their original use. By reducing waste, we prevent greenhouse gas emissions, reduce pollutants, save energy, conserve resources, and reduce the need for new landfills and combustors.

• Reusing items also reduces waste, and not just by preventing an item from being thrown away. Waste is generated throughout the life cycle of a product, from extracting the raw materials, transporting them to processing facilities, and manufacturing them for use as a finished product. Repairing items that are broken, donating unwanted items, or selling them saves energy and raw materials used to make a new replacement. It also saves money. Examples for reusing every-day items include refilling bottles, using cloth napkins and towels, and using ceramic coffee mugs.

• Recycling converts used materials into valuable resources, preventing them from contributing to landfill waste. Recycling is one of the best environmental success stories of the late 20th century. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recycling diverted 79 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 2005, up from 34 million tons in 1990. By 2002, almost 9,000 curbside collection programs served roughly half of the American population. Curbside programs, along with drop-off and buy-back centers, resulted in a diversion of about 32 percent of the nation's solid waste in 2005.

• Composting is another form of recycling, in which food and yard waste is converted into humus, a soil-like material, which can be used in gardens, landscaping and other applications. "Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. That’s a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful and environmentally beneficial compost instead! Composting keeps organic wastes out of landfills, provides nutrients for the soil, protects soils from erosion and reduces the need for fertilizers and pesticides.

• "By recycling, you can make a positive impact on our planet and reduce the amount you throw away. Last year, Indianapolis citizens recycled over 28 million pounds of recyclable items. By recycling, we conserve natural resources, prevent and reduce pollution, save energy, create jobs and stimulate the development of greener technologies."

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Municipal Solid Waste , found at www.epa.gov/msw/facts.htm .
• David Gershon, Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds, p. 7 (2006).
• Environmental Defense, found at: www.fightglobalwarming.com/content.cfm?contentID=5114.
• Nuvo, Indy's Alternative Voice, Guide To Recycling 2007 , in collaboration with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc.

Reduce your hot water usage

Reducing the amount of hot water you use can result in significant reductions in energy usage, saving you money and further reducing your CO2 footprint. "A family of four each showering five minutes a day can use about 700 gallons per week—a three-year drinking water supply for one person! Water-conserving showerheads and faucet aerators can cut hot water use in half. That family of four can save 14,000 gallons of water a year and the energy required to heat it."

• Heating hot water for a 10-minute shower can generate as much as 4 pounds of CO2. By staying in the shower for 5 minutes instead of 10 and ensuring that you have a low-flow showerhead, you can have a pleasurable shower and annually save several hundred pounds of CO2. As for baths, they can use up to twice the amount of hot water you need for a 5-minute shower.

• Turning the water off when you are soaping up, shaving or brushing your teeth saves money not only by reducing the amount of water you are using, but by reducing the gas or electricity needed to heat the water. It is yet another step you can take to reduce your CO2 footprint.

• Installing a low-flow showerhead can greatly reduce the amount of water, and hence CO2 produced in heating the water, you use when showering. Installing low-flow showerheads to use less hot water can provide reductions in CO2 of 350 pounds per year.

• In the case of kitchen and bathroom faucets, aerators, the screw-on tips, restrict the flow rate of the faucet. Aerators are inexpensive to replace and are one of the most cost-effective water conservation measures.

• American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, found at: https://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/topwater.htm .
• David Gershon, Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds, p. 9 (2006).
• Environmental Defense, 20 Simple Steps to Undo Global Warming, found at: http://www.fightglobalwarming.com .
• U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, found at: www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/water_heating/index.cfm/mytopic=13050 .

Reduce the water used for dishwashing

A common misconception is that washing dishes by hand saves hot water. In reality, washing dishes by hand several times a day can be more expensive than operating an energy-efficient dishwasher, especially if you only operate it with full loads.

• "Each time you run your dishwasher, you produce approximately two pounds of CO2. Hand-washing dishes inefficiently can use up to 15 gallons of hot water or almost 3 pounds of CO2 per dish-washing. Through greater dishwashing efficiency you can reduce your CO2 footprint in this area by 25% or more."


• One feature that makes a dishwasher more energy efficient is a booster heater. Virtually all dishwashers available today use booster heaters to further heat the water supplied by the water heater to higher temperatures required for dishwashing, so you can reduce the temperature of your water heater to 120° for additional energy savings.


• Many of today's dishwashers incorporate soil-sensors to adjust water use depending on how dirty the dishes are in each load washed. Recent studies demonstrate that most new dishwashers do a great job cleaning even the dirtiest dishes without pre-rinsing. So give yourself a break and skip the unnecessary step of pre-rinsing; you'll save money along with precious water, energy, and time.

• U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, found at: http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/water_heating/index.cfm/mytopic=13050 .
• David Gershon, Low Carbon Diet: A 30Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds, p. 10 (2006).
• American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, found at: https://www.aceee.org/consumerguide/topdish.htm .

Wash and dry your clothes more efficiently

About 90% of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water. Using less water and using cooler water are two ways to reduce the amount of energy used for washing clothes. Typical electric clothes washers and dryers generate 5 pounds of CO2 per washer/dryer cycle. In most cases, washing clothes in cold water gets them just as clean as washing them in warm or hot water, and the CO2 savings are substantial – about 2 pounds per load. You can further reduce the amount of energy used for washing clothes by purchasing a new, front-loading machine.

• Front-loading washing machines, also known as horizontal-axis washers, use much less water and energy than conventional top-loading, or vertical-axis, machines. This is because in a conventional top-loader machine, the tub must be filled with water to keep all the clothes wet. In contrast, a front-loading machine tumbles the clothes in water, thereby requiring less water because the tub does not need to be filled completely.


• Resource-efficient washers also reduce the energy required for clothes drying. After completing the rinse cycle, these washers spin clothes faster than conventional top-loading washers, so the remaining moisture content of the clothes is lower. This means clothes need less time in the dryer. Field studies have also shown that resource-efficient washers are gentler on clothes. Less dryer time also reduces wear-and-tear.


• As for clothes dryers, the energy use of dryers currently on the market does not vary widely. Other than the type of fuel you use to run you dryer, the major energy consideration is whether the dryer uses sensors to automatically turn off the dryer once clothes are dry and, if so, the type of sensing mechanism. "Compared with timed drying, you can save about 10% with temperature-sensing controls, and 15% with moisture-sensing controls."


• The best way to save energy and money to dry your clothes is to hang them on a clothesline. By using a clothesline instead of your dryer, you can save 1,016 pounds of CO2 annually.

• U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Energy Saver$: Tips on Saving Energy & Money at Home, p. 25 (June, 2005).
• David Gershon, Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds, p. 11 (2006).
• Roon Frost, Fight Global Warming, Buy Organic! Magazine, Summer, 2007.

• Alliance to Save Energy, found at www.energyhog.org/adult/pdf/EnergyFacts.pdf .
• Energy Star, Where Does My Money Go?, found at www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=products.pr_pie .
• Source: An Inconvenient Truth: Ten Things To Do, found at http://www.climatecrisis.net/pdf/10things.pdf .

Drive smarter

"U.S. residents drive an average of 10,000 miles per year per capita – for every adult, teenager, and toddler. For a car that gets 20 mpg, each mile driven is equivalent to a pound of CO2, which means the emissions add up fast." Making minor changes in your driving habits can improve your car's mileage per gallon, cutting global warming pollution and saving you anywhere from $200 to $500 each year.

• Travel light and pack smart. Extra weight decreases fuel economy. Hauling an extra 100 pounds in your vehicle reduces fuel economy by up to 2 percent. Place luggage inside rather than on the roof or trunk to minimize drag and increase mileage.


• Drive less aggressively. Aggressive driving—rapid acceleration and braking—can lower gas mileage by as much as 33 percent on the highway and 5 percent in town. Aggressive drivers are using an extra 125 gallons of gas and spending over $250 more than average drivers each year.


• Slow down. In highway travel, exceeding the speed limit by a mere 5 mph results in an average fuel economy loss of 6 percent.


• Know when to use the air. Air conditioning can decrease your fuel efficiency by as much as 12 percent in stop-and-go traffic, so consider cracking the windows. But at high speeds, driving with the windows open can decrease the overall efficiency of the vehicle.


• Don't idle. If you are stopping for more than ten seconds—except in traffic—turn off your engine.  Idling for more than ten seconds uses more gas and creates more global warming pollution than simply restarting your engine.


• Maintain your car. Keep your vehicle operating in peak performance by following these recommendations:
  
  • Keep your engine tuned properly. Checking spark plugs, oxygen sensors, air filters, hoses and belts are a few examples of maintenance that can save a vehicle owner up to 165 gallons of gas per year, resulting in potential savings of $380.
  
  
  • Check the tires. Have your wheels aligned and keep your tires properly inflated. Low tire pressure wastes over two million gallons of gasoline in the United States —every day. For every pound of pressure below recommended levels, fuel economy drops 1 percent. Keeping your tires properly inflated means saving about a tank of gas a year.
  
  
  • Drive less. No matter how smart you drive, leaving the car parked always saves more gas and pollution.


• Combine trips. Consider running all your errands in the same area at once, rather than making separate trips. Cutting a 20 mile trip out of your schedule each week can reduce your global warming pollution by more than 1,200 pounds a year and save you over $100 in gas expenses.


• Telecommute once a week. Americans traveled 614.5 billion miles to and from work in 2001. If all commuters worked from home just one day a week, we could save 5.85 billion gallons of oil and cut over 65 million metric tons (roughly 143 billion pounds) of carbon dioxide each year.


• Carpool and use public transportation when possible. An average 2005 passenger car costs about 31 cents per mile in fuel, maintenance and depreciation to drive.  If you share rides and use other means to get to work, you'll save yourself money, reduce congestion on the roads and cut your global warming pollution.


• When you are in the market for a new car, consider purchasing a fuel-efficient model. Fuel efficient vehicles, hybrids, and alternative fuel vehicles can save you a lot of money at the gas pump and go a long way to help the environment.

• David Gershon, Low Carbon Diet: A 30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds, p. 16 (2006).
• Environmental Defense, found at: http://www.fightglobalwarming.com/page.cfm?tagID=268.

Buy local

Anyone who longs for summer and the unbeatable taste of a home-grown tomato already knows the value of buying locally. Simply put, locally grown produce tastes better. It's also fresher, as most produce in the U.S. is picked 4 to 7 days before making it to the supermarket shelf, and is shipped an average of 1500 miles before being sold. "And this is when taking into account only US grown products! Those distances are substantially longer [7 to 14 days] when we take into consideration produce imported from Mexico, Asia, Canada, South America, and other places."

"The concept of buying local is simply to buy food (or any good or service) produced, grown, or raised as close to your home as possible. With industrialization, our food is now grown and processed in fewer and fewer locations, meaning it has to travel further to reach the average consumer's refrigerator. Although this method of production is considered efficient and economically profitable for large agribusiness corporations, it is harmful to the environment, consumers and rural communities."

• Longer delays between harvest and consumption promote the use of potentially harmful preservatives to keep foods stable longer. "Industrial-produced foods are also difficult to grow without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics and growth hormones, all of which can be damaging to both the environment and human health."
• Tremendous amounts of CO2 are produced in transporting foods from farmer to processing facility to supermarket. Much of the food found on grocery store shelves is trucked, flown in, or hauled in ocean freighters from all parts of the world. Buying from farmer's markets, food cooperatives and grocers who sell locally-produced foods goes a long way in reducing your CO2 footprint. "For every pound of local food you add to your weekly shopping list, you’ll keep 13 more pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere each year."
• In addition to large amounts of energy needed to process food before it heads to the local supermarket and to keep it refrigerated en route, food processing facilities use large amounts of paper and plastic packaging to keep food fresher and to make it look more appealing. "This packaging eventually becomes a waste that is difficult, if not impossible, to reuse or recycle."
• "Aside from the environmental harm that can result from processing, packaging and transporting long-distance foods, the industrial farms on which these foods are often produced are major sources of air and water pollution. Small, local farms tend to be run by farmers who live on their land and work hard to preserve it."
• According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, after peaking at nearly 7 million in 1935, by 1997 only 1.9 million U.S. farms remained. "Over the last decade our country has lost an average of 300 farms a week." "Family farms are going out of business at break-neck speed, causing rural communities to deteriorate. The U.S. loses two acres of farmland each minute as cities and suburbs spread into the surrounding communities. By supporting local farms near suburban areas and around cities, you help keep farmers on the land, and, at the same time, preserve open spaces and counteract urban sprawl."
• "By buying 10 percent of common fruits and vegetables locally, 300,000 gallons of fossil fuels are saved – preventing 8 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the air."

• Local Harvest, Why Buy Local?, found at: http://www.localharvest.org/buylocal.jsp
• Foodroutes, The Best Tasting Food Ripens Close to Home, found at: http://www.foodroutes.org/whycare2.jsp
• Sustainable Table, Buy Local, found at http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/buylocal/
• New American Dream, Carbon Conscious Consumer, found at http://c3.newdream.org/
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Farm and Rural Communities, Farm Number: Largest Growing Fastest, Agricultural Outlook (October, 2002), found at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/agoutlook/oct2002/ao295g.pdf
• Kingsolver, Barbara, Growing Trust, Mother Earth News, p. 70 (June/July, 2007), found at http://www.motherearthnews.com/Livestock-and-Farming/2007-06-01/Growing-Trust.aspx
• Natural Resources Defense Council, Simple Steps, Raw Facts, found at: http://www.simplesteps.org/content/view/96/46