Earth Day post
Apr. 22nd, 2013 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catherineldfLast night, Jana and I were talking about a mutual acquaintance who, along with her husband, is working toward zero waste. They're growing their own food, recycling, buying bulk, etc. and have managed to reach the point where they only have a bag or two of disposable trash every couple of months. Frankly, I'm in awe. Our household of 2 humans/2 cats generates one bag of used cat litter (corn or wheat-based) and 1 bag of regular trash every week, plus several bags of recycling.
Our output is better than a lot of households but I'd love to do better.
Here's what we're doing by way of keeping it green(er) and roughly what it costs/saves us:
Participate in our utility's Windsource program ($2-5 extra per month).
Switched all our bulbs to compact fluorescent or LED - measurable decrease in electrical bills by several dollars a month.
Replaced appliances w/Energy Star ones as they wore out - decreases in electrical and natural gas bills
Use recycled products - saved on things like refilled print cartridges, plus buying bulk on paper products, cost for products in first place. Hard to say. Close to even?
Switch out cloth bags for plastic. Cost of bags: pretty minimal.
Bought into CSA from farm w/ sustainable practices. Costs about $300 for 6 months. We eat out less, we eat better and we're a lot more creative about canning/freezing and drying to preserve food. Some food savings, lots of not eating out savings.
Try not to drive one or both vehicles at least 1 day a week/car pool or pub transit when possible. Could do better on this. I'd love to shed one vehicle but it's not happening with our schedules. And biking is not a realistic option due to various physical ailments.
Recycle or compost maybe 50% or a bit more of our waste. Some savings, mostly just a generally fine idea.
Better insulation and new windows on the house - expensive, but reduced the heating bills and increased creature comfort.
How about you? Got anything that works well and inexpensively for green living?
Our output is better than a lot of households but I'd love to do better.
Here's what we're doing by way of keeping it green(er) and roughly what it costs/saves us:
Participate in our utility's Windsource program ($2-5 extra per month).
Switched all our bulbs to compact fluorescent or LED - measurable decrease in electrical bills by several dollars a month.
Replaced appliances w/Energy Star ones as they wore out - decreases in electrical and natural gas bills
Use recycled products - saved on things like refilled print cartridges, plus buying bulk on paper products, cost for products in first place. Hard to say. Close to even?
Switch out cloth bags for plastic. Cost of bags: pretty minimal.
Bought into CSA from farm w/ sustainable practices. Costs about $300 for 6 months. We eat out less, we eat better and we're a lot more creative about canning/freezing and drying to preserve food. Some food savings, lots of not eating out savings.
Try not to drive one or both vehicles at least 1 day a week/car pool or pub transit when possible. Could do better on this. I'd love to shed one vehicle but it's not happening with our schedules. And biking is not a realistic option due to various physical ailments.
Recycle or compost maybe 50% or a bit more of our waste. Some savings, mostly just a generally fine idea.
Better insulation and new windows on the house - expensive, but reduced the heating bills and increased creature comfort.
How about you? Got anything that works well and inexpensively for green living?