The Uncommon Life

10 Ways to Go Green

April 21, 2011

We love spreading the word about conservation, so here are our favorite and most fun ways to live green. If you didn’t see our email this week, sign up to get tips like these mailed straight to your inbox!

Rice Sack

Ameet offered up some other helpful tips as well. He reuses glass jars, like those tomato sauce, salsa and pickles come in, to store dried beans, lentils and nuts. He buys these dry goods in bulk, too, cutting down on packaging.

He also freezes compost, and then takes it to a community garden or the local farmers market at Grand Army Plaza, here in Brooklyn.

When Jen does have to eat on the run, she requests as little packaging as possible. She skips the bag when it comes to grab and go foods, like a muffin from the coffee shop or an apple from the fruit stand.

Line drying is easy, and you can save those quarters you would have fed the dryer! For more line drying options check out the Window Drying Rack and the Wallfix Drying Rack.

Our warehouse supervisor, Mary Catherine, shared her water conservation tip as well. “My partner has an awful habit of running the water when he brushes his teeth. He is aware of it but can never seem to remember in the moment. That was until I started yelling at him to- ‘THINK of the WALRUSES- the poor WALRUSES’ whenever he ran the faucet. I don’t know why that became the saying…but I wanted to chastise him with the idea of impacting cute (but silly looking) animals instead of nagging about water use. He has improved greatly since the walruses started judging his water misuse.”

Try coming up with your own silly saying to remind loved ones to conserve—without feeling like you’re nagging!

Heather’s repurposing skills don’t stop with shoes. Once, she asked a hardware store for one of the giant spools they store wire or tubing on and they gave it to her for free. She turned it into a mosaic side table by gluing different colored pieces of glass (from old bottles, of course) to the sides.

Little things, like reusing newspaper as packing material or gift wrap, can make a big difference. Trini’s other tips, such as turning off the lights when you leave the room, unplugging electrical devices when you’re not using them and waiting until you have a full load to run the washing machine, all add up to a lot of saved energy!

Learn more how those wriggly little guys can help you compost at findworms.com, and check out our countertop composting post for another easy way to break down those orange peels and coffee grounds.

Julia got the idea to turn wine corks into bathroom decor from a blog post she read over on Craftynest. Craft bloggers often have great rainy day projects for turning would-be trash into newfound home accessories.

Looking for something amazing to do with old grocery bags? Ohio-based artist Cathy Kasdan created a 1950’s outfit out of her’s.

So where’s the 10th tip, you say? Well, that’s up to you. We’re looking for more ways we can go green, and would love to hear your ideas!

5 Comments

  • Reply Rachelle April 22, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    Loved all of your greenideas!
    To save on gas, I make a list of all my shopping and only go once a week. I also schedule all other appointments for that day. -Really has cut down on the amount of gas we use.

  • Reply Cooking Probe Thermometer June 2, 2011 at 2:25 pm

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  • Reply Demetrius Togni June 24, 2011 at 6:40 pm

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  • Reply Joe December 15, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    I agree with Demetrius. There are problems with the ads which overlap your text when I use Firefox. Apart from that, great site!
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  • Reply Desentupidora October 27, 2014 at 3:46 pm

    Your list to go green is very good! I’am from Brazil, and all my co-workers here at Desentupidora enjoy it your list, and they will try to do some of them here in our country. Anyway, good job!

    Thanks!

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