Our first tip was
about the environmental evils of plastic grocery store bags. It take about 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose. Plastics don't biodegrade, they photo-degrade, breaking down into tiny toxic pieces that contaminate soil and water or harm wildlife.(Baggubag.com)
Since we are all now one year wiser and more eco-conscious we want to suggest you pledge to bring your own reusable bags to the store from now on. The average person uses 300-700 plastic bags per year! Bring your own reusable bags when you shop for groceries, drug store sundries, clothes or ANYTHING!
The Green/Pink Best of Reusable Bags
Most Affordable
Ikea DIMA bag costs $1.50 and we LOVE the chic black and white stripes (courtesy of Mary)
Best
to Bag Tuck in Your Purse/PocketBaggu bags are incredibly strong (hold up to 25lbs) made of nylon (weigh 2oz) and fold up into a tiny 5" by 5" flat pouch. They come in hot colors and are very reasonably priced at $8.00 each!
Best Socially Conscious Bag
The Feed Bag
1 bag feeds an impoverished child at school for a year through United Nations World Food Programme.
This is the perfect gift for those who have everything.
Now it's your turn....
What have you learned this year from reading this blog?
What environmental actions has Green/Pink inspired or informed you to incorporate into your life?
What issues/products do you want to know more about?
We want to hear from you dear reader. You can post your responses in the comment section or email us at jessicaandlydia@gmail.com. Make sure you let us know what you want to learn more about this year. Any green questions we can answer or demystify for you? Let us know.
Changes we made this year:
Lydia 2007
- bought a Prius (best decision I ever made, 45-50 miles per gallon!)
- changed 50% of my household light bulbs to CFL's
- NEVER take plastic or paper bags from stores, I always bring my own canvas bags
- Started a recycling in my house and at work
- try to walk to places within a mile of my house
- switched to green power with my energy company
- bought a reusable water bottle
- shop more frequently at the farmer's market
- buy local and organic products whenever possible
- order local wines, cheeses, beer even prosciutto etc. whenever possible in restaurants
- save and reuse wrapping paper and ribbon
- send e-cards for birthdays (i love someecards.com) instead of mailing them
- use cloth napkins at home 80% of the time
- buy eco friendly laundry detergent
- buy and order sustainable fish
- registered to get off the junk mail lists
- switched to paperless bills and banking
- unplug household electronics
Lyd's eco-goals for 2008
- switch my household to all green cleaning supplies
- finish changing to all CFL light bulbs in the house
- consistently use green dry cleaning
- walk more
- bike to places instead of drive
Jessica
- Started using canvas bags for grocery and other shopping (never had done this before our first post last year!! It was my first big change!)
- Started eating less meat, especially red meat
- Changed 50% of household bulbs to CFL
- Gave all gifts this year in recycled gift wrap
- Switched to green cleaning supplies
- Switched to green detergent
- Switched to post-consumer paper towels, tissue paper and toilet paper
- Switched to green energy with the electric company
- Upped the recycling in my own home
- More conscious about buying organic and local produce
- Stopped being super reliant on the AC and heat--started relying more on fans and clothing choices to keep me at my ideal temp
- Registered to keep off junk mail lists
- Unplug cell phone charger and other appliances when not in use
- Changed the power settings on my laptop to be more energy efficient
- Discovered the joys of the L.A. Subway system!! (Really, it's very cool.)
- Started the long process of unlearning my horrible habit of leaving lights on in rooms that I am not in!! I am sooo much better now!!
- Switch to online bill-pay (even though everyone says this is easy, it is very intimidating and scary to me!)
- Be more vigilant about tire pressure and other ways to optimize my fuel efficiency
- Be more consistent about using Terra Pass when I travel
- Get more involved in the political aspect of environmentalism
3 comments:
Happy Birthday GITNP!! You have influenced my life greatly. I went from being 0% aware or conscious about the environment, to very concerned and committed to the cause all because of you. I bought a hybrid car last year, started recycling, use eco-friendly household products and dry cleaning service, walk as much as possible, re use my grocery bags that I keep in my trunk at all times, do all my banking and bills online, and have tried to spread the word to everyone I know. Much love to you gals for going above and beyond to do your part!
Happy birthday to GITNP. We have cut our electric bill by 50% by simply turning off the lights more often and cutting our air conditioning use. I have all my bills on bill pay. Unfortunatley Spencer continues to be wasteful with just about everything, but Adam and I are slowly making progress.
Happy 1st B-day and I hope you have many many more. Thanks to you what could have been an extremely expensive electrical bill for my store was actually really reasonable! The store has green power through the power company and all of the major electrical components are plugged into one (count it one) green power strip tat i turn off every night. I even convinced Russell to test drive a Prius and surprise! He loved it so much he bought one :)
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