General GREEN Tips
| General GREEN Tips For tips covering various categories for living in an environmentally -friendly way. |
| Want to Share tips or links to useful information? Go to Groups & share directly in a group, or contact us, for consideration in adding to a green page. |
| GREEN tHUMBs For general tips and suggestions on planting and caring for plants & trees. |
| GREEN Animals For general information & tips on animals and how they are important and helpful to the environment. |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. ... And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Genesis 1:26, 28 KJV |
| GOD gave us all the responsibility of caring for the earth. Here are some ways to obey GOD by being more GREEN. |
| REDUCE / REUSE / RECYCLE / REPLENISH / RESEARCH |
| REDUCE |
 | Use reusable shopping bags. Keep at least one or two in your vehicle, and when you purchase a small number of things, | |
| carry them out without a bag, and place them in a reusable shopping bag in your vehicle. Or at least, if you do not have an reusable bags in your vehicle, and you're shopping in several stores, try using the same bag, instead of getting another bag at each store. | ||
| When printing something, and the paper jams or misprints, rather than throwing it all away, cut into smaller pieces and use | |
| the blank side as scratch paper. This also helps to reduce the number of trees cut down for use as paper since fewer packs of scratch paper would be bought, and since you would be buying less scratch paper, also helps to save money. | ||
| Use less electricity (and save money on utility bills) by opening window coverings and/or doors for light during the day. | |
| Make an effort to only use lights when it is dark, or when necessary for reading. | ||
| Consider having a Green day, once a week (or start more gradually with once a month). Have a day where all but the bare | |
| minimum of electricity is used. Turn off computers & game systems, and play board games, cards, or something outside. Leave all the TVs off and read books, or use this day a set time to share "what's news" with family members or friends. And eat sandwiches or other cold foods/snacks instead of cooking (or cook outdoors on the grill). | ||
| Buy or make a rain barrel to water plants, or leave watering cans outside & upright so that they fill up when it rains, rather | |
| than using the water hose or sprinkler system. Although, it's not as convenient as a sprinkler system, it is better for the environment & you. By watering the plants yourself, you are outside in the fresh air & sunshine (sunshine is necessary for your body to process and use vitamin D), and buy walking around your yard, you're getting, at least, a little bit of exercise. | ||
| Reduce waste by throwing scraps out for dogs, or if okay with local authorities, throw scraps into wooded areas for wild | |
| animals to eat, which may in turn help keep animals out of yards and trash cans. |
| REUSE |
| RECYCLE |
| REPLENISH |
| RESEARCH |
| OTHER SOURCES |
| WEBSITES |
| TELEVISION |
| Instead of "throwing out" old items, have a garage sale or donate them to a thrift store. (The proceeds of many thrift stores | |
| are used to fund various types of assistance programs; a few of which are: homeless shelters, homes for battered women & children, programs to help adults rehabilitate from alcohol/drugs, and to help provide food & clothing to needy families.) Donating to thrift stores, in many cases, not only helps the environment by allowing items to be reused, but also helps others in need. (Check with individual thrift stores in your area to see what program(s) their proceeds funds.) | ||
| Cut larger pieces of printed paper (with outdated information or mistakes) into smaller pieces and use the blank sides as | |
| scratch paper. | ||
| When you're looking to add something different or a conversation piece to your home/office, check out antique shops or | |
| salvage yards for pieces or ideas (which may or may not need some work). | ||
| Use old, broken jewelry as decor for arts & crafts for scrapbooking decorations. | |
| Cut out pictures/articles in magazines that you like & use them in frames for art pieces, or use them in arts & crafts or | |
| scrapbooking pages. |
| Recycle plastic bags - many larger chains, such as Walmart, and Kroger, have begun to provide bins at the front of the | |
| store for customers to put used plastic bags so they can be recycled. | ||
| Set up bins/trash cans to collect aluminum, glass, paper, and/or plastic in your home. They can be taken to community | |
| recycling bins, sold for cash, or sometimes given to schools, churches, or other organizations for fund raisers. | ||
| If your community does not have recycling bins to take recyclable products, petition your city government to get them. They | |
| could, potentially, provide bins for people to take recyclables, sell them and take those proceeds to use to add/improve local parks, zoos, or the local schools. | ||
| Some places, such as TerraCycle, will donate money for items that you recycle, such as used drink and candy wrappers. | |
| (Donations are made to school or non-profit organization of your choice.) Go to TerraCycle for more information and to sign up. |
| Recycled items are reprocessed at a recycling facility and are used as material in new products. |
| Reused items are items that are used again or for a different purpose. |
| If you have tree(s) cut down, plant some more, or donate to an organization, such as the Arbor Day Foundation, that helps | |
| to plant trees. | ||
| If you harm or kill an animal, whether accidental or from hunting, give back by giving a donation, or supporting in another | |
| way, organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund, National Wildlife Foundation, Georgia Wildlife, or a local wildlife organization, that helps to monitor, control, and protect animals in an the area. |
| Before beginning a task, do research. Before spraying insecticides on plants, find out about the insects that are in/on your | |
| plants/garden. Some insects are useful or necessary for your plants. There are insects that pollinate, insects that eat pest insects, or even insects that help aerate the soil. | ||
| Before backing and idea, find out more about it. Is the idea really going to help, or just trade one headache for another? For | |
| example, electric cars...we are told to reduce the amount of electricity we use, but electric cars will increase the use of electricity. So how is that helpful to the environment? And, the increased use of electricity poses another possible threat... click here to read about possible water shortages due to the increase electricity usage. |
| Always look for the greenest way to do a task. Before beginning any task/project or backing an idea, find out more about it. |
| When you use/take from the environment, find some way to give back. |
 | HGTV has many shows that are | |
| centered around environmental friendliness, and most of the programs share many tips, including products that are environmentally friendly. | ||
| Discovery Channel's, Planet Green, | |
| is ALL about being green. Discovery channel has dedicated an entire channel to help people learn ways to get Green & stay Green. |
| The channels/programs know that there are economic concerns as well, and they do share many economical ways of being green. |