5 Green Habits That Matter More Than Recycling

By Mat McDermott, Planet Green

So, like every person trying to do their part to reduce their personal carbon emissions and make the most of the natural resources we all consume you recycle right? If you’re an average Planet Green reader you probably do a bit more than the average US citizen who recycles about one third of the waste they produce, preventing about 1600 pounds of carbon being released into the atmosphere. That’s a good thing, but do you want to do even more? Here are five things you can do which reduce your emissions as much or more than recycling:

Drink Less Bottled Water = 2.6 Tons CO2

You’ve probably heard it dozens of times, you really should be avoiding bottled water. It uses figurative tons of resources to bottle and ship to you, and much of the time (at least in the developed world) is no more pure than the water coming out of your tap. Even if you regularly drink tap water there’s probably some time when you’ve forgotten your water bottle, or the tap water isn’t exactly palatable, whatever. So you reluctantly buy a bottle of water. But oh how fast those emissions add up! Even if you only do this once per month, over the year you’ve just emitted 2.6 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Twice as much as you’ve saved by recycling. So, really make the effort and reduce your bottled water consumption.

Related: The Story of Bottled Water

(click through to the end, or click back, for a printable list)

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Shalvah L.

5:01AM PST on Feb 14, 2012

I believe EVERYTHING matters. And EVERYTHING adds up! It's true we have habits we may not even consider to be harmful to the environment, therefore we need to be made aware of these and do the best we can to 'kick' the habits. It all helps, do what YOU can!

send a green star

Emma S.

9:52AM PST on Nov 20, 2011

I feel a bit smug as I already do quite a lot of this - but I've still got a very long way to go!

Vanessa S.

8:32AM PDT on Aug 20, 2011

Great article. Thank you so much for posting. I am definitely guilty of using bottled water, nut I am and will definitely continue to eliminate that habit as soon as possible.

John S.

1:33PM PDT on Apr 27, 2011

Thanks for trying. What this argument ignores is that organic farming is essentially a closed-loop system, relying heavily on animal manure as a source of nitrogen. Livestock numbers would have to increase significantly, and the corollary of this is that meat and dairy produce would be an integral part of a global organic diet unless farm animals were to be simply a source of fixed nitrogen.

Marie J.

9:54AM PDT on Apr 23, 2011

To help the environment the most is having your utility co get thier energy from a greener source. If you live in CT,MD,PA,NJ or NYC you can do just that. Nothing changes on your bill and they still service you incase of power outages. The best part is it costs less then what you are paying now. So your helping the environment by going greener and putting some "green" back into your wallet. The company name is Viridian and hears my website for info and if you like you can become a customer as well. www.viridian.com/luvgreen This company has stopped over 85 million lbs of carbon emissions from all their customers going greener!

Eternal G.

3:46PM PST on Mar 10, 2011

Ta for the tips!

Ioney W.

10:18AM PST on Mar 9, 2011

Interesting article*

Leslie C.

3:06PM PST on Feb 28, 2011

thanks :)

2:25PM PST on Feb 28, 2011

Thanks, useful information. I try to do these. While I travel full time for work I try to take the train, I stay home for my vacations.

Joyce S.