http://www.care2.com/greenliving/twenty-steps-to-a-more-natural-life.html
20 Steps to a More Natural Life
Adapted from The Druidry Handbook, by John Greer (Weiser Books 2006).
You can comfortably reshape your life using simple methods like these. They are logical, doable, inexpensive, and all together combine to help you live a life as a caretaker instead of as an exploiter of the earth. What better way to live?
1. If you have room for a garden, or can join a public garden, grow some of your own food using organic methods.
2. Buy organic, recycled and other Earth-friendly products instead of conventional ones, even when they cost more.
3. Set the heat 10 degrees cooler and the air conditioning 10 degrees warmer, replace high-wattage light bulbs with efficient ones, and make a habit of turning off anything that doesn’t actually need to be on.
4. Improve your home’s heat efficiency by adding insulation, installing insulated window coverings, weather-stripping doors, and putting gaskets behind electrical outlets.
5. Put flow restrictors on your faucets and showerhead to save water. If you can’t replace existing toilets with a low-flow version, place a half-gallon jug full of water in the toilet tank to reduce the amount used in each flush.
6. Never buy anything on impulse. If you think you want something, wait at least 24 hours and see if you still want it then.
7. Plant trees whenever and wherever you can, and tend and water them until they can survive on their own.
8. Take a hard look at the electric or gas-powered devices you own. How many could you replace with low-tech equivalents, or simply get rid of? Gather up any that can be replaced or discarded and donate them to charity.
9. Contact your local water, electricity, and heating fuel utilities to find out what conservation programs, rebates, and incentives they offer, and use of them.
10. Shop at a local farmers’ market or join a community-supported agriculture program.
11. Learn how to entertain yourself and your family and friends instead of letting an energy-wasting machine do it for you. Television and computer games are no substitute for life!
12. Instead of a grass lawn, landscape with plant species are native to your area. Local conservation groups can tell you which plants support native butterflies and birds.
13. Whenever you possible can, walk, bicycle, carpool, or take public transit instead of driving a car.
14. Replace chemical cleansers, laundry detergents, and garden compounds with natural or biodegradable equivalents.
15. Take care of as much of your everyday health care needs as you can using natural methods. Modern medicine is among the most wasteful and polluting of all industries.
16. Live as close as possible to work or school so that you minimize the time and energy wasted in commuting.
17. If you’re building a home, include as many Earth-friendly elements in its design and construction as you can.
18. Compost all your yard waste and vegetable kitchen scraps in a composter or worm bin, and return the compost to the soil.
19. Recycle everything you possibly can.
20. Donate old clothes, housewares, and appliances to charity, or find other uses for them instead of throwing them away.
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219 comments
add your comment »Glad to've found a more earth-friendly method than bleach, i'm gonna clean that rascally bath tub mat w/vinegar!
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Vinegar and baking soda can work, but I've found a cheaper way to do it and a way that requires much less packaging waste going into the landfills, while being completely environmentally friendly!
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Julie - u can use vinegar and baking soda on wooden floors but its advisable to first test it on a small area preferablly an area hidden out of sight like maybe under your couch. Best of luck.
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a number of you have said that the 'energy" bulbs last longer, there's no emperical proof that that is true.. also, they cannot be disposed of at a normal landfill; but rather must be handled as a battery,(like the ones in electric cars), which may envolve a fee.. energy costs are going up, and you're adding another one to the mix...
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I agree, you may have to make sure you dispose of the energy saving light bulbs properly, but they last so much longer that you will only throw away a fraction of what you would with normal bulbs.
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I add bakin soda and vinegar in water to wash the floors. Keeps the floor squeaky clean and nice smelling
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Ok, the energy saving bulbs do have to be disposed of properly, but since I've started replacing my other regular lightbulbs with the CFLs, starting about 5 years ago, I've only had to replace two that were used a lot. I used to replace all the bulbs about once a year or less. I do have a lot of light bulbs, too big of a house, but we're working on that. I've had way fewer bulbs to replace and can see a good effect on my electric bills. So what other defense (or offense) do you have about the CFLs?
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Here again, just common sense, I might make a comment the "energy saving light bulbs... when they die, it costs more and is more polluting to dispose of them...but that never bothered a tree hugger... that's logical... and they rarely deal in that...
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I am most certainly going to volunteer in community gardens. and shop at local Farmer's markets. These are so important for your community to prosper! I am also going to help plant trees at an upcoming save a local watershed project, that I heard about.
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Thanks, great household hints!
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