Ten Ways to Go Green and Save
1. Re-route your commute.
• Walk or bike to work and save money on gas and parking while improving 
your cardiovascular health and reducing your risk of obesity.
• If you live far from your office, investigate the option of telecommuting. Or 
move closer—even if this means paying more rent, it could save you money 
in the long term.
• If your streets are not conducive to biking or walking, lobby your municipal 
government to increase spending on sidewalks and bike lanes. With little 
cost, these improvements can pay huge dividends in decreased traffic and 
pollution.

2. Buy used.
• Whether you’ve just moved to a new area or are looking to redecorate, 
consider a service like craigslist or FreeSharing to track down furniture, 
appliances, and other items, rather than buying them new. Check out 
garage sales and thrift stores for clothing and other everyday items.
• Use your creativity in gift giving, including making homemade gifts, 
donating to a good cause, or even regifting. (And gift green, in general.)
• Your purchasing habits have a real impact, for better or worse. When 
making new purchases, make sure you know what’s “Good Stuff” and 
what isn’t.

3. Buy local.
• Shop at your local farmers’ market. Though the offerings can be more 
expensive, you can generally count on a higher quality product—and the 
entire purchase price goes directly to the farmer. Buying any goods 
produced locally saves energy by reducing the fossil fuels needed to 
transport food and other items across the country and around the globe.
• Start a local currency program in your town. This can ensure that money 
stays in your local economy, valuing local services and supporting local 
merchants.

4. Compost your food scraps.
• Composting helps reduce the amount of waste you send to the landfill, 
which can save you money if you live in a municipality with a “pay as you 
throw” system. In the process, you create free, healthy fertilizer for your 
garden (or your neighbor’s—or lobby for a community garden!)
• If you don’t have a yard or space for a compost pile, try indoor 
‘vermiculture,’ or worm composting.

5. Change the thermostat setting and install energy saving devices.
• Setting your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter and a few 
degrees higher in the summer can translate to substantial savings on 
your utility bills.
• Install low-flow showerheads and take shorter showers to save water 
and the energy used to heat it. Or, consider eventually installing a solar 
hot water heater on your property.
• Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible and use a drying rack or 
clothesline.
• When incandescent bulbs burn out, replace them with longer-lasting, 
low-energy compact fluorescent bulbs.
• With the money you save from making these changes, consider buying 
wind energy from your local utility or purchasing renewable energy offsets. 
Renewables offer our best hope for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, 
as well as a host of other pollutants. In some cases, “green energy” 
options can be cheaper than electricity from conventional sources!

6. Skip the bottled water at the grocery or convenience store.
• Filter your tap water for drinking rather than using bottled water. Not only is 
bottled water expensive, but it produces large amounts of container waste.
• Check out this recent update and life cycle analysis for the latest on bottled 
water trends.

7. Make your own cleaning supplies.
• Using simple ingredients such as baking soda, soap, and vinegar, you can 
make cheap, easy, and non-toxic cleaning products that really work! Save 
money, time, and your indoor air quality.

8. Think twice about new electronics.
• E-waste from discarded cell phones and computers is a growing 
environmental problem. Mounds of electronic refuse are being shipped 
abroad illegally for ‘disassembly’ by workers with little protection against the 
mercury and other toxic substances they contain.
• Keep your electronics as long as possible and dispose of them responsibly 
when the time comes.
• Buy higher-quality items and don’t give in to ‘psychological obsolescence’ 
marketing campaigns.
• Recycle your cell phone and support good causes at the same time!
• Ask your local government to set up a responsible recycling and hazardous 
waste collection event.

9. Add one meatless meal per week.
• While strict vegetarianism isn’t for everyone, even the most devout 
carnivores can cut back on meat consumption without cramping their style
—and save money in the process. Industrial meat production requires huge 
energy inputs and creates noxious waste problems. The proliferation of 
factory farms is damaging the environment, and the global nature of the 
industry creates conditions that promote the spread of diseases such as 
avian flu, potentially costing society billions.

10. Use your local library and other public amenities.
• Borrowing from libraries, instead of buying personal books and movies, 
saves money and printing resources. Consider donating the money saved 
to your local library.
• Be an active civic participant and ensure that the public spaces and facilities 
in your town are well maintained. This will promote a healthy, sustainable 
community.

(Source: http://www.worldwatch.org)


Shopping Green
A family of four can save $3,000 a year simply by 
buying products in the largest size they can use and 
by buying long lasting reusable items. Think about 
the effect of your purchases on the environment when 
you shop. Items with excess packaging and products 
that need to be discarded after only a few uses cost 
more money, use up valuable resources and create 
more waste.

• Buy products in the largest size you can use; avoid 
excess packaging.
• Buy products in containers that you know you will be 
able to recycle.
• Buy reusable and long lasting items.


Fast Facts
• Switching its tour bus to biodiesel reduced rock band Guster's 
CO2 emissions by 100,000 pounds a year.
• If all U.S. households received and paid their bills online, it 
would eliminate more than 800,000 tons of waste each year.
• An energy-efficient home saves up to $400 a year in utility costs.
• Americans throw away almost 100 billion plastic bags each year; only 1 to 3 
percent are recycled.
• U.S. airports and airlines discard enough aluminum cans each year to build 58 
Boeing 747s.

Recycling
• In 1999, recycling and composting activities prevented about 64 million tons of 
material from ending up in landfills and incinerators. Today, this country recycles 
32% of its waste, a rate that has almost doubled during the past 15 years.
• While recycling has grown in general, recycling of specific materials has grown 
even more drastically: 50 percent of all paper, 34 percent of all plastic soft drink 
bottles, 45 percent of all aluminum beer and soft drink cans, 63 percent of all steel 
packaging, and 67 percent of all major appliances are now recycled.
• Twenty years ago, only one curbside recycling program existed in the United States, 
which collected several materials at the curb. By 2005, almost 9,000 curbside 
programs had sprouted up across the nation. As of 2005, about 500 materials 
recovery facilities had been established to process the collected materials.

(Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)