Five More Things YOU Can Do to Save the Planet

Last month I shared five suggestions of what each of us can do to help save our only planet Earth.  Often, as a group we can do simple things that multiply into huge results.  All it takes is a little thought and a little discipline!  Here are a few more ideas… and there are hundreds more where these come from. 

1.    Don’t throw it away – recycle it - Patagonia will accept your Polartec and Capilene garments to melt down and make into new fabric and clothing.  Patagonia will accept any of its products back for free repair/or credit toward a new purchase.  Just check out Patagonia.com for details.  Here’s another idea: Invite your friends over for a Closet Swap, to which everyone brings a few items they are tired of to trade.  Your giveaways could be their treasures! Buy Vintage instead of new. Note: 741 lbs. of electronic recycling was collected on Earth Day by the SPBID and SPNA at their Earth Day Spring Garden Party. Thank you!!!

2.    Receive your bills and pay your them online – If every US household received and paid its bills online, the switch would cut solid waste by 1.6 billion tons per year and curb greenhouse gas emissions by 2.1 billion tons per year (per Javelin Strategy and Research). 

3.    Kill the lights at quitting time – Assign an office “switch off monitor” to make sure the lights, computers, monitors, desk lights, printers and fax machines are turned off at the end of the day.  You can save big money on electricity and maintenance. The average desktop computer not including the monitor can consume 60 to 250 watts per day!

4.    Take your own personal cup to Starbucks for your morning coffee - There are millions of single use coffee cups finding their way to landfills daily.  The convenience of that single use paper cup is costing the world dearly!

5.     Consume less, share more, live simply - always think: “What can I do to cut my personal carbon footprint?” It is obvious that each of us can have a huge effect on our personal impact on the earth with just a little effort and attention.  If everyone in South Park were to follow just the 10 practices outlined in these articles, we could together save millions of Tons of Carbon Dioxide and Hundreds of Thousands of plastic bags and Starbucks cups in our landfills each year. 

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors,

 we borrow it from our children.”

                                     -Native American proverb 

By: John Nilsson