Being Green 101

Going green is easy.  Start with these five easy steps.

1. Stop Using Plastic Bags and Bring Cloth/Reusable Bags to the Stores   
   
   • Plastic bags are typically made from oil, a non-renewable resource
   • The oil must be heated to 750 degrees F, which requires a lot of electricity
   • Less than 1% of bags are recycled, and it’s costly to recycle
   • Plastic bags account for 10% of debris that washes up on our shores
   • Plastic bags have a devastating affect on wildlife, which get entangled in or ingest it
   • Over time, bags break down into toxic polymers, which enter the food chain
   • Paper bags are not a good substitute --it takes trees and a lot of energy to produce them
   • Switching to cloth will save an average of 288 bags a year, or 22,000 in an average lifetime
     
2. Don’t Buy Bottled Water; Use Non-Leaching Reusable Bottles
   
   • Americans purchased nearly 31 billion bottles of water in 2006
   • Americans spend $11 billion on bottled water every year
   • Bottled water costs about 1,000 times more than tap water
   • Bottled water is less regulated than tap water; some bottled water comes right from the tap
   • Making the bottle uses twice as much water as the bottle holds
   • It takes 15 million barrels of oil annually to make plastic water bottles, or enough oil to run 100,000 cars for a year
   • Only 10% of plastic water bottles are recycled & 40% of recycled plastic is shipped to China
   • Roughly 750,000 plastic water bottles go into US landfills every day
   • If you don’t like the taste of your tap water, install a filter
3. Replace Your Light Bulbs with Energy Star Compact Fluorescent Blubs (CFL’s)
   
   • Lighting uses 20-25% of a home’s electricity
   • CFL’s use up to 75% less energy and last 10x longer
   • A CFL bulb will save you about $30 in electricity costs over the life of the bulb
   • If every US home replaced one bulb, it would reduce greenhouse gases = to the emissions of 800,000 cars/year
   • If everyone in the U.S. used CFL lighting, we could retire 90 average size power plants
   • Saving electricity reduces CO2 emissions, sulfur oxide and high-level nuclear waste
   • Home Depot just announced a recycling program for CFL’s
   • Look for the Energy Star rating
4. Green Your Cleaning
   
   • The average US home has 63 synthetic chemical products, or roughly 10 gallons of harmful chemicals
   • Worst offenders:  corrosive drain cleaners, oven cleaners, acidic toilet-bowl cleaners, chlorine and ammonia
   • Look for cleaners that state “non-toxic,” “no phosphates,” and “biodegradable”
   • Chose laundry and dishwasher detergents with no phosphates
   • Many eco-terms are not regulated, so chose a well known green brand
   • Use a Green dry cleaner (Dry Cleaning Station, Stratford Road)
5. Support PEA and/or other Organizations that Support Environmental Sustainability
   
   • Join PEA on-line for only $25/year

Printable handout:  Five Easy Steps to Start Being Green