Five Ways to Live a Greener Life

During the Academy Awards on February 25, viewers were constantly reminded that the Oscars had gone green. They installed environmentally friendly lighting and encouraged the stars to arrive in ecologically friendly transportation. While it may seem like the Green movement is just a fad for many, it holds the potential to significantly improve the condition of the environment. Here are five easy ways that you can start to live a Greener life.

1: Switch to Energy Efficient Lighting
Yes, the regular light bulbs that we all use have a lower sticker price, but they also waste a considerable amount of electricity, have to be replaced often, and significantly raise your electrical bill due to energy inefficiency, The solution: switch to more energy efficient lighting. Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs are the standard alternative, capable of running four to fifteen times longer than traditional light bulbs and decreasing energy usage by up to seventy-five percent. A newer alternative is light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, which aren't quite as efficient as the CFL bulbs yet, but can last fifty times as long as a traditional bulb and offer the additional advantage of not emitting heat.

2: Avoid Store Bought Cleaners
Yes, the cleaning products you can pick up at your local grocery store are some of the most chemically advanced compounds available to home consumers, but those chemicals can cause heavy damage to the environment long after you get that stain off your rug. While there aren't replacements for all of your cleaning products, there are plenty of natural alternatives that work just as well. For example, if you have a problem with ants in the summer: sprinkle a line of cayenne pepper or cinnamon at your doorways and the ants wills stay away. Don't waste your money on expensive leather fixing kits - use the eraser end of a pencil to lightly wipe away any discoloration. And use household plants (recommendations: gerber daisy, chrysanthemums, and peace lilies) to remove unwanted pollutants and scents from the air, not more and more scented candles, aerosol sprays, and plug in air fresheners. Search around, there are plenty of other great natural cleaning options.

3. Re-purpose Older Products
Say you have a pair of jeans that don't quite fit anymore. Don't just throw those pants away if you can't donate them, re-purpose them for other uses. A pair of jeans can be cut up to make a quilt, a tote bag, or a really comfy and cool throw rug. Use your imagination when deciding what to do with your old products that you don't use anymore. There is always a creative way to re-purpose what you no longer use in its original form. That way, less products wind up being thrown onto an ever-building pile of trash that could have been used in a new way.

4. Donate Products in Good Condition
Thrift stores, commonly run for charitable purposes, are constantly looking for clothing, books, records, containers, lamps, stereos, furniture, and any other products in good condition that could easily be used by someone else. Consider cleaning out your wardrobe or parting with that furniture in the garage to donate to a charitable cause that also helps to reduce environmental waste.

5. Calculate and Compensate for your Footprint
No, I'm not talking about your shoe size. The Earth Day Network and Redefining Progress groups are working together to provide a service that shows how environmentally inefficient many peoples' lives are. By filling out a simple quiz, you will be shown how many acres you impact with your efforts and how many planets we would need if everyone lived like you did. While I may be writing this article, the news that I was impacting 14 acres of land wasn't too surprising, until I was told that if everyone on earth lived like me, we would need to have over three earths to compensate for the waste and damage. By filling out this simple survey, you are given plenty of suggestions on simple things you can do to help live a green lifestyle. If nothing else, visit the official site, linked by this article to discover what you can do.