Celebrate Earth Day and Win an Advance Paperback of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

In honor of Earth Day today, I'm welcoming tips on how you can make a difference in your home or life to help the earth. I'll do a random drawing of the tips received in comments and award two lucky winners an Ecojot journal made of 100% recycled paper, plus the paperback of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which goes on sale on in one week!

And here's my tip directed specifically to book groups -- next time you pick your book, rather than buying new copies, why not check your books out of the library -- library books are the ultimate in earth-conscious reading as they are shared over and over again. And many libraries offer "book club kits" where multiples of the same book are packaged together with a reading group guide and other supplemental reading.

Comments

[bunny]

This lil bunny goes green by recycling, using reusable shopping cloth bags, switching off all the lights in any room that's unoccupied, makes sure the faucets are shut tight, uses solar lights in her garden :) Thanks for the chance to win!

[Julie P.]

I am a huge library patron, but I could do better saving energy in other ways around the house. Thanks for the opportunity!

[Jessica]

Another good tips (for book clubs or general use) is to bring your own mug to the coffeeshop/teahouse where you meet. Who needs more paper, plastic and/or styrofoam clogging up the landfills?

[Karen]

There is so much energy wasted by appliances that we have plugged in to a wall outlet while not in use. If you can unplug a device, like a microwave or a DVD player- do it! You will save $ plus lower your carbon footprint. Another idea for an area like an entertainment center where you may not be able to reach the plug would be to get a smart strip. This is a site that has an example of one of these devices. I am not affiliated with this company in any way.
http://www.smarthomeusa.com/Shop/Smart-Energy/Item/LCG5/
These strips sense whether an item is being used and cuts the power to it automatically if an item is dormant.

Another idea- instead of charging your cell phone at home or leaving your charger plugged in all the time, use the energy created by your car. Recharge while driving.

[Michelle]

Rather than toss the magazines when done, I either recycle them to the magazine recycling area at the library or pass along to some friends that read them then pass along to the old folks home.

[Ann]

If possible, walk or ride your bike to the library to check out those book club titles. (Easy for me, since I don't have a car...)

[Julie E.]

Honestly, I think my biggest tip would be not to buy so much stuff. Think of ways to fix or reuse stuff you already have, rather than throwing it out and buying more stuff. This keeps things out of the landfill, saves natural resources, AND saves you money!

[Lisamm]

Buy less, use less. I cancelled all my magazine subscriptions, only get the paper on the weekends. Use reusable bags for groceries. Drive less.

[Sara B]

Stop using plastic bags, and use the ones you already have resourcefully.

Knit your own bag out of plastic bags that you've accumulated.
http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/08/plastic_bag_crafts.html

Or donate the plastic bags you have to your local humane society.

[Cynthia]

We turned off the heating system last Fall - there's been a couple of times since then we turned it on because we had company and needed to bring up the temp but both my husband and I like a cool house and this worked just fine! We are on our 5th day of snow and the house is still pleasant with a sweater on. Our gas bill this winter is virtually non-existent.
As for books - I love my library and read books over and over - so I support my local library by buying their books - they use the money to fund programs for the kids, make those book-club kits and so on.

[Jenn]

I belong to a nation-wide organization called freecycle. We reuse/recycle items rather than throwing them away, adding them to the ever growing landfills.

In addition, I belong to a number of book swap site, including paperbackswap.com, swaptree.com, and bookmooch. When I'm finished with a book, I post it and send it to someone else that wants it! Depending on the site, members earn credits, or you trade one book for another.

There are many many other things I do, but I thought I'd keep my post relatively short!

[Ti]

An easy thing to do, is replace the dozens of water bottles you drink with one Sigg, aluminum bottle. They come in really cool designs and I just refill it as needed. No "plastic" taste. If you want to check them out, go to:
http://www.mysigg.com.

Also, one of the requirements of the book group I belong to, is that the books we choose must be available from the library, as they host our group. This saves us a lot of money too.

Ti

[Wakela Runen]

To help conserve electricity and to help you have hot water, wrap your hot water heater in a blanket. This helps to insulate it and cut down on heating costs.

Plus take one of those plastic containers that you will no longer be using and fill it with water. Place this container in the back of the toilet. This helps to reduce use of water.

[Stephanie C.]

My favorite source for green tips is idealbite.com. You can sign up for a daily email with a new tip each day. They have some great ideas.

Also, I try to buy reusable bags for groceries 1 every couple weeks. That way you aren't going broke buying a ton of bags but every time you create less and less waste. My favorite reusable bags are fron Trader Joes - cheap but well constructed and long lasting!

[Stephanie]

Cool giveaway. I like to walk my daughter to school when the weather is nice, therefore leaving the car at home. It's better for the environment and saves on gas too!

[melanie]

I'd recommend Paperbackswap.com as another source of recycled books for book clubs - I've had great results, and have recycled the books again!

[Lisa]

I'm a huge believer of recycling, especially of items that are harmful to the environment like oils and batteries. Bring them to your county dump for free and they'll recycle them properly. Also recycle glass, plastic, and papper. This will go a long way to help our environment.

[Kate]

I use vinegar to clean, instead of traditional cleaning products. It takes a little more elbow grease, but things still seem pretty clean--and no toxic smell.

[Jenne]

I like to stay late after work at the library to 'use' their a/c and heating rather than go home to my own. The have a great temperature for the public and as long as it is open, I will stay as long as I can. I have a tiny apartment so I do not put the a/c or heat on until I am at home and ready to go to sleep and I think I REALLY need it for that night. Living in Texas, I think I only turned on my heat for 3 days total this winter.

[Nancy Viens]

Instead of using plastic bottles for water and having to recycle bags of them at our local recycling place, I rinse out glass green tea bottles and fill them with filtered water from the tap.