A guide to Eco-friendly living in Colorado

1. RECYCLE AND BUY RECYCLED

Through recycling and buying recycled products, you’re saving tons of natural resources and cutting down carbon emissions. It takes more energy to create something new than it does to recycle. Recycling aluminum cans, for example, saves 95 percent of the energy required to make the same amount of aluminum from its virgin source, bauxite. The amount of energy saved differs by material, but almost all recycling processes achieve significant energy savings compared to production using virgin materials (United States Environmental Protection Agency). Additionally, recycling creates jobs – currently there are over 1.5 million people worldwide employed in the recycling industry.

2. RIDE THE BUS, YOUR BIKE OR CAR POOL TO WORK

Start making your daily commute easier on the earth and your pocketbook. According to the American Public Transportation Association, public transportation use saves the U.S. the equivalent of 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline annually – more than 11 million gallons of gasoline per day. Even more impressive, households that use public transportation save an average of $6,251 every year.

3. UNPLUG YOUR ELECTRONICS

Even if you’ve turned off your appliance, it’s still using energy. See that little red light that goes on when you shut something down? It’s not running on air! The easiest way to deal with totally shutting off your electronics is to plug them into an energy-saving power strip, which you can shut off with an easy flip of a switch.

4. USE LESS WATER

Try to limit your shower time to 5 minutes. If this is asking too much, shoot for 8 minutes.
Turn off your faucet while brushing your teeth, shaving or lathering up. Most importantly, reduce your water usage outdoors. The average American uses 400 gallons of water per day, 30 percent of which is used outdoors and half for watering lawns, working out to be 7 billion gallons of water per day. (EPA) If you’re serious, consider getting rid of your lawn and implement xeriscaping, which utilizes drought-tolerant plants.

5. STOP USING PLASTIC BAGS

Guess how long it takes for a plastic bag to decompose? 1,000 years. And they just keep piling up in landfills and oceans across the world. Instead of taking home your groceries in dozens of plastic bags, invest in a set of reusable bags to cart them around in. They won’t rip, they are much more durable and can be used over and over again.

6. CHANGE YOUR LIGHTBULBS

Switch out your incandescent bulbs for energy-saving LED (Light Emitting Diodes) or CFL (Compact Florescent Light) bulbs. According to the International Energy Agency, a global switch to efficient lighting systems would trim the world’s electricity bill by nearly one-tenth. The carbon dioxide emissions saved by such a switch would dwarf cuts so far achieved by adopting wind and solar power. Make an even bigger impact and switch off lights when leaving a room.

7. B.Y.O.M. - BRING YOUR OWN MUG

Those cups your non-fat lattes come in? Not recyclable. Even worse are the styrofoam cups some establishments still use, which are non-recyclable NEVER decompose. Why not invest in a fancy reusable mug to tote your beverage around in? An added bonus – some coffee establishments will give you a 10¢ discount for bringing in your own mug.

8. BUY LOCALLY

When you think about how many miles your strawberries took to get to you, and the resulting amounts of carbon emissions, you might rethink which items you purchase at the store. Whenever possible, buy products that were grown, raised or produced in Colorado. Not only will this cut down on carbon emissions, but it will also give the local economy a boost. Tip: visit one of the many local Farmers Markets this summer and stock up on local goods.

9. INVEST IN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Not only is renewable energy cost effective, but it also decreases our dependency on fossil fuels, which are steadily depleting. Based on EPA Power Profiler stats, when you buy one 100 kWh block of wind power for a year, the following benefits coincide:
• Carbon dioxide avoided: 2,443 lbs.
• Miles not driven: 2,400
• Trees planted: 1/3 acre
In addition to wind power, other renewable energy options include solar, hydro, biomass and refuse-derived.

10. REUSE

In a highly disposable world such as ours, it’s easy to throw something away after using it once and not think twice about it. But maybe it’s time we did. Disposable items can be convenient, but in the long run, they’re costing us more and doing more damage to the environment. Try to replace disposable items with things that can be used over and over again. Here are some examples: cloth napkins instead of paper, sponges instead of paper towels, reusable containers instead of ziploc bags, washable micro-fiber mop pads instead of disposable sweeping cloths.