The Average Green Joe

By: Susan Howard

1. Bring your own bags to the grocery store.  Once you do it you’ll get over the hump, plus you can look down on everyone else in the check out line.  I heard about a woman that forgot her bags and got so mad at herself that she hand carried her purchases item by item to her car.
2. Don’t get your receipts at the ATM.  You can view the transaction without getting a paper copy.  All you do is get them and then throw them out two seconds later.  (We got this one from Oprah.)
3. Recycle.  If you aren’t doing this by now I mean really you are so 80’s.
4. Don’t use the department store bag when shopping. Be sure to hang onto receipts so you don’t get busted Winona Ryder style.
5. Go veggie mostly.  There’s a whole phenomenon about raising cattle and their poo, but I am not sure if you’ve had your breakfast yet, so let’s just say the poo can be lethal, but really.
6. Use environmental cleaning products.  The one I know is Mrs. Meyers, but there are a ton out there.  It’s funny when you wash something down the drain you think “bye!”, but that water goes somewhere.  Full disclosure: I still use Comet sometimes.
7. Take quicker showers.  What happens to you people in that shower?
8. Re-insulate your house.  Although this is fairly expensive and we have not yet done it, supposedly you save a bunch on your heating bill, and use less energy.  Plus get the bragging right with your neighbors.
9. Check on Craig’s List for something you might have wanted to purchase new- you know: re-use, re-cycle, re-purpose.

10.  Tell all your billing companies that you want your bills paperless.  I’ve got to get on this one; there are still a few that send bills to us.

And if you have trouble doing these things- read Annette’s article “It Ain’t Easy Being Green” and you will feel compelled to do SOMETHING.