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How Can I Take Action?

The first step to environmental action is to become aware of you impact. There are many ways to reduce your ecological footprint, and no time like the present to get started! Find out more.

Think first about the familiar triangle - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The most important part of the triangle! One of the biggest personal impacts that we can have is to first reduce our consumption. We should think critically about what we buy. While individually wrapped snacks and plastic water bottles may seem convenient, they require more energy to create, produce a lot of excess waste, and are more expensive per unit than buying in larger quantities or drinking tap water.

REUSE

While we cannot completely reduce the amount of waste we produce, we can all find ways to reuse our waste before throwing it away or recycling it. Take a moment to think about uses each container, wrapper, or piece of cardboard before you get rid of it. Plastic bags can be reused for produce at the grocery store, bags from cereal boxes can be used as wax paper, and plastic containers are great for storing leftovers.

RECYCLE

While this is becoming increasingly easy in many communities, it still takes personal initiative. Recycling allows waste materials to be broken down and made into new products, rather than ending up in a landfill. Here's more information on local recycling.

Ever wonder what those recycling symbols mean?

~Here are some other ways that you can get started:

In your home

Calculate your carbon footprint. There are many carbon calculators out there. Try the EPA calculator at www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html

Install compact fluorescent light bulbs. CFLs not only last longer than incandescent bulbs, but they also use 80% less electricity. Remember to turn off lights when you aren't in the room, and use natural lighting when possible. Need more info on CFLs and their disposal?

Put electronics on power strips. When plugged in, TVs, DVD players, cell phone chargers, computers and other electronics are in standby mode and can use 40% of the energy they use when turned on. By unplugging them or putting them on a power strip and turning it off when not in use, you can save a lot of electricity.

Use reusable water bottles. Bottled water comes with several downsides, from the amount of petroleum used to make the plastic, to the waste generated, to the problems with chemical leaching. Use reusable non-leaching bottles such as Sigg bottles, made of aluminum. Go to www.mysigg.com, or check your local outdoor supply store to buy one.

Conserve hot water. Take shorter showers, and install water efficient showerheads, toilets, dishwashers, and washing machines. By keeping your showers under 5 minutes, you can reduce 300lbs of CO2 annually. A low flow showerhead will reduce your CO2 footprint another 250lbs annually.

Insulate your hot water heater. If you have an electric hot water heater, wrap a blanket around it. Make sure you have regular maintenance to ensure that it is efficient as possible and keep it set at 120 degrees. When buying a new hot water heater, consider a solar powered one.

Look for the Energy Star label. Energy Star is a federally funded program to indicate which appliances are energy efficient. Often the increased upfront cost is recouped in a short period of time due to savings on your energy bill.

Wash your clothes in cold water. 90% of the energy used in a clothes washer goes to heating the water, and only 10% is needed to run the machine. Most detergents work equally well in hot or cold water.

Dry your clothes efficiently. Clean the lint guards before each use and only dry full loads. Use a clothesline for a carbon neutral way to dry.

Adjust the thermostat. Decreasing the temperature 2 degrees in the winter and increasing it 2 degrees in the summer can save 2000lbs of CO2 annually. Set it between 65-68 degrees during the day, and cooler at night. If you get cold, put on a layer before you turn up the heat.

Use biodegradable trash bags. There are now a variety of biodegradable trash bags, doggie bags, and cat litter box liners that help you reduce the impact of your plastic bags. Check out www.worldcentric.org to buy, or look for them in your local grocery and hardware stores.

Insulate your home. Adding extra insulating and caulking windows and doors can decrease you heating and cooling costs by 25%.

Use flushable, compostable diapers. Check out www.gdiapers.com for flushable, compostable, plastic free diapers.

Reduce unwanted catalogs. Go to www.catalogchoice.org to take your household off of mailing lists that send catalogs. Most every catalog company also has an online store that you can shop from.

Plant trees. Planting deciduous trees in your yard will help shade you house in summer, and let light and heat in during the winter. Trees also remove CO2 from the air.

Buy green energy. Find out if your energy provider has an option of buying renewable energy. If you are able, look into geothermal and solar energy options for you home.

Offset your carbon footprint. There are many websites that allow you to buy carbon credits to offset your personal footprint. Use this to offset what you cannot reduce by other measures. www.carbonfund.org uses the money you donate to fund renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects.

Think about what you print. Print on both sides and avoid printing in color when possible. Think about what documents you can keep in an electronic format rather than printing them.

In your yard

Use a rain barrel for outside water. These are relatively easy to make, and can also be bought. They collect run off from your gutters that you can use to water your garden or wash your car. See the Rain Barrel page for information on building your own. Local rain barrel vendors can be found under FAQ at: http://www.bewatersmart.org/RebatePrograms/rainbarrelrebateprogram/RainBarrelRebate.html

Start a compost pile. Composting your food scraps and yard waste can greatly reduce the amount of trash that you send to the landfill. Learn more about composting! Find out more about composting.

Grow a garden. This is the easiest way to get fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. Eating out of your own back yard greatly decreases your food's carbon footprint, as there are no emissions from shipping. Use your compost to fertilize the soil, rather than buying artificial fertilizers.

Use native plants in your landscaping. Native plants will not require excess fertilizers or watering. Check out www.vnps.org for more information.

Around town

Walk, bike, carpool or take public transit. For every mile you don't drive, you save 1lb CO2. When you have to drive, regular maintenance, proper tire inflation and driving 45-55mph will increase your fuel efficiency. Properly inflated tires alone can increase your gas mileage 3%. For each gallon of gas not used, you save 20lb of CO2. In Williamsburg, check out www.williamsburgtransport.com/index.html.

Bring reusable shopping bags to the store. 500 billion plastic bags are consumed each year around the world. That's almost 1 million bags a minute! Only 1-3% of plastic bags are recycled. Paper bags actually require 4x the energy, 50x the water pollution, 70% more air pollution to produce and 84x the energy to recycle compared to plastic bags. Many grocery stores also give you a discount for bringing your own bags. See our pamphlet for more information: page 1, page 2.

Eat locally grown food. Locally grown food has a low carbon footprint, because it does not need to be shipped hundreds or thousands of miles to reach you. Many small local farmers produce all-natural and organic food, which is an added benefit for your health and the environment. See more local foods information.

Use Freecycle. Freecycle is grassroots online network of people who advertise items they want to give away. All items are free and pickups are arranged between members. It's a great way to let someone else reuse your old things. Go to www.freecycle.org/ for more information.

Bring your own mug to the coffee shop. It is estimated that American use 16 billion paper coffee cups in one year. These are most often not made from recycled paper, and contribute to a large amount of waste. If you bring a reusable mug to the coffee shop you will not only reduce your impact, but many coffee shops give you a discount for bringing your own cup, Also, look into fair trade, organic, and shade-grown coffees.

Talk to your legislators. Know where your local, state, and federal legislators stand on environmental issues. Call, write, email or talk to them in person to give them your opinion. Remember, your legislators are there to serve and represent you, and they should always listen to your views.

Use BetterWorld.com: The online bookstore with a soul. They ar "not a traditional company with an add-on “cause” component. Social and environmental responsibility is at the core of our business."

Last but not least...

Stay informed and spread the word! Once you start making changes and noticing how easy it can be, tell people about it! If you can make just one other person change their mentality about environmentalism, you have done a great thing. The next step is to learn more about legislation pertaining to environmental issues and to make your voice heard. Check out our Related Links Page for more websites that can give you ideas on how to reduce your impact.