100 ways to reduce waste

Jim Wagner's 100 ways Frederick County residents can conserve

BEHAVIORAL

1. Take a thermos of something to drink with you to work or school instead of buying cans, bottles and cups of things to drink.

2. Try putting cold tap water in your thermos, or iced tea made at home, or some other drink prepared at home. If you want soda, or other store-bought beverages, buy a big bottle and use that to fill your thermos.

3. If you forget your thermos, or need something else to drink, use your own cup and fill it from a fountain dispenser or ask a clerk to fill it from behind the counter (if this is required).

4. Think about all of the wrappers, containers and other packaging you are using and try to reduce them. Buy products that support this concept.

5. Send letters to manufacturers suggesting these things.

6. Paper, cardboard, glass and metal packaging (in that order) seems better than plastic.

7. Be critical of yourself as you waste and pollute. Constantly think of ways you could be doing things better.

8. Avoid driving. RIDE A BIKE OR WALK.

9. If you need transportation, use mass transit.

10. If you must drive, car pool.


11. Buy a hybrid vehicle if you can afford it.

12. Don't be lured into the notion that if you are conserving in one area, you can waste in another. (Many people with hybrid cars, for example, end up driving more than they have to, thus negating their fuel savings.)

13. If the price of gas goes down, do not be tempted to drive more. Constantly try to find ways to drive less.

14. If you can't afford a hybrid vehicle, get the most fuel-efficient vehicle you can find that suits your minimum needs.

15. Live near your place of employment (or work near your home) to avoid long commutes. Work at home whenever you can.

16. If you must commute, ask your place of employment about a compressed work week (working 4,10 hour days instead of 5, 8 hour days.)

If you must drive, carefully plan your driving route, minimizing miles traveled.

17. When driving on the highway, keep your speed below 55 mph.

18. Do not be shy about being an example to others in doing the things herein.

19. Avoid vacations which require long-distance driving. Consider taking a train or bus for long-distance travel.

20. Do not go through the "drive thru". Park and walk in.

21. Keep your vehicle tuned up to maximize fuel economy. Keep your tires properly inflated.

22. I've heard it recommended that tires be rotated to increase their useful life.

23. Live in the city.

24. Buying locally grown/produced products is part of this. Less transportation, less energy needed.

25. We ought to be thinking and planning now for the consequences of some of these changes. What will happen nationally and internationally with less commerce, and how do we help to insure healthy regional economies if erstwhile trading partners stop becoming trading partners?

26. Support laws, movements, businesses, candidates, artists and others who understand the issues and solutions mentioned herein, and are willing to do something about them. We need changes in policy immediately.

27. Consider a career in an area that helps in some way.

28. Use your own (reusable) bags when you go shopping.

29. Take your own reusable containers and use them to buy bulk produce.

30. When outdoors, do everything possible to prevent fires.

31. Do not smoke cigarettes or anything else.

32. Support your local fire company, even other fire companies.

33. Take care of things, in general, to make them last. Get away from the throw-away American mentality. Producing less will save energy.

34. In line with the principle of "re-use" is the buying and selling of good quality used items.

35. Stop spending money on unneeded things so that you can donate to worthy charities trying to promote a better world.

36. Do not support the pet explosion.

37. Do not over-eat.

38. Take care of your health.

39. Eat lower on the food chain. A one pound tomato costs less energy to make than one pound of beef.

40. Reduce family size. Many people have said we need zero population growth. Consider adopting, as many have, if you want children.

41. Never use one of those electric hot air hand dryers in the bathrooms of some restaurants. I do not use paper towels either. I dry my hands on my shirt on the sides.

42. Eating in fast food restaurants seems wasteful to me, with all of the paper waste and throw-away items. Avoid snacks out of vending machines.

43. Take the stairs, not the elevator.

44. Make two-sided copies whenever you can, and print from a computer on two sides.

45. Buy organically-grown food which does not use petroleum based fertilizers, and is grown without the use of oil-derived pesticides and herbicides.

HOME

46. Use biodegradable/compostable bags rather than plastic bags. Use wax paper in preference to plastic wrap and aluminum foil.

47. Use other non-petroleum based products, such as "Seventh Generation" dish soap.

48. Use recycled paper products, such as "Earth First" bathroom tissue.

49. Use a cloth handkerchief instead of Kleenex or other paper tissues. Wash the handkerchief with your weekly load of laundry.

50. Avoid using paper towels. Use cloth towels when possible.

51. If you've used a re-sealable plastic bag or baggie, wash it out, dry it and reuse it.

52. When you wash clothes, use the shortest cycle possible based on the size of the load.

53. Do not use a clothes dryer. Use a clothesline.

54. Do not use an iron. Put clothes on hangers promptly after taking them down from the line to help remove wrinkles.

55. Do not use a hair dryer. Use a towel and let it air dry.

56. Do not use a dish washer.

57. Turn your heat way down in the winter.

58. Do not use air conditioning.

59. Turn down your hot water heater to the lowest possible temperature.

60. If you have the money, increase the insulation in your house.

61. Consider adopting some of the "green building codes" for your house.

62. Replace your old appliances with energy efficient "Energy Star" appliances.

63. Avoid using your computer. I do not use the Internet from my house. I access it from the Frederick Library where the computers are always on anyway.

64. If you use your computer, avoid turning it on and letting it sit. If you are writing something on the computer, hand-draft your document first. If you have something simple to type in one copy, do it on a mechanical typewriter the way we used to.

65. Turn lights off when leaving a room!

66. Motion detector light switches may be useful for certain areas, like a shop/garage.

67. Avoid using lights at all during daylight hours.

68. Avoid turning lights on at night.

69. Plant a tree in your yard.

70. Grow your own food in a garden.

71. Do not cut trees down around your house. Deciduous trees are beautiful insulation!

72. Live in the smallest house and lot possible that meet your needs. Literally, minimize your footprint on the planet. If you're living in a big house, do not heat and cool the portions of it that are infrequently occupied.

73. Do not use a gasoline or electric powered lawn mower to cut your grass. Use a human-powered reel mower.

74. Use non-electric and non-gas powered garden tools.

75. Avoid using power tools of any kind.

76. Avoid unchecked fires in your home by making sure your smoke detectors work. Replace old wiring in your house and practice other fire prevention measures.

77. Try a wind-up alarm clock, instead of an electric or battery operated one.

78. I've read that microwave ovens actually save energy. Look into this.

79. Always cover a pot on the stove.

80. If you slice things like a potato, into small pieces, they boil very fast.

81. You can turn a burner off, and things will continue to cook in the hot water.

82. After you boil something on the stove, save the hot broth to use as soup or to make tea, or to use for some other purpose. Do not waste it if you can avoid it.

83. Try cooking less. Eat bulk vegetables like green beans, and peas uncooked.

84. The ideal foods and products are those which are made locally, do not require much packaging for storage and transport, and do not require refrigeration for storage and transport.

85. If you can afford it, have solar panels installed on your roof.

86. And there are wind turbines for the home.

87. Consider switching your appliances to DC if you have solar panels. I've read that an AC converter results in losses.

88. Suggest the Green Building Codes for your workplace or place of worship.

89. Do not support the use of cut-down Christmas Trees.

90. Use a carpet sweeper rather than a vacuum cleaner.

91. Compact fluorescent bulbs are several times more energy efficient than standard incandescent bulbs and they last much longer.

92. For infrequently used appliances, especially, unplug them when they are not in use.

POLITICAL/ECONOMICAL

93. I don't know how we can be supporting the sport of automobile racing.

94. I don't know how we can be supporting land "development" either.

95. The biggest business we're planning on not supporting is the oil industry

96. It seems prudent to me that we stop running deficits, get to a balanced budget, and start paying down the debt.

97. We should also think about what will happen to the economies of oil-producing countries if oil is no longer demanded. We should help them plan for this.

98. We should also make it known to everyone in this country (including our leaders) that we are using two times as much energy per capita as any other country in the world.

99. Work for peace. The only stable solutions to energy and environmental problems are going to be those which are built on principles of stable peace.

SPIRITUAL

100. Pray and seek the Guidance of the Spirit as we move forward. As Jesus, the embodiment of the Spirit says, all things are possible with God. I know God wants us to make it through these problems.
Do you part for love earth today.

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