Earth Saving Tips - Sound consumers
Courtesy of ESW member World Wildlife Fund
Be Different, Buy Different
The sway you hold as a consumer can be a conservation tool as powerful as any scientific endeavor or on-the-ground action.
Buy recycled paper
If just 1 out of 10 students bought a notebook made of post-consumer recycled paper, the collective savings would equal about 60,000 trees and 25.5 million gallons of water. Your purchases also contribute to conserving energy, freeing up landfill space, and reducing water and air pollution.
Break a cell phone record
More than 100 million cell phones are thrown away every year. Wireless waste is a big problem when discarded phones end up in landfills or incinerators, where the toxic chemicals they contain can be released. Typically, cell phones are replaced every 18 months. By keeping your cell phones beyond 18 months and donating used phones to charities, you can make a big difference in cleaning up the cell phone waste stream.
Buy a reusable water bottle
Every day, people in the United States throw away millions of bottled water containers. Instead, buy a reusable water bottle and keep refilling it. Don't like the idea of filling your bottle with tap water? Then get a water filter. And remember, when you do buy bottled water, remember to recycle those empty containers.
Tell your favorite magazine to use recycled paper
Some magazines are printed on paper that's been made with a high percentage of post-consumer waste, or recycled paper. Unfortunately, other magazines use much less recycled paper, or none at all. Find out waht your favorite magazine is doing - the information is typically located on the same page as the listing of editors. If you don't see a note that sayd it's been printed on at least 30% recycled paper, send them a note and ask them to do better.
Have an Earth Saving Tip of your own? You can write us at info@esw.org or post it in the comments below, for everyone to share.
