Archive for April 23rd, 2007

April 23, 2007 | Being Green, Water, Health, Cleaning products, Shopping, News

Oprah had a great show on Friday about making environmentally-friendly choices. The goal of the show was to show viewers small things they can be doing in their every day lives to help the environment. A few highlights -

• Paper or plastic? Neither! Bring your own reusable bags when you shop. The plastic bags take eons to biodegrade, and paper bags use a staggering amount of trees every year. So, BYOB! Bring your own Bag!
• Water - one liter of bottled water takes 5 liters of water to produce. Use tap water - filter it if you feel the need, and buy a reusable aluminum bottle.
• “Fake” Clean: Clean doesn’t smell like pine or lemon. Clean doesn’t smell! The chemicals in regular cleaners aren’t healthy for people, animals, or the earth. Use natural cleaners and a natural cleaning company (need we say, like Broom Huggers!)
• Did you know that appliances and electronics still use 40% of their power when they’re not in use? Your toaster, lamps, tv - they all use 40% of their power as long as they’re plugged in, on “standby.” The solution? Use a Smart Power Strip. Turn of the power strip and it’ll keep those appliances from sucking energy. Also, it groups your electronics in ‘clusters,’ so that when you turn off your TV, it also turns off your DVD player and surround sound too. Clever!

There are some awesome resources at Oprah’s website, along with some video feed. Check it out!