Green Practices
10 Ways to Reduce Your Ecological Footprint
Are you suffering from green message burnout? Paper or plastic? Nuclear or coal? Nalgene or bottled water? Organic farm far away or local industrial farm? The simplest answer is to focus on those changes that will significantly reduce your use of water, carbon, raw materials, and chemicals. Get started with the actions that fit most easily into your life.
- Drive Less; Ride or Walk More
- Eat Less Meat
- Buy Local / In Season / Sustainable Food
- Calculate and Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
- Buy Clean / Green Electricity
- Calculate and Reduce Your Water Footprint
- Skip the Bottled Water
- Paper or Plastic Bags?
- Reduce / Reuse / Recycle
- Learn to Spot Greenwash
- Drive Less; Ride or Walk More
 The best way to reduce the cost of driving is to leave your car at home! Take public transportation, buy a motor bike, take the train instead of flying, and consider a local “stay-cation.” For those who want to go carless, large cities offer short-term, convenient rentals of fuel-efficient cars (www.ZipCar.com).
Biking and walking not only reduce your carbon footprint and save money; they also provide numerous physical and mental health benefits: improved strength and stamina, lower risk of disease, more endorphins, reduced stress, weight loss, and vitamin D production. If you want to try commuting without your car, these websites can help. Local bike clubs and bike shops are also great resources for bike commuting.
- Eat Less Meat
For many people, “food miles” (the distance food travels from farm to plate) are a simple way to gauge food’s impact on climate change. But a recent assessment of all stages of growing and transporting food consumed in the U.S. shows that the vast majority of greenhouse gases are generated by growing and harvesting food (83%) rather than by transportation (11%). For the average U.S. consumer, shifting one day’s calories per week from red meat or dairy to chicken, fish, or vegetables will do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions than buying 100% local.
According to a 2007 United Nations report, global livestock production generates more global greenhouse emissions than all transportation. Changing from the standard American diet to a vegetarian diet will do more to fight global warming than switching from a gas-guzzling SUV to a fuel-efficient hybrid car (although that’s a good idea too!).
- Buy Local / In Season / Sustainable Food
 Buying local, in-season food has numerous benefits, including reduced food miles, support for local communities and family farms, improved food freshness and taste, and increased trust between producers and consumers.
To find a local farmers market or produce stand in your area, check these links:
The Pacific Northwest is a leader in sustainable agriculture, with a number of programs originating here. Certification programs allow 3rd party verification that growers meet standards for protecting soil, water, fish, and wildlife, and for reducing chemical use. These widely-respected certification programs all have a strong Northwest focus, and their products can be found in grocery stores that sell local and sustainable products.
Several aquarium-based programs help restaurants and customers make environmentally friendly seafood choices.
- Calculate and Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
 A carbon footprint measures carbon dioxide (and other greenhouse gases) produced from direct and indirect use of fossil fuels (and other sources). Individuals, nations, and organizations can understand their contribution to global warming.
Some carbon calculators only include home energy use and car use. The following calculators include additional sources, such as public transportation, flying, dietary choices, and/or recycling/reusing/reducing. Calculate your carbon footprint here, and learn now to reduce it. Then you can offset your impact by purchasing a carbon offset for your entire carbon footprint or for specific high-emissions activities like flying.
- Buy Clean / Green Electricity
 In North America, electricity is generated in many different ways, with a wide variation in environmental impacts. Electricity generation from the combustion of fossil fuels contributes toward unhealthy air quality, acid rain, and global climate change.
Customers in the United States and Canada can see what mix of power your electricity uses and the emissions it produces. You may have the option of choosing cleaner, more environmentally friendly sources of energy, often called green or clean power.
- Calculate and Reduce Your Water Footprint
Fresh water is a critically limited resource in many parts of the world, with demand increasing rapidly. The water footprint is the total fresh water used, including direct water use (used at home or work) and indirect water use (used to produce the goods and services the consumer uses). The average American uses twice as much water as the global average, and the largest amount per person in the world. Here are some sobering statistics about the average annual water use per person:
- Global = 1,240 cubic meters or 327,000 gallons
- U.S. = 2,480 cubic meters or 655,000 gallons
- Canada = 2,050 cubic meters or 541,000 gallons
- China = 700 cubic meters or 185,000 gallons
- Japan = 1,150 cubic meters or 304,000 gallons
Calculate your water footprint here and learn how to decrease it.
 Skip the Bottled Water
The United States is the world’s largest consumer of bottled water—over 8 billion gallons (~30 billion bottles) per year—exceeding all other beverages except carbonated soft drinks. However, bottled water has major environmental impacts and may not be as safe as tap water. Did you know:
- It takes 50 million gallons of oil to produce plastic water bottles for Americans each year. This is equivalent to 100,000 cars and 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
- Each plastic bottle requires about 1 gallon of water to manufacture.
- About 80% of water bottles end up in landfills, where they will take 500+ years to decompose.
- Bottled water costs more per gallon than gasoline!
- About 40% of bottled water comes directly from a municipal source (tap water), not a cold mountain spring.
- Bottled water is tested for safety less often than public water supplies.
What to do instead:
- Go back to tap water! Public water sources must meet strict federal regulations.
- Buy a reusable metal canteen or water bottle.
- If you need single-use bottled water, look for a glass container, and then recycle it.
- Get rid of water bottles made from polycarbonate, the rigid plastic used in office water coolers and sports bottles. Polycarbonate contains bisphenol A, which is linked to serious health problems.
- Some companies are designing “greener” bottles made from less plastic, but this only reduces the environmental impacts by a small amount.
- Keep several gallons of unopened water jugs in a cool location, in case an earthquake or other disaster disrupts the municipal water supply
- Paper or Plastic Bags?
 Neither! Paper and plastic bags both require energy, water, and raw materials to manufacture. Use cloth or other reusable bags—many stores sell durable reusable bags for about $1.
And more importantly—bike or walk to the store or use public transportation. On a bike, shopping errands become an adventure, rather than a chore.
Whole Foods and New Seasons provides green information for consumers, and Fred Meyer is encouraging customers to reduce their ecological footprint, including biking to buy groceries.
- Reduce / Reuse / Recycle
 This is an oldie but a goody. Reduce your use of disposable or short-lifespan products and packaging. Reuse products and consider buying high-quality used items. Then recycle as much as possible. Medium and large city government websites have information about local recycling options.
Consider alternatives to pesticides and other toxic chemicals (www.pesticide.org). Learn how to pay your bills online (www.payitgreen.org). Find out where to recycle compact fluorescent bulbs (which contain small amounts of mercury) and batteries (which are full of hazardous substances). In addition, all Home Depot stores recycle compact fluorescent bulbs and some Wal-Mart stores have drop-off days).
- Learn to Spot Greenwash
 “Going green” has become mainstream for businesses large and small, and that’s a good thing. What’s not so great is when businesses make environmental marketing claims that can be misleading. The websites below help consumers become more savvy about evaluating environmental marketing claims of advertisers, hold businesses accountable to their claims, and stimulate the market and demand for sustainable business practices that truly reduce the impact on the environment.
Additional Resources:
Sources: Most information on this page is summarized from the websites listed, with some additional information from Wikipedia.
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