Jake and Jessica Respondek live in St. Petersburg with their son Tyde and three dogs. Jake is an OEM Sales Manager with Direct Components, Inc. in Tampa, and Jessica is finishing her MBA with the University of Florida. Both are active environmental enthusiasts with the Suncoast Chapter Surfrider Foundation. Credit: Lindsey Pape

In last year’s Green Issue, CL’s edit staff highlighted 100 people, places and businesses helping to make Tampa Bay a greener place to live. This year, it was the readers’ turn to weigh in. In response to our call for great, do-it-yourself green ideas, we received more than 100 innovative, creative and well-thought-out tips for eco-friendlier living, from which we chose 40 in honor of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22. (Find the complete list at cltampa.com/green.) The wide variety of recommendations — from improving baby care to creating new government programs — reflected the range of the respondents, among them new parents, longtime activists, local merchants and even a government official. You can read about many of them on the next page.

What’s refreshing about this list is that it’s a good reminder that “going green” doesn’t mean you need to get rid of your car, quit using electricity or stop buying anything new. It’s about sustaining our planet so it can do the same for us, about using less and conserving our resources. And besides helping out the environment, “going green” can also save you some green — in the form of cash — and who doesn’t want to do that?

So whether you’re an Earth activist with a passion for the planet or even a hardcore climate-change skeptic, I think we can agree that it’s important to tread a little lighter and use our resources wisely.

Even small changes can make a big difference, so what better time of year to start?

1. Use cloth diapers. They've come a long way in the past decade and most now are just as easy to use as disposables. And use cloth baby wipes, too — cutting apart a yard of soft fabric and using baby soap as wipe solution is much cheaper than the store-bought alternative. Plus, when cloth diapers and wipes are worn or too stained for diapering anymore, use them as rags." —Tiffany Sanders

2. Breast-feed. You don't spend the monies on formula, thus less factory processing, and you do not need as many bottles — saving you from washing them as well. —JR

3. Eat local. Soil and weather conditions (the French term is terroir) make even a tomato grown in Italy taste different from a tomato grown in Plant City. Experience the taste of our place by eating locally grown foods and seeking out restaurants that serve them. —Debra Lynn Dadd

4. Buy only the food you will eat. Sounds simple, but how many of us have tossed items we thought looked good at the time? Remember to compost those veggies past their prime. —Lisa Montelione

5. Drink local and make your hangover guilt-free. Locally brewed beer is available at many fine Tampa Bay area establishments, and local vineyards are producing many varietals you may enjoy. You can even buy vodka made from local honey. —LM

HOME

6. Make your own all-purpose cleaner. Juice 4 lemons and half of a potato and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Put ingredients into a 32-oz. reusable spray bottle, fill to the top with water and you have yourself a fabulous cleaner for doors, floors, walls and even microwaves. (Spray in microwave, then zap for 30 seconds; dried-on foods wipe right off.) —Maria Booker

7. Unplug your dryer and buy a clothesline. —Linda Taylor

8. Clean up after shooting off fireworks. That is, if you have to shoot off fireworks at all. —LT

9. Reuse plastic sandwich bags to propagate seeds. Layer bottom with compost (from your home pile), moisten, place seeds in bag and above them a layer of vermiculate. Then cut two slits just above the zip and take one of those "twisters" you have stored in your junk drawer and make it into a hanging loop. Next, use an old shoelace or other reusable string to hang the bag with a bow from your kitchen window. Then watch your babies grow! —JR

10. Use recycled mulch and recycled newspaper in your garden. The mulch gives a nice look to your garden beds and fertilizes the soil. Line the new plant bed with newspaper, and it will slowly compost — and in the meantime make for a great weed barrier. —Jake Respondek

11. Get a baby Venus flytrap. It makes a great green alternative to a bug zapper. —Jessica R

12. Make sun tea. We average 360 days of sunshine each year, and there are many ways we can use this unlimited source of free, non-polluting energy. On a small scale, make Sun Tea by putting a few teabags in a big jar, filling it with water, putting on the lid and setting the jar in the sun. The sun will heat the water and brew your tea. Consider, too, a solar oven for cooking at least some of your food. —Linda Ferguson

13. Unplug seldom used appliances. Even when switched to "off," most of the appliances and electronics in your home continue drawing a little bit of power as long as they remain plugged in. The average home is estimated to have 40 such devices that draw power 24 hours a day. Unplug to save energy and your wallet. —Kristen Merlino

14. Replace lights with compact fluorescent bulbs. If every American home replaced just one light with an Energy Star CFL, we could save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, about $700 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to the emissions of about 800,000 cars. —KM

15. Alternate the use of air conditioning and fans. When you're comfortable, shut down your air conditioner and turn on the fan. This approach can cut air conditioner use by up to 40 percent. —KM

16. Get an energy test from your utility company. After we had our test done, we added insulation to the attic, and window film to the east and west sides of the house — and it was all paid for in three months because our power bill dropped so much. We then changed out the old refrigerator with a new Energy Star model, as well as an Energy Star stove and microwave and the power bill went down even further. —Kim Del Rance

CITY/COUNTY/STATE

17. Change the predominant land development pattern in Tampa Bay. We need to move away from mindless sprawl to thoughtful planned sustainable infill. Retrofit existing suburban sprawl to create places worth caring about, and use reclaimed water for all regional irrigation. And plant more trees. —Grant Rimbey

18. Create a waste diversion plan for all construction projects and special events. What this means is that a building or special event permit would not be given to any business/organization unless it can show exactly where all the waste created by the building/special event would go. So, for example, if an organization wants to host an event in Ybor, that organization, along with its special event application, would have to include a waste diversion plan showing how all of the used glasses, plates, food, etc., would be disposed of before a permit is granted. —Timothy Frendo

19. Develop a green procurement policy. This policy would examine not only the price of a bid when it comes in for a particular project, but it would also look at the life cycle of the services, products, etc., being offered. There is no reason why companies should be awarded contracts just because they are the cheapest if they/their products or services are also the most toxic. —TF

20. Plant community gardens in all vacant lots. —LT

21. Hold more meetings, parties and get-togethers outdoors in green spaces. —LT

22. Support the local economy. A business owned and operated by people who live in Tampa Bay returns more economic value to the region than businesses owned and operated by global corporations or individuals living elsewhere, due to a phenomenon known as the "local multiplier effect": When we buy local products at locally owned businesses, it keeps the money circulating within our community, rather than having it go elsewhere. So eat at that local café, shop at the local bookstore, have the local barber cut your hair, shop at the farmer's market, and the money you spend will come back to you. —DLD

23. Support PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) bonds. Local governments would float these bonds to create 20-year loans for property owners to upgrade their buildings to lower power bills and property insurance, allowing them to save more than the amount of the loan payment. Local Florida governments may be allowed to offer these job-creating, money-saving, energy-saving loans by the end of the year if PACE clears the legislature this month. I hope to bring it to the Bay Area. —Karl Nurse

24. Reduce fees for green event rentals and street closures. Why force groups to go broke promoting green? Offer discounts to get things like ECOlution, Park(ing) Day and Earth Day festivals downtown, and let's start using this new Riverwalk park we hear so much about. —Charles Haynie

25. Ban all styrofoam. With so many packaging and storage options, like corn plastics and bagasse, more responsible purchasing options would make our environment cleaner. —Mariana Loboguernero

26. No more balloons at any function. —LT

TRANSPORTATION

27. Carpool. When possible, ride to work or do errands with a friend or family member in order to reduce the amount of emissions created. Having company is (usually) nice, too! —Tiffany Sanders

28. Make affordable electric cars readily available. Personally, I have not drunk the Prius kool-aid. Why settle for 50 mpg while still burning fossil fuel when you can run on electricity with a range of 300 mpg? —GR

29. Stop idling cars. Don't do it in drive-thrus, don't do it while waiting for someone, don't do it while packing things in your vehicle. —LT

30. Use the Bay Area's abundant bicycle trails. There is an extensive bike trail system in place with more coming, but it is a well-kept secret. More exposure and education are needed. —Bill Stokes

31. Bike lanes! And bike racks! If we would add more bike lanes, we might get more people to ride a bike to work every once in a while. And bike racks! Let some local designers come up with some unique bike rack designs and you can even get companies to pay to put their names on them. Check out the David Byrne bike racks if you want some ideas." —CH

32. Ban fossil fuels for recreational purposes. No more jet skiing, boating, etc. Or at least put a tax on these vehicles through fees that is commensurate with the harm they do the environment for the sake of fun. —Anonymous

33. Buy carbon offsets. —Giuliani Lopez

34. Bring back the electric taxis! What a bone-headed move of the city to remove a viable local transportation option because they didn't want to hassle with protecting their liability and permitting an alternative to unsafe, no-seatbelt having, gas-guzzling taxis! —CH

RECYCLE/REDUCE/REUSE/UPCYCLE

35. Stop offering plastic bags to shoppers. Green bags always! Use them whenever and wherever you shop. It is easy and makes sense. —Jen Meier

36. Freecycle. Join a local freecycle group online and offer up items you'd otherwise toss out. See if someone else is looking to get rid of something you need (and would instead be purchasing). —TS

37. Give up the bottled water. Invest in water filter and a good, long-lasting bottle. You'll begin saving immediately and seriously reduce the amount of plastic waste you create. —TS

38. Implement a "pay-as-you-throw" policy for residents and businesses. It works when residents/business owners buy specific colored trash bins from the city. Each color represents a different monetary amount. Once a trash bin is purchased, then that resident/business owner will only pay that amount each month for trash pickup. For example, if I bought the smallest trash bin from the city for $5, then I would only pay $5 a month for trash pickup as I do not have a lot to throw away. The City of Gainesville has such a program already in place. —TF

39. Re:view your office. Reduce consumption: Buy only the office supplies that you need, be mindful of how much of it you use, and reuse paper and supplies whenever you can. Reuse: Use the back side of printed documents for scrap paper or to print new documents, reuse file folders and binders by re-labeling them, use rechargeable batteries and recycled ink cartridges. Repurpose: Find secondary uses for products you would otherwise throw away. A box from a package of note cards can be used to organize small supplies in a desk drawer. Recycle: Place a recycling bin in your workspace next to your trash bin. And get a green plant for your office. It's a natural air filter that absorbs airborne pollutants and computer radiation and replenishes oxygen levels. ­—LA

40. Reuse old clothes to make throw pillows. That gauzy flower patterned skirt might not look so great on — but would make a fabulous throw! —KM

This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2010.