A few years ago, Creative Loafing ran a Must-Do List of "100 things you gotta do to be a true resident of Tampa Bay." You could check off the things you'd done, note the things you hadn't and rate your overall Tampa Bay-ness. The list below — "100 ways to go green right now" — wasn't meant to be a sequel, but it occurs to me that this is the real Must-Do List. These aren't casual suggestions, as in, "Oh you must try that restaurant." These are imperatives for the planet — 100 things you gotta do to be a responsible resident of the world.
It's "Do these things — or else."
And therein lies the problem with Going Green. In reading through these 100 items, I feel a combination of excitement and exhaustion: excitement at the possibility of making a difference, but exhaustion at the prospect of trying to accomplish even half of what's on the list — a feeling compounded by the glut of green marketing, green movies, green slogans, green backlash.
These conflicting emotions plague a lot of us these days, I suspect. In a related story in our Green Issue, CL 's Wayne Garcia runs through some of the political factors that stand in the way of green initiatives. One of the problems with talking about green is that there have been unintended consequences — deforestation due to ethanol production and poisonous mercury in those new fluorescent bulbs, as our writer Wade Tatangelo details with a healthy dose of eco-skepticism. (Yes, he even questions global warming. Go ahead, argue with him.) There will likely be more such screw-ups as we stumble toward a goal of reducing our American consumption, the highest and most wasteful in the world.
So I understand, believe me, that as Earth Day approaches, the very mention of 'going green' may have already sent you away screaming.
And yet. Look over the list. Some of the suggestions are easily adaptable (#80: Bring your own mug), some downright challenging (#33: Build a solar oven). Some may make you wonder, "Why didn't I think of that?" (#24: Shade your air conditioner), and some may make you ask, "Who are you kidding?" (The writer who recommends siphoning gas off Hummers is kidding — I think. But not the one who suggests, "Don't have kids!")
Try them out. See which ones work for you, and score yourself from 1-100 (Carbon Footprick or Green Freak?). Please comment on our list and tell us what you've tried, and what we've missed. Check out our guide to upcoming green events. And if you'd like continue the conversation even further, check out the 'Living Green' section of our blog, fixitnowtampabay.com.
Yes, all this wearing of the green can get a little, well, wearing. But a fresh idea or two might be just the thing to get you into the spirit of the season. —David Warner
Get the information
1. Understand exactly what "sustainable consumption" means. Here's one good definition, from the United Nations: "Sustainable consumption is the use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations." UN CSD International Work Programme adopted in 1995.
2. Calculate your carbon footprint. Exactly how accurate carbon footprint calculations are (as they attempt to quantify how your lifestyle and consumer choices impact the environment in a quantifiable way) is the subject of much debate. The real value is getting you to think in terms of your consumer choices. One online calculator is at conservation.org/act/live_green/carboncalc/Pages/default.aspx.
3. Embrace Treehugger. We're talking about the website, treehugger.com, an invaluable resource for green ideas. But getting to know an actual treehugger would probably be edifying, too.
4. Stop reading print newspapers and magazines. Self-defeating? Sure. But "dead-tree-media" has a bunch of impacts, from deforestation for the paper to energy for the production to gas for transportation, not to mention the chemicals that go into paper treatments and ink. The Magazine Paper Project estimates that of the 12 billion magazines produced each year, 95 percent have no recycled content. Read the Web — it uses less energy and kills fewer trees.
5. Or keep reading print newspapers and magazines, but do this, too: Don't feel guilty just because you love the feel of paper between your fingers when you read books or magazines or newspapers the old-fashioned way. Eco-Libris balances your deforesting ways by planting trees in developing countries with your financial help. In Tampa Bay, Eco-Libris is partnered with Inkwood Books, where $1 will get you a new tree in a distant land. Ecolibris.net; Inkwood Books, 216 S. Armenia Ave., Tampa, inkwoodbooks.com.
6. And turn off the TV. The savings vary depending upon what type you have, but televisions use anywhere from 100 to 600 watts when turned on. Playing an Xbox 360 on that TV? Add almost 200 watts more. Reading a book not only saves electricity, it also conserves brain power, seemingly the scarcest human resource of all. reviews.cnet.com/4520-6475_7-6400401-2.html?tag=arw.
7. After that, end your virtual lives. Journalist Nicholas Carr figured that maintaining an avatar on Second Life uses 1,752 kilowatt hours of energy per year, the same consumption as your average Brazilian. World of Warcraft and other online games have similar energy consumption, thanks to giant server farms that gobble electricity and require massive cooling facilities. That undead cleric is doing more than just sucking your virtual hit points.
8. Conduct a waste audit. Set a span of time — a week, a month — and closely monitor your waste, breaking it down into categories: landfill waste, organic compost, recyclable plastic, reusable material, etc. Then design a "material recovery" effort to minimize the amount that goes into the landfill. You'll be surprised at how much waste you generate and how much of it doesn't have to harm the environment. Becoming a waste auditor will also greatly enhance your green consciousness. treehugger.com.
Watch What You Eat
9. Green your diet. Make a point to cook your own food with fresh ingredients and avoid the pre-packaged frozen dinners.
10. Seek out heritage and heirloom foods. According to the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, 96 percent of the commercial vegetable varieties available in 1903 are now extinct. Ninety-nine percent of all turkey produced in the U.S. comes from a single breed. Not only does that decrease the number of tasty foods we can cram in our gobs, it also undermines food security by reducing the number of useful traits available as the climate changes or other natural effects change farming and livestock production.
11. Eat less meat. Producing meat requires large amounts of water, grain, land and other resources like hormones and antibiotics, and it also pollutes the soil, air and water.
12. Ask your grocer: Where does your food come from? What kinds of methods and pesticides were used in producing it?
13. Ask your waiter: Does the chef use locally grown ingredients? Does the restaurant use local fishes and meats?
14. Lay off the grouper. There's nothing yummier than a grouper sandwich. Except maybe 10-20 other species of fish fobbed off on us as grouper. So the point is, you have choices at the seafood restaurant instead of immediately going for the over-fished grouper. Cut out just two grouper sandwiches a year and help restore our fishery.
15. Go out to eat (carefully). Although the verdict isn't quite in yet, there seem to be real eco-benefits to eating out. There is less waste produced and less energy used when 100 people eat in one big place (the restaurant) instead of dozens of smaller places (their homes). This is certainly not true for all eateries, so pick a restaurant that actively recycles and uses organic ingredients, as these measures increase the benefits.
16. But never order takeout. Everyone knows that foam containers are a no-no, but so are those fancy clear plastic jobbies and paper containers. All of them are constructed from, or coated in, nonrenewable petroleum derivatives, and most of them won't biodegrade in your next few lifetimes. Find the time to eat in the restaurant or bring your own containers.
17. Or, if you do, insist on a better bag. Tell your favorite lunch spot that you'll pay extra for biodegradable, sustainable packaging.
18. Or even better, a reusable doggy bag. Eckerd College, for instance, just replaced its campus restaurant styro boxes with EcoClamshells, a dishwasher-safe reusable developed by an Eckerd student. Tell your fave eatery to do the same.
19. No plastic or paper dinnerware — ever! We throw away 39 billion knives and forks and 29 billion plates a year in the United States, with half of them plastic, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. Use dinnerware and cups that can be reused for years, and don't waste water when you clean them by running half-full dishwasher loads.
20. Avoid individually packaged food items. Re-package them yourself from larger, bulk purchases that use less packaging.
21. Bite the bullet and get reusable grocery bags already. It's literally the least you can do.
22. And support legislation to ban plastic bags. San Francisco did it, no surprise. Whole Foods plans to have them eradicated this month. Then Ireland jumped on board and China will be taking them out of the hands of all 1.3 billion of their citizens. Why not Florida?
Conserve Your Energy
23. Install shade sails. Dramatic polygons of sail fabric stretched on cable, shade sails can provide coverage for windows exposed to intense light. The cost varies, depending on whether you go with custom or ready-made, but you'll pay yourself back in energy savings. Clearwater's GreenBenches & More is a great local resource. greenbenches.com, 727-442-5319.
24. While you're at it, shade your air conditioner. Makes sense, doesn't it? When the blistering Florida sun is beating down on your air conditioner, the unit works harder and wastes electricity. If you're not installing the aforementioned shade sails, buy a shade from a local hardware store, make your own, or even better, plant a tree nearby.
25. Have a blow. Blow in insulation under your roof so your air conditioner doesn't have to work so hard. Check with your local electric company to determine your insulation needs. (See 29.)
26. Unplug it. Just because you've turned something off doesn't mean it's not sapping a current and running up your electric bill. If you aren't using it, pull the plug.
27. Switch to fluorescent light bulbs. No, we're not saying you should install those long tubular bulbs all over the house and make it feel like a government office building. We're talking about the coiled compact ones — they throw a comfortable light, last longer and are four to six times more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs. Even better are LED (light emitting diode) bulbs, which have recently become more affordable.
28. Do an energy audit. Visit the website hes.lbl.gov, billed as "The first Web-based do-it-yourself energy audit tool," and plug in your info to find out how you can save energy in your home and make your carbon footprint smaller.
29. Or, better yet, have your electric company do it. Both TECO and Progress Energy offer free energy audits of your home's insulation, duct work, air conditioning and heating systems. Progress Energy provides cost estimates for any improvements and coupons to reduce the cost of installation. TECO gives rebates, too — and throws in an eight-pack of fluorescent lightbulbs. Also, ask about TECO's new Energy Planner program, which will equip participating customers with programmable thermostats to help them control their electricity usage and expenses. Progress Energy customer service (Pinellas), 727-443-2641, savethewatts.com; TECO customer service (Hillsborough), 813-223-0800.
30. And while you're at it, take advantage of your gas company, too. The energy conservation program at TECO Peoples Gas is offering cash-back allowances to customers who replace older, less efficient electric appliances — space heaters, ranges, clothes dryers, water heaters — with natural-gas appliances. Rebates range from $65 to $625. Call 1-877 TECO PGS (1-877-832-6747, select option 4) for more information.
31. Listen to the Rays: "Your water heater temperature should be 120 degrees." This message blazed big and bright on an electric sign in Tropicana Field during the Tampa Bay Rays home opener. The Rays' uniforms are now blue, but they're still thinking green.
32. Go solar. As solar technology improves and rebate programs become more generous, more Floridians than ever are embracing solar power. But even if you can't afford a $20,000-plus solar array, many families can easily purchase a $5,000 solar water heater, which can cut your electric bills and save the same amount of carbon emissions as two cars. For more information on rebates, solar panel installers and the benefits of solar energy, visit the Florida Solar Energy Center at fsec.ucf.edu.
33. Like, for instance, a solar oven. Admittedly, this is for those of you on the more advanced end of the green continuum, but you can make a solar oven using simple household materials. Cooking is safe and easy: Place food in solar oven, point toward the sun and cook. Good for rice, beans, soups and breads. For a step-by-step how-to, go to: pathtofreedom.com/pathproject/offthegrid/solaroven.shtml.
34. Or a solar charger. All the gizmos we tote around — cell phones, mp3 players and the like — need to be charged up. Why not use the sun?
Green Up Your Government
35. Support federal energy legislation. Last December, Congress finally passed long-overdue improvements to automobile fuel efficiency standards despite strong lobbying by Detroit. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, voted for it; Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Rocks Beach, voted against it. You can find your legislator and send her/him an e-mail pat on the back/swat on the butt by going to action.sierraclub.org/site/VoteCenter?page=voteInfo&voteId=7710. While you're e-mailing, urge your congressperson to support further energy reforms such as a national standard for renewable electrical production.
36. Petition for a "Do Not Mail" registry. Five years ago, annoyed homeowners pressured Congress to pass a "Do Not Call" registry so they never had to pick up the phone for a telemarketer again; earlier this year, the environmental group Forest Ethics kick-started a campaign to petition Congress to pass a free "Do Not Mail" registry for a citizenry besieged by junk mail. Besides the annoyance factor, there's an environmental cost to all those L.L. Bean catalogs: According to Forest Ethics, junk mail kills 100 million trees each year. Sign the petition at donotmailus.org.
37. Demand better growth management. Less sprawl means more trees and more efficient transportation systems, reducing auto emissions. The Legislature is considering a rewrite of Florida's growth-management rules, but conservationists report that a House version of the law (PCB 08-07) is a mess and includes "major weakened legal appeal standards, more DRI exemptions, overrides of local plans addressing rural, commercial and industrial areas, and weakened transportation concurrency requirements." The bill is in the House Economic Expansion and Infrastructure Council, and you can contact them with your thoughts at myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/committeesdetail.aspx?SessionId=57&CommitteeId=2333.
38. Make your city a Cool City. The Cool Cities program urges local governments to get green in their operations, purchasing and other areas. Check whether your city has a Sierra Club chapter monitoring your community at coolcities.us. Then write your mayor about it.
39. Support Tampa's proposed green-building ordinance. Tampa City Councilman John Dingfelder has been working for months on convincing the city to adopt a green-building ordinance that gives incentives for builders. Contact Mayor Pam Iorio and the Tampa City Council and urge them to adopt the most progressive version of the ordinance.
40. Annoy St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker. And continue to ask him and St. Pete City Council why they haven't instituted curbside recycling. Send a form e-mail prepared by Clean Water Action at cleanwateraction.org/fl.
Hold Your Water
41. Tabulate how much water your household uses. It's easy, with The Water Consumption calculator. Check it out at csgnetwork.com/waterusagecalc.html.
42. Then turn the faucet off. Not permanently — but do you really need to keep the water running while you're brushing your teeth or shaving?
43. And wash only full loads. That means full loads of laundry in your washing machine and dishes in your dishwasher.
44. Cut your shower time in half. Standard showerheads spit out about 4 gallons of water a minute. Cutting a 10-minute shower down to five saves 19 gallons. So quit playing with yourself in there, soap up, rinse and get out.
45. And install a cut-off nozzle on your shower head. After wetting down, you can simply push the cut-off valve to stop the wasteful stream of water while you shampoo and soap up.
46. Collect rainwater. More than 52 inches of rain fall on Florida every year. Water your lawn with Mother Nature's help by investing in a rain barrel to catch some of that H2O from afternoon thunderstorms. Hillsborough County offers a free Rain Barrel Workshop that educates you on the basics, and gives you a free rain barrel to take home. To sign up, visit hillsborough_fyn.ifas.ufl.edu/RainBarrels.html.
47. Go low-flow. About 75 percent of a household's water use comes from the bathroom — half from the toilet. Outfitting your sink, shower and toilet with low-flow fixtures not only conserves our water supply, but also saves you money. Pinellas County offers a toilet rebate program. Call 727-725-2604 for details.
48. Reuse greywater. Even better than low-flow is recycling the water you already use. Greywater — the wastewater from your sinks and showers — is not potable but can be used on ornamental plants or in your toilet. One simple system: Disconnect your sink pipe so wastewater flows into a bucket, which you can dump in your toilet for reuse. For more information, visit greywaterguerrillas.com.
49. If it's yellow, let it mellow. Conventional toilets use 5 to 7 gallons of water per flush, and flushing just two fewer times a day can save more than 4,000 gallons a year. Just put the seat down and forget about it.
Be Nice to Mother Nature
50. Plant a tree. Still the cheapest, most effective way of removing CO2 from the atmosphere. If every American family planted one tree, it would cut more than 1 billion pounds of CO2 from our atmosphere each year — about 5 percent of Earth's annual carbon footprint. So plant two. Tampa's Community Tree Program provides residents with free trees to plant on rights of way. Call 813-274-8615 for details.
51. Go native. Plants, that is. Hibiscus and bougainvillea are pretty, and azaleas make spring pop, but they aren't native to Florida and therefore can take lots more water than the flowering plants that evolved in the Sunshine State. The locals also are hardier and survive winter freezes better than the non-natives. Visit a local nursery that specializes in native plants, such as Twigs and Leaves, 1013 Dr. Martin Luther King St. S., St. Petersburg.
52. Gather your neighbors' fruit (with permission, of course). So much fruit goes to waste in our yards every year, falling onto the ground, rotting and attracting rodents. After getting consent from the neighbors, organize a team to gather fruit and distribute it to a food bank.
53. Urge funding for Forever Florida and the Everglades. The current state budget eliminates all funding for these two important conservation programs, according to 1000 Friends of Florida, endangering $500 million of funding to save only $16 million in the next fiscal year. Want to voice your support for conservation? Two good people to start with would be House Speaker Marco Rubio, 850-488-1450 or marco.rubio@myfloridahouse.gov; and House Budget Chairman Ray Sansom, 850-488-1170 or ray.sansom@myfloridahouse.gov.
54. Use safe, nontoxic insect spray. Forget those harmful bug-killing products; it's just as easy to make your own. Common solutions you can put into a spray bottle include soap, cayenne pepper and garlic. (It really works.) You'll ward off the unwanted critters, without the cancer-causing agents.
55. Use drip hoses for irrigation. Instead of conventional sprinklers, consider using drip hoses that you can customize for your trees or garden by using a hole-punch to target the areas that need water.
56. Let it rot. Composting is an easy, effective way to reduce the amount of garbage in our landfills. Compost practically makes itself — just throw your kitchen waste in a bin (made yourself or bought), turn it every couple days and, after about a month, you have an effective, organic fertilizer! To sign up for Hillsborough County's composting class and receive a free compost bin, call 813-744-5519, ext. 105. Pinellas County residents, call 727-543-6800.
57. Green your pet. Entertain your furry or feathered friend with toys made from recycled materials or sustainable fibers, including hemp. And look for natural and certified-organic pet foods that are minimally processed and don't contain added drugs or hormones.
58. Some butts don't belong on the beach. So you're a smoker. You spend an unreasonable amount of money on packs of cigarettes, introduce your body to hundreds of carcinogens and generally foul the air around you. But you do have a heart (however badly damaged), so after finishing your cig, you place your butt in an ashtray, trashcan or random beer bottle. Why? Because you heard that cigarette butts thrown on the street end up in our waterways, where various creatures, including sea turtles, mistake the indigestible butts for food. And that's just not cool.
Think Before You Buy
59. Stop being an average consumer. "If everyone in the world were to live like an average person in the high-income countries, we would need 2.6 additional planets to support us all, according to the Ecological Footprint Sustainability Measure, an independent measurement based on UN statistics. Four more Earths would be needed if everyone consumed like Americans. Current consumption and production levels are 25 percent higher than the Earth's ecological capacity. This means that even at current levels, humanity is eroding the planet's natural capital at a significant rate." —United Nations Environment Programme.
60. Fight catalog clog. Save 'em up for a month, and you see how much paper goes into your monthly delight at Pottery Barn light fixtures or the latest latte machine from Williams Sonoma. You can stop unsolicited catalogs or mailers from companies that you no longer want to do business with by going to catalogchoice.org, where you type in your name and some info from the catalog mailing label to ask the merchants to take you off their lists.
61. Barter, don't buy. Find a friend who wants to trade your unwanted handbag for one of her unwanted handbags.
62. Or barter online. If you can't find a friend who needs your unwanted stuff, using a service such as U-Exchange, the largest online free barter site, is the next best solution. u-exchange.com/barter. But try these options, too: titletrader.com, 1redpaperclip.com/trading post (trade media and much more); zunafish.com, switchplanet.com (trade books, CDs, DVDs, video games): neighborrow.com/index.html (create and join groups with friends and neighbors, list anything you want to lend and trade); peerflix.com (DVDs only); lala.com (music); freecycle.org
(give your stuff away without ever having to leave your home); gimmeyourstuff.blogspot.com (trade random stuff with folks from around the world.)
63. Buy used CDs and books. Extend the life of your books and music by frequenting local businesses that sell gently used items. To help you along, Tampa's Mojo Books and Music has organized the first annual Record Store Day, a celebration of the indie-store ethic which includes discount offers and free stuff for customers. Sat., April 19, Mojo Books and Music, 2558 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa, 813-971-9717.
64. Use your iPod until it croaks. Stop coveting the latest version. You don't need it, and when you throw away your old one it will still be moldering in a landfill when we've all graduated to having iTunes implant song chips directly into our brains.
65. Reupholster with care. Re-cover your armchair with organic, fair-trade or low-impact dyed fabrics or fabrics purchased at a thrift or consignment store. Resources include hemptraders.com , robertkaufman.com/green, nearseanaturals.com, organiccottonplus.com and pmorganics.com.
66. Stop using paper towels. Use retired clothes as rags, or invest in microfiber wipes or natural sponges (from a sponge farm, not a natural ecosystem). Check out theluffafarm.com and plantopiagifts.com.
67. Stop buying bottled water. A recent four-year study by the Natural Resources Defense Council showed that bottled water is no cleaner than tap water. It also leaves a huge carbon footprint from transportation, and the discarded bottles produce unnecessary garbage. valleywater.org/tapvbottle.
68. Give an eco-friendly gift. Forget the usual — look for fair trade or eco-friendly goods first, shop at locally owned businesses, recycle wrapping or do without. Some shopping options: itsournature.com (It's Our Nature, Inc., a Clearwater-based company that bills itself as an "environmentally- and socially conscious marketplace, featuring organic cotton merchandise"); eastwindtrading.net (a Tampa-based eco-friendly and organic clothing company); eco-artware.com (products and art created from green materials); and International Bazaar, Centro Ybor, offering fair trade gifts from around the world (1600 E. Eighth Ave., 813-241-8292).
69. Wear it out. You really don't need that new shirt just yet, do you? Wear your clothes a little longer, until they wear out.
70. Use green cosmetic products. You can do this a number of ways: Petroleum products are found in many cosmetic products, including sex lube, so choose organic and look for items that contain beeswax instead. Also seek out products that have not been animal-tested.
71. Buy furniture made from wood harvested from sustainable forests. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, produce oxygen and provide a natural habitat for animals, so look for furniture made from certified sustainable wood.
72. Think vintage. Especially with clothing, jewelry and accessories. The reused items stay out of the trash, and no new manufacturing resources are used, thus creating less pollution and carbon emissions.
73. Find a new purpose for old containers. Instead of sending them down the waste stream, repurpose! Here's one tip: Old plastic parmesan cheese shakers make great containers for crackers or cookies, saving them from getting smashed in lunchboxes or backpacks and reducing the number of plastic zip-lock bags you use.
74. Take your wire hangers back to the dry cleaners. The landfill doesn't need them. Your laundry owner does.
75. Make your own nontoxic cleaning supplies. Long before Dow Chemical, housewives cleaned their houses with natural ingredients like vinegar, baking soda and tea tree oil. Party like it's 1899, and make your own cleaning supplies to save money and the planet. For recipes, visit care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html.
76. Parents, switch to cloth diapers. According to the Real Diaper Association (yes, that's an actual organization), disposable diapers are the third-largest single consumer item in landfills. Cloth diapers are making a comeback as boutique shops try to make them more trendy and easy to use. No whining — just switch. You can buy cloth diaper and other environmentally friendly baby items locally at Cottontail Baby, 762 N. Belcher Road, Clearwater, 727-657—0167, cottontailbaby.com.
77. Make your school and home Kleenex-free. At least until tissue manufacturer Kimberly-Clark stops using ancient forests as the raw materials for their disposable snot rags. Same goes for Puffs and toilet paper brands Charmin, Cottonelle and Scott. "If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with 100 percent recycled ones, we could save 423,900 trees," Greenpeace reports. Look for tissue with high post-consumer recycled content and little or no use of chlorine bleaches. A list of eco-friendly paper products is online at greenpeace.org/usa/press-center/reports4/tissue-guide. Better yet: Use an old-fashioned (and reusable) handkerchief.
78. Dumpster dive! Limiting consumption is one of the best ways to "go green," so bring your shopping list to area trash bins for free stuff. Depending on how deep you want to go, gently used furniture and lumber abound behind motels, apartment buildings or universities. Hardcore divers can find fresh fruit, bread and pastries behind grocery stores. Be careful: Some municipalities consider this illegal.
79. And enough with the plastic-bead obsession already! Let Mardi Gras have it. Throwing and lunging and baring breasts for cheap strings of plastic beads is stupid on its face, but when there are several tons of them left on the street or in garbage cans, that's just an unnecessary amount of refuse — with a half-life of who-knows-how-long.
Take It To The Office
80. Bring your own mug. Green Mountain Coffee Roaster estimates that Americans used 14.4 billion hot-liquid paper cups, which placed end to end would circle the Earth 55 times. And even though these cups are made of paper, they're coated in petroleum to make them waterproof. Buy a couple of those insulated mugs inscribed with pithy sayings by dead writers and keep them handy for your next caffeine fix. You'll save innumerable disposable cups, plastic sippy tops, "java jackets" and other disposable paraphernalia.
81. Buy recyclable desk chairs. A recent issue of Metropolis magazine highlighted the new thinking in office-furniture design: Easily disassembled, PVC-free chairs whose components are largely recyclable. Manufacturers Haworth (the Zody chair), Herman Miller (Mirra) and Steelcase (Think) have all come out with good-looking ergonomic chairs that are winning high marks for forward thinking. Steelcase has a particularly timely offer: Order any new Think chair from the Steelcase Store during the month of April, and they'll plant a tree to help reforest areas devastated by the recent wildfires in southern California. haworth.com, hermanmiller.com/mirra, store.steelcase.com.
82. Recycle your old computers. You know that old laptop you have sitting in the closet? The one you used all through college — back in the mid-'90s? Check out recyclingsupersite.com when you're finally ready to part with that cherished piece of personal history. It is located in Tampa and has been recycling computers and related equipment for over 30 years. recyclingsupersite.com/index.htm.
83. Don't throw out those old toner cartridges, either. Pinellas County's got a list of drop-off points for recycling a lot more than just newspapers and tin cans. Items that can be recycled include electronics, building materials, toner cartridges, batteries and a whole lot more. pinellascounty.org/utilities/getridofit.
84. And take your ink cartridges in for a refill. Filling your printer's ink cartridge used to be a pain in the ass, requiring you to either buy a hypodermic-like refill kit and DIY, or mail it off and wait for its return. Now, retailers such as Walgreens are installing refill machines in their stores, making them as common as those gigantic photo printers. walgreens.com/dmi/inkrefill/default.html.
85. Think twice before you hit "Print." Review documents on your computer. And if you absolutely have to print something out, drop the font size to as small as possible.
86. Limit business travel and use technology instead. Conservation International asks, "Can your business meeting be conducted with cameras and computers rather than face to face? Consider investing in remote meeting tools and think about the money you would save on airline tickets and hotel rooms." Greater bandwidth and better software choices make videoconferencing a better solution today than even five years ago.
87. Consider purchasing a carbon offset. Yeah, we know, this sounds like complete bullshit, the notion that you can pay somebody else to be green for you. It sounds remarkably like paying a friend to go on a diet for you while you continue to gorge on Twinkies. But there is logic, as an industry has emerged that trades in carbon offsets and companies such as TerraPass.com that offer to take your carbon output and allow you to invest in a company that is offsetting your output. The cost? For one of our staff writers who drives a 2006 Dodge Dakota, offsetting the 13,764 pounds of CO2 he sends into the atmosphere annually would take $69.30 to fund projects that are verified by third-party auditors, TerraPass assures us. Sure, sometimes the carbon offset won't happen for years (in the case of projects that involve planting more trees), but you have to start somewhere.
Take It on the Road
88. Green your ride. Most of us know the Toyota Prius is the gold standard for hybrid vehicles (winning the top rating from Consumer Reports), but how green is your beater? Check CR's online ratings system, especially if you are thinking about buying a new car. Using less gasoline not only protects our atmosphere but saves you $$ at the gas pump. greenerchoices.org/ratings.cfm?product=auto.
89. And make your next car a hybrid. It's easier than retrofitting. One CL editorial staffer drives a Toyota Prius and routinely gets 50 mpg. Not 60, like the dealership touts, but 50. Fifty.
90. Or ask your car rental company for one. The major rental companies have more than 4,000 hybrids available in the U.S., a drop in the bucket, yes, but a viable option and one that will increase if you ask for it. Hertz added 3,400 Priuses last year alone to its airport-locations fleet. Enterprise Rent-a-car became the first rental major to offer consumers the choice to offset their carbon impact from renting a vehicle through a company called TerraPass.
91. Be a better tourist. We often don't think about the environmental impact of our tourism travel abroad, but the places we go, the things we do and even the items we pack in our suitcases can have an impact on the environment, especially in developing nations that aren't as capable of dealing with waste as the U.S. is. Green Passport is a website that educates travelers on how to minimize their impact. One tip: Take environmentally friendly soap and shampoos with you, and leave ostentatious jewelry at home. www.unep.fr/greenpassport/.
92. Keep your car in tune. Regular car maintenance — tune-ups, oil and air filter changes, and even properly inflated tires — will help you burn less gas, which makes for less pollution and less car trouble down the line. And remove any extraneous, unnecessary junk from your trunk — the additional extra weight saps your fuel economy.
93. Adopt a highway. Usually the domain of Rotary Clubs and church groups, "adopting" a road doesn't cost a dime. It does, however, require a serious two-year commitment. Volunteer organizations need around 20 people to go out four times a year and remove trash from a 2-mile stretch of roadway. Come on class of 2011. You got it in you? www.dot.state.fl.us/statemaintenanceoffice/aah.htm.
94. Get a ride to work/give a ride to work. Better to take public transportation, of course, but Tampa Bay's system is abysmal. So carpool. As of 2006 statistics, 9.5 percent of Tampa Bay's 1.25 million commuters use some form of ride-sharing. That percentage needs to increase.
95. Or don't ride. Walk. If your travel destination is two miles away or less, abandon the car and hoof it. You'll lose weight and cut down on pollution, your gas bill and the climate crisis.
96. Or just ride a frickin' bike! Do we really need to give stats on the health benefits of bike riding or how bad for the environment cars are? Didn't think so.
97. Siphon gas from Hummers. Class warfare at its environmental best! Siphons available at most local hardware stores. Visit misterfixit.com/siphon.htm for a good primer on siphoning.
Till Death Do You Part
98. Don't have kids! All humans produce trash, but Americans are the garbage-creation champions. According to recycling-revolution.com, "The U.S. is the No. 1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year." If the average lifespan for a human born today is around 80 years, that's 128,720 pounds of trash saved if you skip the "I'm a God who brings forth life upon this planet" trip and just use birth control.
99. But do support marriage — including gay marriage. According to a report from Michigan State University, divorced families consume 73 billion more kilowatt-hours of electricity than they did before the household split in two. So it stands to reason that we should encourage people to pair up and stay together — no matter who they're pairing up with.
100. Say a green goodbye. Sticking your lifeless corpse in a glossy hardwood box takes up valuable real estate and guarantees you'll be mummifying for hundred of years. Instead, you can go out in a blaze of glory at an eco-friendly crematorium or choose to go into the grave au naturel, with no embalming fluids and a biodegradable casket made from cardboard, bamboo or jute. Check the Green Burial Council (greenburialcouncil.org) for resources.
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2008.