After I calculated my carbon footprint, I became more aware of the things that I was doing on a regular basis such as forgetting to turn out the lights or not using a reusable bag when going shopping. Now, I try to always turn out my lights and my family and I always shop with reusable bags. We keep recycling bins in our house and try to reuse whatever paper, plastic, soda cans, ect. that we can. Today we went shopping for black friday and ended up with tons of paper and plastic bags, shoe boxes, and tissue paper and we recycled every bit that we could. Even after making these small changes on a daily basis, I still feel like I could do more to help lower the carbon footprint. Any ideas??

There is also a company called “myrorna” which means the ants. They collect old clothes you don’t want anymore and donates them to people who needs them more.

We reuse the plastic bags we get at stores as garbage bags in our garbage cans. Also, we reuse paper bags to collect bottles, paper, plastic, just about anything, really. When they get full, we take them to vrious staions for recyclning. In Sweden we have a system that’s called “pant”. In every grocery store you can find, you can hand in your empty bottles and cans and get a small amount of money for each bottle or can. only we and Finland use this system, even though all country’s in the world should use it. It should certainly come in handy in country’s with alot of poverty.

I see many posts on here that say reducing our usage of technology would greatly help lower our carbon footprint. But have you really stopped and thought about it?

With technology nowadays, we are able to send information, pictures, and files wirelessly. With wireless, we use less paper! Using less paper reduces the amount of trees being cut down. And when we send things by mail, the mail truck that is transporting it emits alot of pollution and carbon into the atmosphere. The things we throw away could fill up in a landfill and who knows how long it will take for these items to decompose when we could have sent it wirelessly? Using this is also way more efficient.
Though they can harm the environment in some way, technology does help greatly. We just have to use it to the environment’s advantage.

Here’s a video link that discusses the affect of wireless technology on the environment.

When I go to school everyday, I take a bottled water with me for my lunch. After drinking it, I usually take the time to put it in the recycling bin, but this is not every time. The container for the water is made of plastic, just like many items that we use in our daily lives. After doing some research, I came to find that it takes about 1,000 years for plastic to start decomposing in a landfill. When I found this fact out, I was astonished and slowly began realizing why our country has such a high carbon footprint. It got me thinking, is using a plastic water bottle for one day worth all the time it takes for it to decompose? I decided it was not and made a promise to myself to help the earth: I would no longer bring plastic water bottles to school for lunch. By using a reusable water bottle, I will not even have to worry about recycling a plastic bottle anymore. I have a canteen that is eco-friendly. I will now use it for my water container at school. Personally, I do not think that there is a difference between the water in the plastic bottle and the water in my canteen. By making a simple switch, the amount of garbage in landfills would decrease, ultimately affecting our carbon footprint, not only as a country, but also as a planet. Water is water if it is clean. After all, it is what is on the inside that counts. Do you think you could make the switch if you have not already? Here is a link that explains just how long it takes for garbage to decompose.

I always thought that by using plastic grocery bags instead of buying garbage bags, I was doing a fantastic job of saving the environment. WRONG! Those plastic bags will just end up in a landfill along with the rest of our trash. So I found a website where all of these people talked about their favorite creative ways to use plastic bags. Some of my personal favorites (that I hope to try soon) include using them to crochet bags and rugs and other cool things. Of course I’ll have to learn to crochet first, but I couldn’t believe that some of the pictures were actually your average grocery bag. People are so talented. I even read from a lady who braided strips together so that she had enough to hang from a tree to make a hammock for her kids.

Click these for some plastic bag creations
http://images.thriftyfun.com/images/database/tff91704242.jpg
http://images.thriftyfun.com/images/feedback_image.lasso?id=67290707
http://images.thriftyfun.com/images/feedback_image.lasso?id=17022211

Although recycling is a wonderful way to prevent landfills from overflowing with plastics, paper, glass, and aluminum, there are more ways to help keep the environment eco-friendly. One easy way is to reuse those huge gallon water jugs that usually go in the trash can or recycling bin. At my grandmother’s house, we collect rainwater in her gallon-jugs, then use the water for her plants. The food that her plants make are then used in her delicious cooking! :) Donating clothes is another good way to help both the environment and those less fortunate to have new clothes. Every year, between summer and fall, my family gathers all our gently used or outgrown clothing and donates it to Goodwill. This helps us be both more eco-friendly and more charitable to others. I even wear my mother’s hand-me-down jeans, instead of her having to throw them away! Although it isn’t exactly “trendy” to wear my mom’s clothes, I’m helping the environment AND wearing jeans that I think are great! For more ideas on reducing, reusing, and recycling, here’s a link. It’s a little article that gives both ideas and information on becoming a greener person!

Many people usually think that recycling is the solution to be friendly to the environment. They are right. But, it’s ONE of many solutions. Even though throwing paper into a recycling bin saves many trees, the process of breaking down recycled materials so that they can be used for new materials uses energy and resources too. Also, it doesn’t teach us much of a lesson about helping the environment. People could merely throw paper or plastic in a recycling bin and feel eco-friendly. In my opinion, that isn’t really doing much. I think we should start reusing more. Reusing means to use an item more than once. Although, reusing is not the only solution. Neither is recycling. But that is why there are three R’s. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. :)

Oh, and check the comment for a few sites that list what we can reduce, reuse, and recycle.

New models of phones, computers, ipods, and other electonics come out very often. When people buy a new version, most people just keep their old electronics but don’t use them anymore. What good does this do? There are multiple options for ways to reuse them. Old phones can be donated to http://www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com to help soldiers overseas be able to call home. By doing so, not only would you be helping the environment by reusing your phone, but you would also be helping someone in need. Other electronics can be sold to http://www.gazelle.com, which finds a new home for your electronics, recycles them, or uses them for their parts. This can be a very effective way of reusing and repurposing, and you are getting paid for it.

At my school this week we had an electronics drive where we brought old electronics in to be recycled. I brought in my old computers and phones and I was wondering where it all went and how they recycled them. This is a link to the Houston Texas Computer Recycling center. check it out