FIRST STEPS
• Choose a vacation destination near your home. It’s fun to get to know your own region better and deepen your sense of place. A nearby bed and breakfast or cabin on a lake might be perfect.
• Take a bus for regional trips. Jefferson Line is a Midwest regional bus service and Greyhound covers about 2,600 destinations in Northern America. For information call 608-257-3050, 800-231-2222, or visit www.greyhound.com. For Jefferson Line call 800-767-5333 or visit www.jefferson­lines.com.
• Carpool home with hometown friends for the holidays. If you are a student, faculty, or staff member of a university, check to see if your school has an online ride board. Meet the person before you choose to travel together and follow personal safety precautions.
• If you are a member of Community Car and are traveling to another state, check to see whether there is a cooperative agreement with the car-sharing business in your destination city.
• Inform yourself about the environmental impacts of cruise ships and choose more sustainable vacation options. Some cruise ships have been charged with destruction of coral reefs, oil discharges, and plastic and refuse dumping. For more information, see www.cruisejunkie.com.
• If you need to rent a car, consider EV Rental Cars. They rent hybrid-electric and natural gas vehicles in some U.S. cities: www.evrental.com.

NEXT STEPS
• If you are traveling by airplane or train, use public transportation to get to your hotel or lodging. When you arrive at your destination, walk or use public transportation instead of renting a car. Maybe you can even rent a bicycle and helmet.
• When planning meetings or gatherings, choose venues where participants can take advantage of public transportation.
• Instead of planning several short vacations by airplane, go on one longer trip every few years.
• Do you have to go to that conference? Try teleconferencing or attending more local and regional conferences instead of the national or international ones.
• When vacationing, choose a hotel with a commitment to the environment. See www.greenhotels.com.

PROJECTS
• Set up a ride board at your workplace, congregation, or community organization. During holidays and vacation times, people can post notices for ridesharing for out-of-town trips.

(EnAct: Steps to Greener Living; More resources at www.enactwi.org.)

FIRST STEPS

• Look through your grocery list and identify items that are processed. Purchase an unprocessed (whole food) alternative for one of the processed foods - try whole pop­corn for a snack, fresh vegetables instead of frozen or canned, and fresh fruit instead of applesauce or packaged snacks.
• Cook at home with children instead of going out for dinner. Their favorite foods can be healthy and fun to make at home. Start with make-your-own pizzas, smoothies, or sub sandwiches with their favorite cheese and vegetables.
• Keep healthy snacks at home, at work, and in your car. Try crackers and cheese, carrots, dried fruit, nuts, popcorn, or a piece of fruit - nature’s fast food!

NEXT STEPS

• Pack fresh fruits and vegetables as snacks for your children to take to school, rather than pre-packaged processed foods. Include a cloth napkin. Visit laptoplunches.com for ideas. Choose one thing that you usually make from a box or package and make it from scratch, using no processed ingredients.
• Feed babies and young children unprocessed foods that you prepare yourself. Your children will be healthier, and you will save money and reduce waste from baby food jars. A simple mechanical food grinder helps. Visit www.myfreshbaby.com for ideas.

PROJECTS

Find out what kinds of foods are served in your child’s school lunchroom and for snacks in the classroom. Encourage your child’s teacher and administration to provide fresh, nutritious foods and to incorporate food education into their curriculum. The Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch program may have ideas and/or resources available to help with this. See www.reapfoodgroup.org for more information.

FIRST STEPS

• Re-use plastic shopping bags as trash bags rather than buying new bags.
• Pack your lunch or keep leftovers in reusable food storage containers rather than aluminum foil or plastic bags or wrap.
• Reuse jars and bottles to store food or household items
• Buy liquid soap, shampoos, and other products in bulk and refill your containers.

NEXT STEPS

• Use rags, sponges, and washcloths for cleaning rather than paper towels and other disposable products. Cut up old cotton T-shirts to use as rags and store a pile of them under your sink. Keep paper towels in an inconvenient location so you’ll think twice about using them.
• Manage food in your household to reduce spoilage and waste. Eat leftovers before they spoil and try not to make or buy more food than you know you will eat.
• Compost food waste (except for meat, fish, and dairy products). Tip: Find a nice looking compost container to keep on the counter.
• Take your excess paper or plastic bags to local grocery stores or food pantries for reuse.
• Use cloth napkins. Pick a different color, pattern, or napkin ring for each person and wash the napkins when soiled.
• Use razors with replaceable blades instead of disposable razors.

• Save any unwrapped wrapping paper and use it again next year. Environmentally savvy gift-givers who wrap presents in newspaper can recycle it as long as there is minimal tape on the paper.
• Other reusable wrapping alternatives include: comics, posters, maps, blueprints, wallpaper ends, calendars, cloth gift bags, dish towels, bandannas, and pillow cases for large items.
• Shoe laces can be used to tie pillow cases shut or make the bag into a laundry bag.

• Use the back of one-sided, unneeded office paper for printing notes, phone numbers, shopping lists, etc.
• Share electronic files with others instead of printing hard copies.
• Re-use supplies such as large envelopes, file folders, etc
• Use refillable rather than disposable pens and pencils.
• Cut your paper usage in half by setting your printer to duplex printing or use the manual feeder to print double-sided. Experiment with font size and margins to fit more on a page.
• Make your printer’s toner last by printing in black and white and using the “Economy” or “draft” setting. The econo-mode uses up to 50% less toner thereby printing twice as many pages as other higher quality settings. It may also allow for faster printing.
• Before you recycle one-sided paper, reuse it in your printer for drafts.
• Purchase chlorine-free paper products with
post-consumer recycle content.
• Recycle printer cartridges. Many come with a mail-in return envelope.
• Buy refurbished office furniture.
• Purchase a double-sided printer or add a double-sided tray to your printer.
Ideas above from the book Enact: Steps to Greener Living
by Sonya Newenhouse, PhD

• Let the check-out person at the store know you don’t need a shopping bag if you have one or two items you can carry or if you brought your reusable cloth shopping bags with you.
• Return dry cleaners’ bags, hangers, and safety pins.
• Recycle even when you’re away from home. Ask where to find a recycling bin, and if one isn’t available, hold on to your recyclables until you can find a place for them.
• Search local garage sales, second hand stores, and online resources like Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) before buying a brand new item.
• Use rechargeable batteries and a battery charger rather than continually replacing spent single-use batteries.
• When eating out, bring a reusable container along for leftovers.
• Use reusable plastic plates, cups, and cutlery for potlucks and picnics instead of disposable ones.
• Carry a cloth napkin and small travel mug with you in your handbag, briefcase, or backpack even when you travel.
• Treat your co-workers to real utensils and table­ware instead of disposables for your break room or lunchroom at work. Look for inexpensive second hand items at thrift stores.

• Use daylight where possible. Sit near the windows and rear­range your furniture to take advantage of natural light. You’ll feel better and save energy.
• Make it a habit to turn off the lights when leaving a room, even if you are only going to be away for a short time.
• Turn off computers, televisions, and CD players when they won’t be used for at least half an hour.
• Unplug appliances that you don’t use regularly. Some appliances draw electricity even when turned off. This wasted energy is sometimes called phantom load or ghost energy. Phantom load energy is mostly found in electronic appliances such as printers, cell phone chargers, cordless telephones, and any electronic device that has a remote.
• Use power strips with on-off switches for TVs, stereos, and computers. Switching the power strip to the off position will prevent the appliances from drawing electricity when not in use.

Did you know that, according to the National Resource Defense Council, each household in the U.S. replaced just one 500-sheet roll of virgin-fiber toilet paper with a roll made of 100% recycled paper, nearly 425,000 trees would be saved annually. Brands to consider are Marcal Small Steps, Seventh Generation, 365 Everyday Value (Whole Foods) and Scott Naturals.

Getting groomed
FREE: Make a list of grooming must-haves and stick to it. Buying only the essentials reduces the amount of packing you throw away (not to mention cabinet clutter). CHEAP: Cook up self-care concoctions using natural ingredients. Get recipes at totalbeauty.com (search for homemade beauty). ECO-INVESTMENT: Buy only products that do not contain problematic ingredients such as parabens, phthalates, synthetic fragrances and petroleum derivatives.

Powering up
FREE: Unplug electronics when they’re not in use to save “phantom energy” that can add up to 5 percent to your electricity bill each year. CHEAP: Contact your power company to find out whether you can purchase solar and wind power. You can also buy carbon offsets equal to the amount of energy your home uses at carbonfund.org. ECO-INVESTMENT: Get an energy audit of your home to find out where you’re wasting energy and how to fix the problem.

Getting around:
FREE: Drive the speed limit to save GAS – and 13 to 42 cents per gallon. Get other simple tips to maximize your miles per gallon at fueleconomy.gov/FEB/drive.shtml.
CHEAP: As often as possible, carpool with friends and colleagues to work and other group gathering places, or take public transit.
ECO-INVESTMENT: Purchase a vehicle that gets at least 30 miles per gallon on the highway.

Doing laundry:
FREE: Switch to ‘cold’ for every load to make a huge impact. About 90% of the energy required to wash clothing is used to heat the water.
CHEAP: To protect waterways, choose laundry detergents free of chemicals like phosphates, bleach and synthetic fragrances.
ECO-INVESTMENT: Choose a front-loading wash with the Energy Star logo and halve the water and energy used by your top loader. Look for a dryer with a sensor that shuts the machine off when clothes are dry. Find the most efficient models at greenerchoices.org (search for washers/dryers).

Cleaning around your house:
FREE: Wipe up with old t-shirts and dishcloths instead of buying sponges or using paper products that will just end up in a landfill.
CHEAP: Make your own cleaning products with baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil (recipes at spryliving.com/green).
ECO-INVESTMENT: Purchase cleaning products made with toxin-free and biodegradable ingredients (like Method.)

From SpryLiving.Com, April 09

• Review your laundry attitude. Can you wear something more times between washings? Can you spot-clean an item and hang it to dry rather than laundering it?
• Wash and rinse your clothes in cold water instead of hot for maximum energy efficiency. Many detergents have changed their formulation to be effective in cold water. Plus, clothes washed in cold water last longer.
• Wash and dry full loads when possible to conserve energy and water.
• Purchase powdered detergent rather than liquid deter­gent. Liquid detergent contains significant amounts of water, making its transportation to your local store more costly and energy intensive. Powdered detergents are thus cheaper and have a smaller CO2 footprint. Use the high concentration liquid detergent if powdered deter­gent is not an option. Also, look for detergents which are made up of mostly ‘natural’ ingredients and ones that come with minimal packaging.
• Clean the lint trap every time you use the dryer. Your clothes will dry more quickly and you’ll save energy. Laundry lint also makes a great fire starter.
You may also wish to consider:
• Line dry your clothes and enjoy the fresh clean smell of your clothes and linens. Your clothes will last longer, retain their colors better, and wrinkle less. Set up a clothesline outside and use it, even for only part of the year.
• In cold weather, try drying your clothes on clotheslines or drying racks in your basement, screened porch, or spare room. Retractable clotheslines are good for small areas.
• Reduce the need for ironing by taking clothes out of the dryer slightly damp and hanging them up. You’ll save time and energy. When you buy clothes, choose clothes that don’t need ironing.
These tips are reprinted from:
Enact: Steps to Greener Living by Sonya Newenhouse
© 2008 by Madison Environmental Group

You don’t have to stay at an expensive ecolodge to make sustainability part of your travel experience. Here are some suggestions from our experts about little things that can make a difference as you travel:

• Carry your own water bottle and filter your own water for the day.
• When you make your reservations, choose a hotel that is close to public transportation or within walking distance of attractions you plan to visit.
• If renting a car, make it a hybrid.
• Fly nonstop if you can. It is the taking off and the landing that have the greatest effect on the environment.
• When dining in a restaurant, seek out locally grown fruits and vegetables or specials unique to the region. It saves on transportation costs and helps local food providers.
• Stay in locally owned and operated hotels and hire local tour operators to support the local economy and to get to know local residents.
• Keep showers short; turn off water when brushing your teeth.
• Ask about your hotel’s recycling policies. Sort your trash accordingly.
• Reuse towels and sheets during your stay. If you aren’t sure of the hotel policy, write a note to the housekeeping staff expressing your wishes and place it prominently in the room.
• When you leave your hotel room, turn off heat, air conditioning, lights, and, of course, the TV.
• When boating, drain your bilge and live well and remove weeds from your boat before you leave.
• Purchase firewood locally. To help protect against invasive species, don’t bring firewood in or out of the area.
• Pack light. A heavier load uses more fuel, whether flying, driving or even taking the bus.
• Take a foldable bag with you to eliminate the need for bags at shops and stores.

-- Nancy A. Herrick.
Reprinted from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sunday, April 5, 2009.

It only takes baby steps.
Conservation is one of the easiest, most inexpensive ways to prevent water shortages - so people, plant life and wildlife worldwide all have access. It’s as simple as using less each time you use water. Reducing pollution, too, is a matter of awareness: learning better habits can help ensure healthy water supplies for the future.

Take your own steps:
• Use less water in your home and yard to prevent wastewater and pollution from runoff. Sweep driveways and sidewalks, rather than hosing them down.
• Use pesticides sparingly - if at all - and compost leaves and yard clippings for use as natural fertilizer in your garden or yard.
• Pick up - and properly dispose of - pet waste, trash and other debris in your neighborhood; street gutters and storm drains often run directly into lakes, streams, rivers and wetlands.
• Keep your car clean and green: choose a professional car wash that recycles its water; promptly repair auto leaks; and recycle used motor oil - a single quart that seeps into groundwater can pollute 250,000 gallons of drinking water.
• Properly recycle electronics, appliances, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), silver batteries and paint to keep toxic pollutants out of your water.

Learn more:
www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/gsteps.asp
www.epa.gov/ebtpages/watewaterpollution.html
www.h2ouse.org

No. 1: Polyethylene terephthalate (PETE or PET). Used in food and drink containers, including milk jugs and all those thousands of disposable water bottles. Generally considered safe.
No. 2: High-density polyethylene (HDPE). Used in food and drink containers, detergent bottles, grocery bags, trash bags. Generally considered safe.
No. 3: Polyvinyl chloride (PVC or vinyl). Used in food packaging, cling plastic wraps, vinyl-lined lunch boxes. Gets its flexibility from phthalates, which are possible carcinogens. When PVC touches food, especially anything hot or fatty, the plasticizers can leach into the food.
No. 4: Low-density polyethylene (LDPE). Used in dry-cleaning bags, bread bags, frozen food bags, squeezable bottles. Generally considered safe.
No. 5: Polypropylene (PP). Used in food and medicine containers. Generally considered safe.
No. 6: Polystyrene (PS). Used in egg cartons, packing peanuts and disposable cups, plates and cutlery. Some scientists worry about the health effects of the component styrene, which can leach into food and drink.
No. 7: Other (often polycarbonate, PC). Used in hard plastic sports bottles, baby bottles, 5-gallon water jugs. BPA, the chemical that the U.S. is being urged to ban, is found in polycarbonate products. There are BPA-free products made from polyethersulfone (PES), which will be marked with “7” but not PC. “Consumer Reports” recently tested a handful of BPA-free baby bottles and found that they contained only negligible amounts of the chemical.

Source: Consumer Reports Greener Choices (www.greenerchoices.org)

• Cut back on electricity. At the end of a dishwasher cycle, open the door to let dishes air-dry.
• Prepare veggies and other foods in the microwave, toaster oven or slow cooker - all of which use less energy than a stove.
• Go low-flow. Install an aerator on your kitchen faucet to cut water usage in half. A $4 investment helps you save $44 a year in water costs. See options at niagaraconservation.com.
• Shorten your shower. Using less water when you bathe means you consume less energy to heat the water. Install a low-flow showerhead and you’ll conserve even more.

• Get sporty, eco-style. Patagonia’s PCR fleece vest ($70) is made from recycled soda bottles.
• Be clean (and green). Pangea Organics soaps, which are made with organic and often Fair Trade Certified ingredients, are scented with oils like lavender and lemongrass. They come in a biodegradable carton that will start disintegrating within 48 hours if you plant it in your garden. Available at Whole Foods Markets.

• Become a flexitarian. Swap out one meat dish a week for a veggie plate. Why? Because raising produce is “cheaper,” in terms of energy, than raising animals. Log on to vegweb.com to find tasty, meatless recipes.
  
• Grill corn in its husk. Instead of stripping off the green leaves, soak the ear whole, then place it right on the barbecue - no aluminum foil required.

• Turn off the lights or the TV when leaving the room
• Turn off the tap when you are washing your hands or brushing your teeth
• Remember to recycle your magazines, newspapers, soda cans, etc.
• Walk, bike or take the bus to school, work and church
• Borrow books, CDs and movies from libraries or friends instead of buying them
• Plant a shade tree on the sunny side of your house.
• Use washable plates, cups and silverware instead of plastic
• Set the thermostat in your house two degrees cooler in winter and two degrees warmer in summer
• Use fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent
• Take vacations close to home or take a train instead of a plane when going farther away

• SAVE MONEY IN THE BATHROOM -- Buy water-efficient showerheads. With low-flow models, a family of four can cut water usage by as much as 280 gallons a month - and yet not feel much difference in water pressure. Two we like: Kohler’s Master Shower Eco (kohler.com) and Niagara Conservation’s Earth Massage (niagaraconservation.com).
• ADJUST FRIDGE AND FREEZER TEMPS -- Refrigerators eat up the most electricity in the household. Maximize efficiency by keeping the fridge at 37 degrees and the freezer at 0 degrees.
• RECYCLE SMART -- From furniture to electronics, one person’s trash is another’s treasure - so when you want to dispose of an old item, don’t make the dump your first stop. Two sites with alternatives: The Freecycle Network (freecycle.org) describes itself as “a place to give or receive what you have and don’t need or what you need and don’t have - [to keep] stuff out of landfills.” The Earth 911 website (earth911.org) offers community-specific resources, with a focus on recycling. Find out where you can recycle your computer, your cell phone - even used motor oil.