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www presents .com 100 ways to save the planet 1 2 recycle it seems obvious so i thought i d put it at number one recycling covers loads of stuff which some of the other ways to save the planet will explore in more detail but generally put your cans bottles tins paper and cardboard in the recycling bin/bag/big skip thingeither at home or a facility near you reuse your plastic bags it takes around 20 to 1,000 i presume that s a guess years for plastic bags to degrade depending on sunlight and air exposure most will take a long time as they re buried under tons of other rubbish at landfills but new degradable plastic bags have been introduced by some supermarkets some are bio-degradable plastics which contain a small percentage of non oil-based material such as corn starch and others are photodegradable plastics which will break down when exposed to sunlight however the biggest concern if that if people think they will degrade we may find more thrown away so reusing plastic bags is the best idea keep a stash in the boot of your car or even in your handbag or coat pockets so you don t have to get a new one when you go the supermarket ideas of what to do with them can be found here sort out your heating turn down your thermostat by down by one degree centigrade could save around £50 a year and setting your heating to turn off one hour before you leave the house and come on half an hour before you get home could save you another £50 a year and use less energy and if you close and/or line your curtains to keep in warmth and you ll find yourself that bit cosier 4 5 7 turn off your lights it s an urban myth that you should leave a light on as it takes more energy to switch it on again than if you d left it on in the first place even with fluorescent lights it s best to switch them off it is true they draw more power when they are warming up however this only takes a few seconds at most so is equivalent to a couple of minutes electricity use when they are on so if you re popping out of the room for more than two minutes switch them off and the radio or tv too 3 do a home energy saving check with the energy saving trust they reckon they can save you up to £300 a year and in that way you ll help the environment too worth a go freecycle this is one of the many ways to save the planet which will be about reusing stuff www.freecycle.org is an online group that you can join in your local area around the world and give stuff away or get stuff that someone doesn t want from cars to plastic bags from chairs to windows from well you get the idea almost anything can be given away makes you wonder why you buy anything new 6 get rid of your tumble dryer i can see the advantages of it having dry clothes quickly but it uses up a huge amounts of energy get yourself a clothes horse or drying rack for raining days and when it s sunny let the sunshine dry them outside 1

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live in an eco-pod house not only does it cut down on co2 emissions but also building materials it has solar panels on the roof to heat the water a wind turbine to generate power and a wood burning stove just in case there s no wind there s a water harvesting and recycling system and odourless dry toilet and the pod sits on a deep concrete base which incorporates the underfloor heating system all very lovely except that it s made from polyurethane and concrete which are not very eco-friendly but i m sure that ll change over time also if you don t like the pod shape there s also a more traditional looking abode 8 9 buy an ecube for your fridge put ecube into google and there are lots and lots of them but this one is a small wax cube which mimics food you if you re a qualified engineer that is connect it up to a commercial fridge and the fridge cooling system will respond to how cold the wax is rather than how cold the air is this means that instead of the fridge s cooling cycle coming on 12 times an hour it ll only do it around 4 times saving your business money saving energy and keeping food just as cold as it was before simple and all for £25 50 get a milkman and his milk of course life goggles talks about it here it reuses glass bottles and is delivered in an electric float marvellous 1 0 people who fill up a kettle and boil it to make just one cup of tea drive me mad or worse boil it then leave it for a bit and have to reboil it argh don t boil more water in the kettle than you need to if you always boil the amount of water needed for one cup rather than boiling a full kettle you could save £30 a year get an ethical job here not just for the uk but also in canada and america too 1 1 1 2 1 4 become a vegetarian not as easy as it sounds so if you can t do it permanently do it for one day a week it s said to produce one pound of beef involves 2,500 gallons of water 40 times the amount of veg there s also the cost of raising animals which far exceeds that of vegetables when you do eat meat choose something local it s had less miles to travel in that co2 producing lorry 1 3 buy an electricity monitor you can get one from the ethical superstore and then measure how much electricity your using it s actually fun to see what happens when you switch the tv off or indeed put it on and the sight of the numbers rocketing up is enough to shock you sitting in silence you learn to love reading get a water butt it s so simple i don t know why more people don t have them to water their plants i suppose it helps to have a garden and live somewhere where it rains but if that s you you ve no excuse you can get them in all different sizes to fit your space and many come with kits to connect to your drainpipe to easily collect rainwater otherwise you could pick up a plastic barrel at a scrap/salvage yard and just dip your watering can in 1 5 1 6 recycle your old glasses life goggles says how here install solar energy in your home it can heat your home as well as provide electricity it s not cheap though but you can in the uk at least get grants to save energy try the energy saving trust for starters but it s worth ringing you current energy provider and asking them or solar savers could help too 18 reuse envelopes if you get junk mail carefully open the envelope and you can always use it again crossing out your name it ll also save you money some companies some as edf energy already provide envelopes which can be reused and sent back to them 1 7 2

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19 20 get a lift to work each year there is national lift share day in the uk at least but you can share a ride to work or for pleasure any day for whatever reason it s estimated that the average liftsharer saves £1,000 and one tonne of co2 every year it s boring driving on your own anyway use energy saving lightbulbs they might costs a bit more but they last a lot longer and are better for the environment plus the newer ones don t take all night to light up so your shins are safe from that coffee table why not give up the car okay that s not always practical for everyone so why not just be sensible about using it can you walk to the shops it may take and extra 15 minutes to get there but at least you get to keep that perfect parking spot outside your house 21 22 don t throw away cigarette butts they re everywhere especially outside offices in the uk you can get fined for throwing them on the floor as it s technically littering it s a myth they bio-degrade and when they finally do decompose they release harmful chemicals into the ground suggestions of how to dispose of them include stubbing it out and putting it in a plastic bag in your pocket or putting them in a 35mm film canister promote your business in a green way business gifts have been popular for years looking round on my desk i have a mug coaster pen and stress relieving little car thing all from different companies but these can be environmentally too companies like recycled business gifts and eco incentives have pencils made from plastic cups pens made from cd cases mouse mats made from tyres wine goblets made from recycled glass and even water powered calculators 23 when deciding to put up a new fence or some decking in the garden there are alternatives to getting that virgin wood from the amazon rainforest if you definitely want wood you can buy used railway sleepers here which is a great way to reuse quality wood however you can use recycled plastic instead of wood a company called marmax products offer a range of garden furniture including fencing and decking made from recycled plastic for benches they use 2,000 plastic bottles 24 buy re-usable nappies almost half a million tonnes of nappies are put into uk landfills each year that s about three billion nappies or eight million a day the women s environmental network wen has a handy comparison which says you can save up to £500 a year by using home laundered nappies this takes into account water electricity and even a washing machines lifespan and of course it s better for the environment too wen say by washing nappies your global warming impact is reduced by 24 26 use biofuels biodiesel comes from crops such as oilseed rape and newer diesel cars can use up to 100 biodiesel some biodiesels have as little as 5 biofuel mixed in with ordinary diesel best check with your manufacturer first before filling up i suspect it s obviously better for the environment in both where the raw product comes from and the emissions given out in the uk go here and in the us try here there s also bioethanol which is an alcohol based fuel and a 5 mix of bioethanol can be used in most cars that use unleaded 25 3

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limit your dry cleaning as jerry seinfeld said let s get one thing straight about dry cleaning right now it doesn t exist there s no such thing as dry cleaning there s no way of cleaning with dry dry itself is nothing you can t use it you can t do anything with it it s not there dry is nothing are you listening to me and we walk into these places with the big signs out front dry cleaning and somehow never question how they were able to put this absurd concept over on us if i gave you a filthy shirt and said i want this immaculate and no liquids what are you going to do shake it tap it blow on it give me a break you almost can t get something dirty with dry let alone cleaning it in fact liquid chemical solvents are used which are harmful to the environment although the dry cleaning industry has done a lot to improve this in the last 15 years so if you can avoid it then do also £15 for cleaning a suit is a bit steep 27 have a green funeral arka original funerals is one of many firms sprouting up to offer more environmentally friendly funerals while ecopod makes coffins and urns from 100 recycled paper lovely the daily mail obviously doesn t like this sort of thing but their story here does at least suggest you be careful with your choice 28 29 print double sided sounds obvious really but my printer at work doesn t do it why not though it saves on paper and ink so must be good for business american office workers use on average 175lbs of paper every year that can be halved by just printing double-sided so while i m using the other side as replacements for post-its i m trying to get my employer to get a new printer however i ve stopped short of purposefully breaking the old one don t use the standby button soon new electrical items won t have them but as most people keep electrical items for a while that doesn t help just use the big button on the front or switch it off at the plug some items use the same amount of electricity whether it s on or on standby leaving your tv and all accessories attached to it on standby all the time could cost you £46 a year look here 30 31 32 buy food that s in season out of season fruit and vegetables are often imported by air from abroad which consumes vast amounts of energy even if it s grown in this country if it s out of season it s probably been grown in energy hungry greenhouses a great website to find out what s in season is this one turn down and use the half load setting on washing machines and tumble dryers washing laundry at 40°c to 60°c in your washing machine could save you £12 a year but you can go even lower around 90 of the energy washing machines use goes toward heating the water so you can use an even cooler wash today s washing powders are just as effective on 30°c programmes buy recycled shoes while reusing shoes is the best idea there s a limit to how many times you can put up with wet feet thanks to the holes in your ten year old trainers you can donate them to rag merchants or get them recycled some charities will deal with them but you can also buy shoes made from recycled material adbusters in the us do some and worn again in the uk make shoes out of firemen s uniforms t-shirts and seat belts 33 34 fill the cavities in your walls heat escapes through gaps which makes you turn the heating up and keep it on for longer wasting a lot of energy the big green insulation scheme offers grants to help insulate your home 4

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carbon offset yes i know it isn t ideal and is often an excuse for people to carry on the way they are but claim to be carbon neutral but there can be good reasons for it say you have to take a flight in an emergency or you need to use a car because you live somewhere without local transport well as well as big companies doing it you can also it s worth looking around as so called carbon exchanges have been heavily criticised somewhere like zerofootprint have a carbon shop and claim to work directly with sellers usually tree growers and make sure they are legally bound to leave the trees growing until they die examples of other companies are terrapass and native energy 35 36 37 change your driving style changing gear earlier can reduce fuel consumption by up to 15 when you re approaching traffic lights slow down gradually rather than suddenly braking as slamming on the brakes increases fuel consumption by up to 30 and pulling away too fast boosts it by up to 60 make your own cleaning products cleaning liquids can be harmful to the environment companies like ecover offer a spray but you can make them yourself just buy a plastic spray bottle or reuse one you have finished with and buy the ingredients to make your own websites such as summer naturals offer the products and tips to make your own white vinegar and tea tree oil seem to be the most popular on the subject of boilers well hot water make sure your hot water tank is wrapped up with lagging this insulating jacket can cost less than £10 but save around 150kg of carbon a year 39 40 £ install thermostatic radiator valves for about £75 you can install accurate and more controllable radiator valves at home it should save around 80kg of carbon an year and give your boiler a bit of a rest 38 41 invest environmentally for as little as £250 you can join a co-operative that invests in wind energy projects promoting emission-free technology or you could adopt a local renewable energy project find out more at www.energy4all.co.uk www.yes2wind.com or www.bwea.com/ukwed buy organic milk producing one litre of nonorganic milk uses more than three times the amount of energy it takes to make one a litre of organic milk drink tap water new york city have just announced a big drive for it and salt lake city are likely to follow in the uk we re better at drinking tap water but still pay around 1,500 times the amount to buy it in a bottle save glass and plastic and drink it out of the tap read more on life goggles here 42 cut down on eating meat number 13 in this list was to become a vegetarian and following that theme of the amount of energy it uses to raise cattle it also damages the environment as more land is needed to graze animals it s estimated that 40 per cent of the amazon rainforest has been cleared to graze cattle for export 43 44 don t buy cut flowers every year the uk spends around £1.35 billion on cut flowers 80 of which are imports such flowers are usually flown in which gives them a massive carbon footprint because of aviation emissions instead buy potted uk-grown plants or flowers that are uk-grown and in season try www.tree2mydoor.com or www.charityflowers.co.uk 45 re-use old computers rather than throwing them away see the life goggles article here 5

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cut off the top off your almost empty toothpaste tube sounds extreme but it ll make it go further saves waste and every little helps 46 49 buy in bulk it s cheaper and limits the waste generated through packaging items individually don t need much combine orders with a friend or neighbour try wholesalers www.suma.co.uk or www.infinityfoods.co.uk 47 48 50 52 53 reflect on it reflective radiator panels can fit perfectly behind radiators they are cheap to buy easy to install and reflect back heat that would otherwise drift through the wall they can be bought from diy stores avoid those made from pvc or you can make your own by wrapping tinfoil around cardboard register on www.mpsonline.org.uk and get rid of all that unwanted junk mail in britain around four billion direct mail items are sent every year most end up in the bin you can recycle most of it but if you don t want it anyway then refuse to have it understand your carbon footprint a lot of these ideas will be helping reduce your carbon footprint anyway but what is it as explained here your carbon footprint is a fancy name for measuring how much carbon dioxide your actions produce as oppose to you produce breathing out is a necessity whether or not you believe carbon dioxide is the cause of global warming or not it is harmful to the environment and reducing your carbon footprint is a great idea you can work out your carbon footprint here turn down your thermostat turning it down by one degree centigrade could save a typical home almost £50 a year 51 55 start carbon rationing you can find out more here get a savasocket it provides a remote switch off for all devices connected via one mains extension panel have a green wedding life goggles talks about it here you can source most of the things from the food to the electricity used to the dress and the napkins in an environmentally friendly way avoid pbde s polybrominated diphenlethers are in a lot of furniture added to foam as a fire retardant and electronics pbde s are harmful to the environment and there are more natural alternatives check with manufacturer 54 57 58 if a wind-up phone charger sounds too much effort try a wind powered one seems a good idea but would be better if you could use it for radios fridges etc as well charge your phone with a windup charger it s not a practical everyday option but when you can t access electricity it s a great idea 56 discourage slugs and snails an environmentally friendly way pesticides to kill slugs and snails are called molluscicdes and not only do they kill them they ll also harm their predators like hedgehogs and birds even dogs can be poisoned by them and if they touch your prize lettuce then it ll be unsafe for you to eat remove areas in your garden which are favoured as a slug and snail habitat moist shady areas liming beds will also prevent acidity and planting spiky and aromatic plants tend to discourage them and laying broken eggshells may help as they tend to avoid jagged edges if those tips don t help a barrier of vegetation such as wilted comfy leaves around vulnerable plants can act as a decoy 6

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start wearing hemp clothing hemp can grow well without herbicides fungicides or pesticides you can find many hemp places online like sativa or at markets 59 don t hang about wire hangers are everywhere and aren t very environmentally friendly start hanging everything up with pride and use some ecohangers from the hanger network 60 63 spare your towels staying in a hotel ask for your towels to be washed every other day instead of every day to help save water the planet s most precious and rapidly disappearing resource 61 most people by now have heard of freecycle.org but in the uk there s also the furniture reuse network which is much more ethical than throwing away your unwanted sofa 64 switch off in traffic turn off the engine if you think you ll be stationary for more than two minutes idling for this long burns more fuel than it takes to restart the car 65 68 70 download your music personally i prefer having a physical cd mainly due to the ease of ripping it to my computer and putting it on an mp3 player which can be a hassle with the copy protection the digital download sites put on music however that cd needs to be made packaged and delivered both to the shop and to me it takes far less energy to download an album so it s more environmentally friendly record companies and mp3 sites should promote this more and all they need to do after that is get rid of the damn drm digital rights management use lowvoc paints volatile organic compounds are in paints stains and other coverings in our home next time you decide to redecorate use nonpetrochemical low-voc paints 62 buy a bamboo towel three times more absorbent than cotton and a more renewable resource try love eco 66 put newspaper under your carpet and in gapes in skirting boards it ll help stop heat escaping as will using a sealant or wooden beading around the edges turn your old bath tub into a sofa well you might not be able to do it yourself but the green haus will do it for you it gives a unique look to your home and saves adding to the landfill mountain 67 time yourself in the shower the shower coach is just like an egg timer but designed you to keep your water use to a minimum and speed up those lengthy showers try www.nigelsecostore.com start swishing allegedly that s the term for swapping clothes with your friends easy way to get a new wardrobe especially if you just want something one-off for a party saves a lot of energy and co2 production around 60kg for every bag of clothes 69 make a green investment there are many companies you could buy shares or invest in that have environmental goals your financial advisor should be able to help or try light green advisors here and take a look at the list of companies co-op america have on their green pages even if you have shares in a non-green focused company you can still use your vote to push environmental issues 72 bring your own mug or glass to work reusing your mug is much nicer and less wasteful than using polystyrene or plastic cups and cheaper too 71 7

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73 74 diy is tricky enough without struggling to do it in an environmentally friendly way try www.ecomerchant.co.uk for peace of mind you still have to put the shelves up yourself though light a match in the bathroom to get rid of bad smells it s better for the environment than using and making a spray use a drain sieve keeping food and other bits out of your drains will mean they won t become blocked and lead you to pour chemicals down it to unblock it also never pour grease or fat down there as it will solidify and block your drains and the main sewage system 75 77 go creased give up ironing for a while and see if it changes anything well you might need to iron your shirt for work but sheets pillowcases and clothing like jeans don t really need ironing try it you might like it and you ll not only save energy but time too who enjoys ironing anyway 76 get a solar powered mouse for your computer well maybe not yet but delft university of technology are testing one and finding out willingness of the user to adapt his behaviour to favourable light conditions by regularly charging the unit with daylight from the window and the computer usage pattern with solar energy under ideal circumstances charging can occur a factor of five times quicker than in the current situation over time it is estimated that several hundred million batteries could be saved annually on a global scale beat draughts they can be fixed easily with draughtproofing secondary glazing or double glazing the uk s most popular energy saving measure although you ll save more money by installing cavity wall insulation which is cheaper specify low-e glazing which has a special heat-reflective coating that reduces heat loss through the window by nearly half find out more at www.nef.org.uk energyadvice 78 adopt a glacier bit like adopting a panda but errr colder the us national snow and ice center gives you information on cryosphere glaciers snow sea ice etc for you to monitor 80 be gentle with your boiling a pan gently boiling and a raging cauldron will actually be the same temperature so turn down the heat a bit and save some energy you can actually turn the heat off after boiling with vegetables and pasta just keep the lid on the pan and check after a few minutes to see if it s done as you like 79 if you have air conditioning at home or you can suggest this at the office you should clean or replace your air conditioning filter as often as possible even every few days it ll save energy and money as it won t have to work as hard 81 don t use laundry powder using an eco-ball or three in your washing machine instead of detergent will get most clothes fresh and clean without the need for any detergent they work by producing ionized oxygen to lift dirt they even soften fabric in hard water so no need for fabric softener either each can be used about 1,000 times working out at 3p a wash check out nigel s eco store 82 water your outdoor plants and lawn in the evening or early morning when it s cooler and less water will evaporate before it s soaked up sprinklers can use as much water in an hour as a family of four in the day so only use them when absolutely necessary 83 8

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use soy-based inks in your printer they re less toxic than regular printer cartridges and toner itself is a petroleum based product major manufacturers are starting to sell soy-based versions now use the library sounds obvious i know but if you borrow books rather than buying them then less are printed and less trees cut down also when you ve finished with the latest magazine you ve bought you can often donate them to your local library they ll be very grateful 84 85 87 buy second hand vintage clothes refurbished tvs toys from friends or charity shops etc we need to get into the habit of reusing things rather than buying new old is the new errr new keep bees or at least encourage them into your garden with wild and cottage garden flowers like geraniums foxgloves and lavender bees are vital for flowers and if you keep them in a hive you ll get lovely honey too check out www.bumblebee conservation.co.uk 86 and while we re at it libraries often have dvds audio books and children s books or even if you rent your dvd from a store it s better for the environment than buying 88 91 ditch the cling film use reusable bags wrapped tightly or reuse materials like cereal is kept in as it will do the same job of keeping your sandwiches fresh 89 narrow your margins in word or whichever word processing software you use it makes a big difference as your printer can print a lot closer to the edge than you think it does and will consequently print less paper and use less energy oh and print at 70 black and both sides well done recycle your old fleeces fleece jackets and sweatshirts can not only be made from recycled material but can be recycled too patagonia not only take their own fleeces but polatec branded fleeces from other firms 90 92 95 96 wear a jumper outside patio heaters are commonplace now but they re not good for the environment see life goggles here and if it s too cold to sit outside even in a jumper go inside and warm up that told you use recycled toilet paper not only does it save trees but also is colourless so harmful dyes don t make it into the sewage works and the sea 93 donate and buy scrap not just in the sense of a car that s been flattened into a box but everyday scrap for making shelves or a fence or even an art project like here 94 write to your local politician about environmental issues and put pressure on the people who can make big changes in the uk that ll be your mp try www.writetothem.com or look here shut it keep fridge and freezer doors closed for every minute a fridge is open it can take three energy-intensive minutes for it to cool down again similarly it can take up to half an hour for a freezer to regain its temperature once a door has been opened for just 60 seconds 9

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drive the speed limit not a safety warning although using a seatbelt is always recommended but as a way to use less petrol driving a steady sensible speed is better for the environment and your sanity that racing around like a maniac 97 don t print this list out while it s a4 in size and able to be printed keep it on your computer it s an ebook not meant to be printed out so please don t all the links won t work either if you do 98 99 and finally join these people www.wearewhatwedo.org they re the makers of this is not a plastic bag and writers of this book but they also have a thing called a personal action tracker on their site this is a list of simple everyday actions you can do to help change the world and have fun while you re doing it it could be doing something for the community like shopping locally something for the environment like avoiding plastic bags or something for you like learning to paint sing or speak spanish basically it s a list a bit like this one where you can keep track of things you ve done to help save the planet go to www.lifegoggles.com for more ideas and add your suggestions to this list there s also great articles videos and competitions as well as environment talk plus look out for the updated 100 ways to save the planet in 2008 which thanks to you will hopefully be imaginatively titled 200 ways to save the planet well done making it to the end and i hope these ideas will help you make a difference 100 all ways and ideas on this list are the opinion of the author if you disagree want to make a suggestion or just say hello you can at adam@lifegoggles.com i promise to say hello back adam williams september 2007 10

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