There's been a discussion in Susie's journal about recycling, going green, etc.

What are you doing, or what is your neighborhood, community, town, etc., doing to improve the environment, save energy, improve the lives of others, etc.?

Our mayor has made it his aim to clean up our town, to make land owners cut down the weeds, clean up the junk, tires, old cars, etc., tear down the abandoned houses. It's going slowly, but bit by bit there has been an improvement in small pockets of certain neighborhoods.

We have put compact fluorescent light bulbs in most of our fixtures. At work we have replaced the incandescent bulbs with the cf bulbs in the offices and community room, and as tenants move out, we are putting those bulbs in the units.

We keep our thermostat set at 70 or below in the winter, and 78 or above in the summer. We bought a front loading washer and dryer, so we are using much less water and electricity for our laundry. (I know that isn't an option for a lot of people, but if you can afford them, you really will be saving in the long run.)

Now, tell us what you are doing to save energy, money, the environment, time, or anything else you can think of!

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Nita

Let's see, besides recycling paper and plastic, and separating hazardous waste (like those used fluorescent bulbs, unfortunately) years ago we installed restricted shower heads, and try to moderate indoor and outdoor water use. In part what that means outside is gradually planting drought tolerant and or native prairie plants, and in summer letting the lawn go dormant. The last few years I've been enlarging beds very gradually, replacing them with ground cover. Still, there's too much area to totally replace, though.

I use slow release fertilizers, but as little as I can get by with, and don't use any containing chemical herbicides or pesticides. If necessary, I will treat pests on an individual plant basis using the most natural product first. I still have a couple of roses that need a little more once in a while I dig weeds. We mulch grass clippings and leaves back into the lawn, and chip/shred all prunings, up to about 2-1/2 inches, to make as much of our own wood mulch for beds as possible.

Water runoff from the house is diverted so that it doesn't run directly into the sewer system, but instead has a chance to return to the aquafers.

Well, that's outside Bet some of you are doing more than that!

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BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108