Yuban | Make a Difference Every Day

30 Ways to Make a Difference … Every Day

Did you know that approximately 50 percent of all landfill space is occupied by paper? Or, that the food you buy travels approximately 1,200 miles to get to your plate? These are just a few of the things that are impacting our environment, and will have lasting effects for years to come. The good news is, by making a few easy changes to your surroundings or daily routine, you can start to lead a more sustainable lifestyle…and help make a difference every day.

Instead of using a disposable paper or Styrofoam cup, enjoy your morning coffee in a reusable ceramic mug. Doing so will help reduce the millions of paper and Styrofoam cups that are sent to landfills every year…and help you experience the great flavor of your coffee or tea even more.
Purchase Rainforest Alliance CertifiedÔ sustainably grown foods and coffee. By choosing products with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal of approval - such as Yuban coffee and select varieties of chocolates - you help ensure that our rainforest is protected and workers receive just wages, access to healthcare, education and dignified housing. For more information, visit www.rainforest-alliance.org.
Switch to an electric razor instead of using disposable. This will help reduce the approximately 2 billion disposable razors and blades discarded every year.
Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lights. Compact fluorescent lights are four times more energy efficient and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent light bulbs.
Install a low-flow showerhead. This will reduce water flow by as much as 50 percent, thereby conserving water.
Save energy – and reduce your heating bills! – by making your home draft proof: cushion the bottoms of drafty doors, seal windows in winter, and caulk cracks to help prevent heat from escaping.
Cook with your microwave instead of stovetop. The microwave uses up to half as much energy as the stove!
When using your stovetop, use the burner that best fits to the pot or pan size. Using a burner that is too big wastes valuable energy.
Shop for produce from local farms or farm stands, or plant your own vegetable garden or small indoor herb garden. This can help reduce the growing amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with food transport.
Choose your seafood carefully. Sea life worldwide is at risk from a variety of threats, including overfishing and pollution. Consult the sustainable seafood guide (available at www.eartheasy.com) or the Audubon Society’s Seafood Lover’s Guide (available at www.audubon.org) to find out what types of fish are best to consume, based on factors such as status of the population and fishing methods.
Replace your alkaline batteries with rechargeable batteries. Alkaline batteries contain materials that could leak into landfills.
Use cloths or rags (which can be made from old t-shirts!) for dusting and cleaning instead of paper towels. Doing so can help save the 27 million trees used each year to make paper towels!
During the winter months, turn your thermostat down one to three degrees each day for eight hours to conserve energy. Doing so will also reduce your heating bill by as much as 10 percent!
Introduce potted plants into your home. Since the air inside your home can actually be more harmful than that outside, indoor plants can help reduce or eliminate indoor airborne toxins.
To help reduce fuel emissions and pollution, take the first parking space you find at the store or shopping mall, and walk the short distance to the entrance. Your heart will thank you, too!
One quarter of all car trips are less than one mile long. By walking or biking to these destinations, you can reduce the amount of air pollution from car emissions. Or, consolidate your errands so car trips to the same area can be taken at one time.
If you’re in the market for new household appliances, look for those with the Energy StarTM logo. These products are significantly more energy efficient than the minimum government standards, based on standard testing.
Dry your clothes on a clothesline or indoor rack instead of in the dryer. This will not only conserve energy, but also prolong the life of your clothes by reducing wear-and-tear on the fabric.
If you do prefer the dryer, dry loads of laundry back-to-back. Drying loads of laundry with long periods of time in-between expends valuable energy, since the appliance needs time to reach optimal drying temperature.
If you’re looking to purchase a new washing machine, consider a front-load style. These types of washing machines use less water, have a bigger capacity, and save energy through reduced water heating.
Regardless of which type of washing machine you use, launder your garments in cold water instead of hot. This cuts energy use and washing costs in half!
Turn computer equipment off when not in use. A computer in “standby” mode is actually using about 30 watts of electricity!
Donate your old electronic equipment and gadgets. Computers and cell phones – which contain potentially hazardous materials – can be put to good use by many charitable organizations instead of sitting in landfills.
Reduce the amount of chemicals in your home by using “homemade” cleaning solutions. Baking soda, white vinegar and cornstarch are just a few ingredients that can all be used independently or in combination for a wealth of household cleaning applications. For example, 1/4 cup of baking soda can be combined with 1 cup of vinegar to create a toilet bowl cleaner!
Shred old newspaper, mail, and computer printouts to use as packing materials. This form of recycling will not only help save a number of trees, but also eliminate the need for plastic and Styrofoam packing materials.
Put a stop to your junk mail. If 100,000 people stemmed the time of unwanted mail, up to 150,000 trees could be saved each year! One way to stop the flow of junk mail is to register with the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service. (Mail Preference Service, c/o Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512).
Don’t leave your faucets running. When washing dishes, brushing your teeth, or shaving, you can conserve gallons of water per week simply by turning off the faucet when you don’t need the stream of water.
Enroll in your local Freecycle program. Freecyle is a grassroots recycling effort, providing individuals and non-profit organizations with a forum to exchange unwanted goods. Registration is free, and enables you to post items you’d like to get rid of, as well as search for items you may need. For more information, or to see if there’s a Freecycle group in your area, visit www.freecycle.org.
For your next gift-giving occasion, consider service items instead of material goods. Service items, such as massages, beauty treatments, or lessons, make no use of natural resources, thereby helping to preserve the environment. Or, if your recipient enjoys unwrapping gifts, give an antique. Not only do antiques have a wonderful sense of history, but because they’re re-used, there’s no impact on the environment.
When wrapping presents, recycle items you have around the house instead of purchasing gift-wrapping paper. Not only will you help preserve trees, but materials like comic strips and wallpaper allow you to better personalize the gift for the recipient. In addition, fabric is much easier to work than paper when trying to wrap a large or odd-shaped item.