A GREEN New Year to You!

2008 is here and with it many of us have probably made some resolutions to eat healthier, exercise more, quit a bad habit, or just to be more positive. But how about incorporating more green habits into your life?

Each start to the New Year, I try to come up with a few ways to cut down on garbage, or energy. Last year, I received some cloth napkins as a gift. I decided the family should use these napkins instead of paper ones as it cuts down on garbage. While you have to wash them, sometimes you can get a few uses out of them before they need to be laundered.

My sister who is very conscious of the earth and how much garbage we produce, challenged herself a few years ago by opting for a smaller garbage can. She has the smallest size available through her garbage collector and works very hard through composting, cutting down on waste, using cloth napkins, reusing paper, and other ways to reduce the amount of garbage her family produces in a week’s time. I am often shocked by the amount of garbage my family of four can make. Perhaps this should be one of my New Year’s resolutions.

With gasoline prices on the rise and the idea that the more cars on the road the more greenhouse gasses we produce, how are you working on cutting gas consumption down? Can you do more shopping online? The delivery trucks use gas, but they are going to be on the road no matter what, so instead of you and the trucks using gas and driving around, let the delivery trucks bring your stuff to you. And before you do go shopping – ask yourself – do you really need that? And if you do, should you go for the least expensive or will the least expensive break soon and you’ll have to buy another one?

Perhaps 2008 can be the year for all of us to keep the earth in mind in all that we do. Sometimes it’s easy to forget why keeping the earth in mind is important. Perhaps you live in an apartment or community with dumpsters. You take your garbage to the dumpsters and forget about it – it’s gone from your home. But next time you walk to the dumpster, think about all the garbage in that big container – where is it going?

Here at the Farmers’ Almanac and Farmers’ Almanac TV we will be sharing some easy and new ways to help you live in harmony or live more in tune with planet earth. Little things do make a big difference. Let’s make it easy in 2008 to be green. Check out our tips on this site, on the TV show and in the Farmers’ Almanac. And if you have suggestions, please share them at our forum.

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Green new year, ways to live greener, reduce pollution, reduce garbage, farmers almanac green ideas