It Is Easy Being Green

I started going green a couple years ago mostly because it saves you money and helps you live a healthier lifestyle, the whole saving the Earth thing is just an added bonus. So I am always on the lookout for ways to better myself which is why I picked up Generation Green (even if the subtitle The Ultimate Guide to Living an Eco-Friendly Life puts me a little out of the target demo). The book comes from the mother-son team of Linda and Tosh Siversen.

As someone that goes out of his way to learn about living green, there really isn’t much in the book that helps me, but the book is perfect for those who are just getting into the Green movement no matter the age even if the book skews young with how to balance the new technology with living healthy so people of any age can come away with plenty of good practices to lower their carbon footprint with moving into a shack and growing their own organic food.

The book is also well arrange with plenty of attention grabbing blurbs and interviews for those that only have little spurts of time to read or just short attention spans. And if you do end up buying the book, be sure to pass it around to anyone who could learn something from it so it doesn’t just end up in a landfill when you are done.

And to start you novices on the right foot, here are five of my favorite hints:

1. Change Your Lightbulb: You don’t have to exchange all your bulbs now, but when they start burning out, replace them the energy efficient kind and even jungle them around so the lights you use the most are changed first. You can make back the extra price of an energy efficient back in one month for bulbs you use the most.

2. Turn off the Water when You Brush Your Teeth: Same goes for shaving and washing the dishes. In the summer when it is warm, I even turn off the shower when I wash myself to conserve water.

3. Turn the Thermostat Down When You Leave: Natural this is a suggestion for the upcoming winter, but when summer comes around again, turn the thermostat up when you leave. No need to heat/cool you habitat when you are not there.

4. Unplug Things You Are Not Using: Everything associated with my computer is plugged into one power strip and when the computer isn’t on, the power strip is turned off. Same for the TV (my cable box keeps the correct time, if your VCR keeps the time you may want to plug that into the wall so you don’t have to continually set it). These are called vampire appliance that still run even if they are turned “Off.”

5. Run Your Dishwasher at Night: Nighttime isn’t just for sunglass wearing anymore. But again, this is more for the summer as the heat from the appliance will make your air conditioner run harder and longer. Same goes for your washer/dryer. Then in the winter use the extra heat to your advantage. I even leave the oven open after I am done baking to use the extra heat.

Five easy way to cut your energy bill (and help the environment), four of which won’t cost you anything.

Generation Green gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.