Green Vacation

If you are making an attempt to be green, there is no doubt that it is in the back of your mind all the time, even when traveling. Here are some simple steps to take before you leave your home and some things you can do if you’re staying in a hotel.

Before You Leave Home:

• Turn water heater to lowest setting.
• Turn off AC/heat.
• Turn water off at outside connection, this will prevent flooding if a pipe were to break.
• Appliances, such as TVs and cable converter boxes, should be unplugged because they can use as much as 40 watts per hour even when they're off.
• Turn icemaker off to prevent flooding should it break while you're away.
• Lower the temperature of waterbed heaters.
• Call your newspaper to stop delivery while you are away. Stop your newspaper. You may be able to donate it to a school.

While Traveling:

• Take walking tours instead of bus tours.
• Walk when you can.
• Use public transportation instead of renting a car when available.
• If you are taking a taxi, try to share it with others.
• Check with the hotel you are staying at to see if they offer shuttle services.
• If you do rent a car or are using your own, turn your motor off when idling

At the Hotel:

• Let the hotel know that you do not want your sheets and towels changed every day.
• If you are sharing a room with others, you can make your towels easy to identify by color coding them with a safety pin and a small ribbon.
• When showering or bathing, try to limit yourself to 5 minutes or less.
• Turn off the AC/heat, lights, TV and close the drapes when you leave the hotel room.
• Locate recycling bins and try to recycle as many things as possible.
• Bring your own shampoo, conditioner, lotion and soap so that you don’t have to use the hotels travel sized ones.
• Carry a permanent marker with you to write your name on your bottled water and cups.
• If you don’t like sleeping with all the lights off, pack a night light.

When Eating:

• Carry a reusable bottle of water with you at all times.
• Keep plastic bags with you for carrying leftovers.
• Don’t take condiments that you will not use.
• If you don’t think you’ll finish your entire meal, consider sharing with a friend or family member to avoid using Styrofoam take out containers.
  

Soaring Gas Prices

As we have seen recently, gas prices are on the rise. If you are like most people, you are probably looking for ways to make your fuel last. Here are just a few ways you can save yourself a few dollars and help the environment.

Drive Less

• Try to avoid driving when you can ride your bike, walk, take the bus, or carpool.
• Move closer to your place of employment, or find a place of employment closer to home. This will save you some time as well.
• When you are running errands, try to do them all at once so you avoid driving all over town more than once. Call ahead and make sure the place you are going to is open so you avoid those wasted trips. If the places you are stopping are near each other, park in between the two places and walk between each spot.
• Don't spend your fuel on trying to find a parking spot, instead just park in the first spot you see. If the parking spot is far, just think about how good exercising is for you.
  

Find Good Prices

• Here are three websites that allow you to to find out which gas station has the lowest prices in your area: Gas Buddy, Mapquest, and Gas Price Watch.
  
• Some credit cards will give you points or reward you with gasoline rebates when you use your card to make purchases. These credit card programs are similar to cards that give frequent flyer miles.
  
• Don't use the higher octane gas unless your car requires it. Check your owners manual to find out what type of gas your car needs.

Buy Smarter

• When you go to the gas station, fill up all the way. This will save you time and money in the long run. Your trips to the gas station won't be as often.
  
• Fill up your tank at least 3 days before a holiday because gas prices tend to go up right before holidays.
  

Car Maintenance

• Keep your car in good working condition by getting regular tune-up.
• When getting your cars oil changed, use synthetic oil instead of mineral oil. Synthetic oil will give you better mileage.
• Make sure your air filter is clean and get it changed often. A dirty or clogged air filter will cause your engine to have to work harder and uses up more fuel.
  
• Check the air pressure in your tires every week and ensure that they are properly inflated to the pressure recommended for your specific tires.
  
• Don't carry unnecessary items in your car. The lighter your car, the less fuel you will use. Remove bike and ski racks when you are not using them. They cause drag and lower your mileage,

Drive Smarter

• Don't idle. When your car is on and not moving, you are still using fuel. Instead of using the drive-thru, park your car and go inside the restaurant.
  
• Try to use your cruise control when you can. Avoid hard braking and fast acceleration.
  
• Slow down!!! The faster you go, the more gas your car will use up. Try leaving your home early so that you don't have to rush.
  
• Park in the shade when you can. Gas evaporates out of your tank a lot faster when you are parked directly in the sun. The inside of your car will also remain a lot cooler from parking in the shade and you won't have to blast the AC.
• Instead of driving in rush hour traffic after work, avoid it by finding something to do near your work until traffic dies down.
  

Even just doing a few of these things will help lower your fuel costs!

Paper or Plastic

How about none? You can save oil and trees by using reusable bags. Most grocery stores and even department stores are now offering reusable bags for purchase, so they are not hard to obtain. Most of these reusable bags hold more items than a regular sized plastic grocery bag, so you will even save on trips to your car when unloading the groceries. Keep the bags in your car so you are always prepared for your shopping.

Another alternative to paper or plastic bags is to keep a few cardboard boxes in the trunk of your car. Let the cashier know that you don’t need any bags. They can just load your groceries directly into the basket. You can then unload your groceries directly into the boxes.

If each person in New York City used one less plastic grocery bag per year, it would reduce their waste by 109 tons!!! For each ton of plastic bags that are reused or recycled, you are helping to save the equivalent energy of 11 barrels of oil.

As for paper bags, if 1 tons worth of bags were reused or recycled, we would be saving 3 cubic meters of landfill space and saving 13-17 trees from being cut down. In 1997 alone, 995,000 tons of paper bags were used in the United States. If those were all recycled, we could have saved 12,935,000- 16,915,000 trees!!!

Remember that if you do use paper or plastic bags, you can still always reuse and/or recycle them. Many grocery stores not have bins just outside their entrance to collect the bags. Please share any alternatives you have for using paper and/or plastic bags.