Turn down the heat.
You can reduce the energy needed to heat your home up to 20% simply by turning the thermostat down 10°F - 15° when you are asleep or out of the house. The most effective and convenient way to save energy this way is to install a programmable thermostat. When used properly, programmable thermostats can save you about $150 per year.
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 Food
Our food system in the United States consumes ten times more energy in fossil fuels than it creates in food
energy(1). The livestock industry now accounts for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions(2). Approximately
one-fifth of all municipal solid waste is food packaging and 98-99 percent of the food we eat is shipped
from another area of the country or world.
What does this all mean? It means that your simple everyday decisions about what to eat can have a
huge impact on the planet. Cutting back on the amount of meat you consume (we eat 60% more meat today
than just 40 years ago), buying locally produced food and buying food with little or no packaging are just
some of the ways to green your diet. Analyze your meal for energy consumption related to processing,
transporting, packaging, refrigerating, and storing your food. It all adds up!
Frozen foods are incredibly energy intensive. They must be frozen, stored frozen, shipped frozen, displayed frozen at the store and then kept frozen at home. Unless you live in the arctic, ditch frozen foods and start cooking fresh.
How do I do this?
There are lots of strategies to cooking fresh foods, but planning ahead is the key. Decide what you are going to cook for the day or the next few days and get exactly what you need. Don’t despair if you can’t make it to the grocery store very often. You can cook fresh foods in bulk and then eat them throughout the week or stock up on bulk dry foods like rice, beans, pasta, lentils, or can your own foods that keep for long periods of time without freezing or refrigerating.
Download the 2008 Whatcom County Farm Map for all sorts of local and seasonal fresh food options.
Why should I do this?
It requires 10 times more energy to produce frozen food than fresh. Fresh food also has higher nutritional content, not to mention the fact that it tastes better! Frozen food is usually produced by large companies that ship products all around the globe and require energy intensive factories and distribution networks. Fresh products are available from local producers cutting carbon dioxide emissions even further.
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Buy food with as little packaging as possible and see how much you can cut your waste. Approximately 20% of all municipal solid waste is from food packaging!
How do I do this?
Take packaging into consideration when you buy your food. Avoid foods that have multiple layers of packaging or are individually wrapped. For example buy fresh produce that doesn’t come in a bag or choose cereals that are bagged (as opposed to a box and a bag). Individually wrapped items might seem convenient, but are often unnecessary. Bringing your own container and buying in bulk are some of the most effective ways to minimize your food packaging waste.
Why should I do this?
Anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of the price of food today can be attributed to its packaging(1). While some packaging is necessary for food safety and information, more and more packaging is used as a marketing
tool to advertise products. The packaging industry is worth over $100 billion-a-year and growing rapidly(2). Unnecessary food packaging is becoming a huge proportion of our waste. Manufacturing packaging, which is often plastic, requires oil and trees and creates greenhouse gases. Transporting and disposing of this unnecessary waste makes it environmentally and economically costly.
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Kick the habit of drinking bottled water and reduce the amount of waste you generate. Today one
out of every three servings of water is bottled, requiring 2.7 million tons of plastic, 86% of which ends up
as trash or litter(1).
How do I do this?
Simple: Don’t buy bottled water! Drink tap water and bring a water bottle with you. If necessary, pick up a home water filter. It will pay for itself in no time when you consider the money you’ll save not buying water.
Why should I do this?
Millions of tons of water bottles not only pose a waste problem but require significant amounts of energy to create, fill and transport. Making bottles for water uses 1.5 million barrels of crude oil annually, enough to fuel 100,000 American cars for a year(1). Recent data has actually shown that this may even be a conservative estimate and that as many as 10 million barrels of crude oil may be used every year for bottled water. Tap water is actually more strictly regulated than bottled water so there is no guarantee that your bottled water is of a higher quality. Actually, approximately 40% of bottled water is just tap water. There is also a concern of phthalate leeching into the water from the plastic bottle over time.
It is also interesting to note the cost of bottled water. A liter bottle of water at the convenience store on average costs at least a dollar. That means you are paying about $3.79 per gallon for water. And you thought gas was expensive!
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Somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags are used (often just once) and trashed every year. Bring your own re-usable bag when you shop instead of using disposal plastic or paper bags. You'll instantly cut waste and save energy.
How do I do this?
Bring some type of re-useable bag with you when you shop and kick the need for disposable paper and plastic bags. Make sure the bag you bring is sturdy enough to last and big enough for your shopping trip. Your bag could range from a canvas bag specifically designed for groceries to a backpack so you can ride your bike home. If you’re wondering how you’re going to line your trash cans or pick up after the dog, get some biodegradable bags. They can generally be found at your local grocer or food co-op.
Why should I do this?
Plastic bags have become a huge problem in their short lifespan. That’s right; a little over 40 years ago they barely even existed! Today 4 out of every 5 bags handed out in grocery stores are plastic bags
adding up to hundreds of billions of bags being used every year(1). To put it in perspective, the Cost Cutter on
Meridian in Bellingham goes through over 1 million bags every year! Not only is this a waste problem as our landfills
are reaching capacity, but millions of those bags never make into the trash. Most of these eventually end up in lakes
or oceans and take hundreds of years to decompose. It is estimated that about 100,000 marine animals including
whales, seals and turtles are killed by plastic bags each year(2). Giant whirlpools of floating trash, mostly plastic
bags, have been found swirling in our oceans.
Paper bags aren’t much better. Fourteen million trees were cut down in 1999 to supply the U.S.
with paper bags. Each bag results in 5.75 lbs of air pollution(3).
Incidentally, the Meridian Cost Cutter is offering a 5 cent rebate if you bring your own bag.
You can pocket the nickel or pass it on to RE Sources for Sustainable Communities or Skagitonians to
Preserve Farmlands in Whatcom Country.
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Use your own reusable containers when you shop for bulk items, deli foods, coffee-to-go and more. Anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of the price of food today can be attributed to its packaging(1), so minimize your impact on the planet and on your wallet.
How do I do this?
Bring your own containers with you on your shopping trips and use them for bulk items, deli foods and even produce. Gather together some containers (Tupperware, clean dairy containers, mason jars, etc.) that hold appropriate portions of the items you want to buy. Head to the grocery store, farmers market or co-op and tare your containers (ask for help if you need it, but all you need to do is weigh your containers EMPTY). Write the tare weight (empty container weight) on the container or on a piece of tape. When you check out, make sure the clerk enters the weight of your container and then you are only paying for the weight of your food. If you bring your own container to the deli section they will usually do all this for you.
Natural food grocers and co-ops offer a wide variety of bulk items, from peanut butter to shampoo, that you can put in your own reusable containers. Also consider whether or not you really need a plastic bag for you produce. Things like apples and potatoes could go straight into your bag rather than in a plastic bag. You generally wash your produce either way, so why the extra plastic?
Why should I do this?
About 20% of all household trash is from food packaging. Smart shopping can reduce your food packaging waste to almost zero. Minimizing the trash associated with your food reduces your impact on the environment all along the food supply chain. Less packaging has to be produced, transported and disposed of or recycled; all of which are energy intensive processes that produce greenhouse gases.
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Buy groceries in large quantities that are packaged together or that you can put in your own reusable container. This will really cut down on the amount of waste you generate - approximately 20% of all municipal solid waste is from food packaging.
How do I do this?
Ask or look around your local grocery store or co-op and see what you can put in your own reusable container. Bulk bins include everything from beans, rice, flour and honey to shampoo, lotion and cleaning supplies. You can bring a container and fill up exactly what you need, which is usually a lot cheaper.
Also look for items that you buy regularly that are offered in larger quantities. For example you can get a 24-pack of toilet paper in one package as opposed to 24 individually wrapped rolls or a large can of pasta sauce or soup instead of 4 smaller ones. If there are items you can’t get in bulk, ask a store manager if they can start carrying it.
Why should I do this?
Buying in bulk is the best way to reduce the packaging associated with your food and household items. For a lot of foods you can bring your food packaging waste down to zero. About 20% of all household trash is from food packaging, most of which is unnecessary.
Buying in bulk also sends a message to producers. When food producers start to see a demand for bulk food they will meet it with a wider variety of bulk options. If you think about it, virtually everything we buy could be stored in bulk and household food packaging waste could be drastically reduced.
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Try to reduce your meat consumption by at least half and do your homework on the meat you do eat. You’ll eat healthier while reducing your carbon footprint - the livestock industry accounts for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions!
How do I do this?
Cutting back on your meat intake is simply a matter of choosing to eat less meat. Also do a little research into the meat you are eating and think about the impact it has on the environment.
If you choose to go vegetarian or vegan make sure that you are eating a well balanced diet. Eat a variety of whole foods including beans, lentils, peas, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. While soy is a popular alternative to meat avoid replacing meat solely with a “staple protein” like soy-based meat alternatives: too much of anything is unhealthy. Eating local and in season is a great way to expand your horizons and maintain variety in your diet. Check out GoVeg.com to learn more.
Why should I do this?
Recent studies have shown that the livestock industry is a major source of environmental degradation and climate change. Here are some findings that might make you think twice about your meat intake:
- It takes between 6,000 and 12,000 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of conventional beef(1).
- Livestock production (grazing and feed crops) accounts for 30 percent of the land surface of the planet. It accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land(2).
- The livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions measured in CO2 equivalent. (That’s more than transport)(3)
- Livestock accounts for over 8 percent of global human water use and is the largest sectoral source of water pollution and degradation(4).
When you really look at it, only a fraction of the resources put into raising livestock are converted into the meat people eat. A recent United Nations report said raising animals for food is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” Learn more. It is estimated that a major cutback in meat production could open up enough land to meet a quarter of the world’s energy needs with sustainable biomass production.
Eating less meat has also been linked to a reduction in obesity-related illnesses, heart disease and a variety of other health problems. One study shows that vegetarians and vegans live, on average, six to ten years longer than meat eaters.
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Modern food production relies on chemicals that pollute the soil and water and require energy to manufacture. Organically grown food is generally less energy intensive and polluting.
How do I do this?
Look for an organic certification on the label of the products you buy. Beware of food promoted with “all natural” ingredients. Familiarize yourself with products by looking at their ingredients and where they come from. A good rule of thumb is if you can’t pronounce some of the ingredients, you probably don’t need to eat it. Also be aware that just because something is grown organically it’s not guaranteed to have less of an impact on the environment. Buying local and/or getting a little background information on the grower or manufacturer will help guide your purchasing decisions.
Why should I do this?
The EPA estimates that 70% of the pollution in our lakes and streams is from agriculture. It is estimated that half all U.S. farm products come from just 1% of the farms. It is not possible to grow this much food on so few farms without using genetically modified organisms, depleting the soil, polluting the water and using fossil fuel driven machinery. Organic farms are usually small and active in their community. Buying organic not only reduces the greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and loss of biodiversity associated with your food, but it usually keeps money in the community rather than in some CEO’s pocket. Plus organic food tastes better and has more nutritional value.
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Sure it’s nice to have strawberries and avocados in January but where do they come from? Buying food out of season means it has to be shipped-in which means more carbon dioxide pollution.
How do I do this?
U-picks, farm-stands and the Farmer’s Market are all great ways to buy seasonal food. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are also a really easy way to get a fresh supply of seasonal produce. If you get your produce somewhere else, keep in mind that a lot of it is shipped in from half-way around the world. Instead of picking a recipe and then shopping for ingredients, try buying what’s in season and then looking for recipes to match. Plan ahead and freeze, can or dehydrate seasonal produce so you can enjoy it all year. Talk to your local grocers and farmers to find out what’s in season and explore new foods. Here are some links to get you started:
2008 Whatcom County Farm Map - Locate over 100 locally produced products including produce, other food items, u-pick locations, Community Supported Agriculture programs, compost, soap, and flowers. It also has great information on how to eat seasonally in our region.
A Seasonal Cornucopia - a tool that chefs, restaurateurs, home cooks and gardeners in the greater Puget Sound Region of the Pacific Northwest can use to easily identify when local foods are in season.
A Guide to Eating Seasonally - the basics
Body Ecology - The Healthy Benefits to You of Eating Fruits and Vegetables In Season
Why should I do this?
Fruits and vegetables now travel between 1,500 and 2,500 miles to get to your local grocery store. This is primarily due to the fact that people want to be able to eat whatever they want whenever they want. While this modern system is very convenient it is very unsustainable. Food transport by land and air is rapidly becoming one of the most significant contributors to global warming.
Eating seasonally also has a variety of health benefits. Produce that is shipped over great distances is picked while it is still immature to ensure it doesn’t go bad before it gets to the shelf. Fresh fruits and veggies that are grown in season have more nutrients and taste better. Learn more.
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Get your food from local producers. You'll be more connected with what you eat and you'll save energy -
a typical meal requires up to 17 times more petroleum if it was transported as opposed to produced locally(1).
How do I do this?
Know where your food comes from. Co-ops and farmer’s markets are a great place to start; the money you spend stays in the community and you can actually meet the people who grow your food! If you shop at a large grocer you may be able to find local product there too (if not, be sure to speak up!).
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are another great way to form a relationship with the farmers that grow your food. You can get fresh produced delivered to you or picked up directly from the farm. Check out the 2008 Whatcom County Farm Map for information about local CSA farms and other locally produced products including produce, other food, u-pick locations, compost, soap, and flowers. It also has great information on how to eat seasonally in our region.
When you go out to eat, try to support restaurants that support local food producers. The following link lists local businesses, organizations and institutions that have pledged to support local agriculture whenever possible: Buy FRESH Businesses. You can also look for the Buy Local Logo below:
Why should I do this?
A typical calorie of food in the industrial food system requires ten calories of input energy. Energy is required not just to grow the food but to process, package, store and transport it. In some extreme cases the input calories required to produce just one calorie of food can be over 100! That number can be significantly reduced by purchasing food locally.
Currently about 98-99 percent of the food we eat is produced somewhere else and shipped in, often from
over 1,500 miles away! It’s estimated that, in our region, if everyone purchased just 5
percent of their food locally it would support a strong local farm economy(1). We currently have about 64 farms in our area! Take advantage of the opportunity to eat healthier, preserve our natural resources, support your local economy and re-connect with your community. It is easy to forget that the things we buy were made by somebody. Buying local gives that somebody a face; they could be your friend, neighbor or someone you run into on the street.
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