My Dragon's Lair Sharing is the reason for my being...: 10 Simple things that make a difference

The Green movement is gaining momentum and many US consumers are jumping on board. Unfortunately many still think that they have to invest more than time and effort to be part of this important movement. They think $$ is the only way to be vested in this, and the simple fact is that is not true. We can all make a difference, everyday, by making simple changes in our lives with the only commitment being our time and a little effort. You can make a difference by yourself and go a long way toward making our planet safer, cleaner and providing hope for our children. If we don't make the effort and change, how can we expect them to. Think about this: How hard is it to fix a leaky faucet? Take shorter showers? Change a light bulb?

Listed below are 10 VERY SIMPLE things we can all do to make a difference by incorporating these tasks into our everyday lives:

1. Keep your tire pressure up to manufacturer standards and improve gas mileage by 33% and save $.07 per gallon on gas!

2. Start replacing your ordinary light bulbs with compact fluorescentbulbs - they will last 10 times and you can save 75% on your lighting! You don't have to change them all at once, but when an ordinary bulb burns out replace it!

3. Open the blinds/drapes on the sunny side of the house in the winter and help warm your house - and if you live in a HOT climate like I do in Arizona, close them during the summer and save on your cooling bills!

4. Use low flow shower heads in all of you showers and reduce water usage by 50%-70%. Cost for these shower heads is around $20.00 and it will pay for itself in no time.

5. Fix leaky faucets and save about 200 gallons per month. Most of the time all it takes is replacing a washer.

6. Keep air conditioner and heating filters clean and replace your fiberglass filters with reusable, washable filters.

7. Set your thermostat on your hot water filter at 140 degrees if you have an electric dishwasher and 120 degrees if you don't. 20% of your electric bill goes toward heating water.

8. Drain a gallon of water from your hot water heater each year to remove sediment and improve efficiency!

9. Vacuum the coils on your refrigerator and freezer every 3 months to improve efficiency and lower energy costs.

10. Take shorter showers: you use 2 gallons per minute for every shower. It's easy to do the math to see how much you can save if you cut your shower time by even 1 minute.

Take a look at this list and pick 3 from this list you want to change and once you have mastered these move on to the next 3 and so on and so on...

There are many more simple things you can do like reusing plastic grocery bags for bathroom trash can liners and reducing junk mail by canceling unwanted catalogs.

You can find these and many more helpful hints at the following websites:

Let's work together toward building a green path to the future.

Written by: Gary Hillery, The Green Path Company Found at C2NN

Labels: advice, ecology, education, health, living well