What do you do.....

We recycle but off hand I really can't thing of anything else that we deliberately do. 

Not as much as I could and should!
 
We recycle, but then that's kind of a no-brainer living in the city (we just dump it all in a bin and they pick it up). My boyfriend and I both eat vegetarian, which has less of an environmental impact than does eating meat. We use our plastic grocery bags as dog poop bags. We drink filtered tap water rather than buying bottled. We have one vehicle between us and I take public transportation to work.
 
We're renters right now so some of our energy-savings options are limited, but when we do buy I want to buy all energy-efficient appliances and make sure our house is as environmentally friendly as possible. Also I would love to downsize our car (minivan) to a hybrid sedan... BF used to need the van for work but due to a career change we can go smaller as soon as we can afford to.
 
Another thing I want to do but have been procrastinating on is to buy only local food. I have read and heard reports that this is actually far more important than buying organic, especially as many 'organic' farms these days are just yet more mega-agribusinesses.

We got really lucky with this house...it has a geo-thermal furnace/AC and the main stove and BOTH hot water tanks are propane which burns really hot so works faster and with less usage.  Or so I've been told.
 
It's interesting that you mentioned buying local produce.  I do that simply because I dont' LIKE the CA strawberries that look gorgeous on the outside but are still WHITE on the inside....I don't like my cukes and peppers to be WAXED.  We have a great farm stand down the road...used to be one of the highlights of my trips home to stop at this particular market.....and they sell almost totally local produce.  It sounds REALLY dorky, but I pick my green tomatoes and wrap them in newspaper and store them in a cool place so that I can have "fresh" tomatoes all year without having to buy those AWFUL gas greens that were picked green in CA and then shipped and gassed to ripen them......I got REALLY spoiled about fresh produce when I lived in CA and now I won't buy anything but local because it just doesn't taste good.

Hmm, to me, the first step you can have to help the environment is to be educated about it. I know the basics from my AP Enviro Science class in HS as well as Field Bio and now Aquatic Bio. (eta, this wasn't directed at anybody... I noticed it sounded 'snippy')

I recycle a lot of things. Tin, plastic, glass, news paper, magazines, etc. We had our own garden this year that was organic... nothing added when we did the planting except Moo Doo []. What we didn't have in the garden, we tried to buy organic. I turn off everything that doesn't need to be used (lights, cable boxes, computers, etc). The only exception is 3 4watt night lights that are down stairs to help us see the way in the dark... they get turned off in the morning. In the winter, we dial the thermostat down to 60F every night and try to keep it between 64-66F during the day. We shut storm windows during the winter as well.

I try not to buy from Exxon or Mobile gas stations. If I had the money, there's no I would buy an SUV. I plan on, in the future, only having a hybrid... better would be an E-85 capable vehicle with an E-85 staion [].

When I go hiking, I try to disturb as little as possible. I commonly pick up other people's junk that they throw out the window or leave at the fire pit (the quickest way to get me to dislike you is to litter). I don't walk around muddy spots, but go straight through them... walking around them distrubs the turf more and leads to a larger area to erode.

I replace all my lightbulbs with twisty low-energy (but good light output!) fluorescents.

I turn off lights in rooms I'm not using.

I hardly ever watch TV, does that count as saving energy?

I put my computer to sleep instead of letting the hard drive run.

I recycle what I can. Up here there isn't any glass recycling.

I also combine trips, always always!

I'm going to get a dishwasher because I hate doing dishes, but full loads conserve water.
Since I will be paying 7¢ a gallon for my water at my new place, water conservation is going to be even more important. (My house has a water holding tank system--I'm not living in town.)

I'm going to have a water consevation shower nozzle, but NOT the one that's there. It's that kind that turns the water into little needles that just RIP your nips right off! [&:]

I always pick up litter. People that throw litter out of car windows make me INSANE! I truly have a rage flash when I see that!

I know I do other stuff, but it's first thing in the morning and I'm too duuuh to think more. [8D]

Hmmm. Let's see.  I recycle glass, newspapers, cans & plastic - but like Erin, it all goes into a special can on the curb and the city picks it up on trash day.  When I find a can or a plastic container in the kitchen trash can, I pick it out and rinse it off.  Does that count? [] All my light bulbs are the energy efficient ones - and even though they're kind of ugly, I still put them in the overhead track lighting. I use ceiling & floor fans during the summer instead of the AC. I combine trips.  As much as I'd like to run into Sacramento every time I need a "Trader Joes" fix, I wait until I have a couple of other reasons to go. I have low flow showerheads and I only run the dishwasher 2 or 3 times a week - I wait until it's really full. When I'm washing clothes, I make sure that the water level is appropriate for the size of the load. I am bad about the TV - one of them is almost always on. But I don't think a TV uses all that much energy - not like heaters, ACs, washers & dryers, etc. Oh, I almost forgot - I do reuse and recycle my grocery bags - both plastic and paper.

Joyce

Wow I realize that I dont do enough as I read this thread.
 
Vowing to do better.

It's my wife's fault. We recycle. plastics and glass. Bagless vacuum cleaner. we have two composters. And we have some garbage bags full of leaves composting away for flower bed bedding. DW has the green thumb. I used to do redneck recycling, using butter tubs for bowls, etc. We'll take Shadow's shed fur and put it in a mesh cloth tied on the old clothesline so that the birds can pick it for their nests. I keep Shadow's toys around even after they are chewed or one end bitten off because he still plays with them. At work, we pick up our scrap copper wire and cash it in to buy more company tools. When I eat bananas, I keep the peels to bring home for ye olde composte. I wear clothes until they fall apart. Other clothes that I don't want or don't fit right, we take to local Goodwill-type places that are usually associated with women and family shelters. When my first wife passed away, she had about $10,000 in clothes. Those went to the Genesis Place, where women down on their luck can buy designer clothes for pennies and be able to dress well to get that better job and get out of the hole they are in. It's silly that the world is so fixed upon image. But, if you walk in dressed to the 9's, they'll think you are someone special, and you are. But the clothes get you in the door. I take used motor oil to an oil reclamation bin at the O' Reilly's where I buy supplies.

I grow some of my veggies, and now with the spinach scare, going to try and do a winter garden this year. I combine all my trips, belong to freecycle and cheapcycle, I learned how to make smaller meals since its just 2 and I come from a family of 6, chile is my only problem I still can my own preserves and veggies if I find a great deal.
 
I hate plastic bags and but it saves trees, so I use those for "litter box and yard maint".
 
Dawn

I was never very good at recycling but a few years ago I got feeling guilty and emptied my "blue box" of kiity litter and began to sort the papers, bottles, can etc. I would look at the bins everyday filling up my kitchen - then every 2 weeks I'd haul them out to the curb. I hated it, but continued. NOW I"M PI$$ED!!!! Big news for Toronto last week. The liquor stores will now be charging a deposit on their bottles. Instead of putting them in recycle bins you must return them. WHY, you might ask? Because, all these years that the city has been picking up the bottles they have never recycled them. They have been dumping them in the landfills! So all my work for for nothing. I feel like we have been scammed. Now it makes me wonder about the paper, cans and plastics. UGH!

I have an older car instead of buying a newer one (that will be several years down the road.  Since it is nine years old and only has 70,000 miles on it, I will keep it for awhile, thank you!

We recycle and have a yard debris recycle bin as well.  I use the brown paper grocery bags for garbage and the plastic ones for cleaning the cat box. WE run the dishwasher when it's FULL and only do large loads of laundry. We combine trips for nearly everything--a tank of gas lasts me almost a month (DH, OTOH commutes an hour[:'(]).

We walk quite a bit to run errands that are close. Also, we try to vacation close to home. It's cheaper and we have learned a lot about local history!

I refuse to shop at malls.  They drive me crazy and are monumnets to consumerism. I love thrift stores!

I have an older car instead of buying a newer one (that will be several years down the road. Since it is nine years old and only has 70,000 miles on it

 
I have you beat. My truck is 10 years old with 265,000+ miles on it.
 

Good Thread!
 
When DH and I lived in the city, we did not dare wasting anything. Years and years ago we were broke beyond broke, and could not afford to throw anything away that we could possible use later.I walked a lot, and we shared a car. The lessons I learned then about saving everything and wasting nothing have been very valuable to me later in life.
 
We moved to the country to be closer to DH's job several years ago. This is not the "country" like being 10 or 15 miles from an city or even a small town. This is really the middle of no-where. I make one maybe two trips to an nearby town a month. (And by nearby I mean almost 100 miles) If weather is bad in the winter I can go months without traveling to town. When you live that far away from a grocery store or walmart, you get really good at making things yourself and not wasting anything. When I do go to town I have a list a mile long, and know that if I forget anything, it will be weeks until I can purchase that item.
 
We do not have garbage service. We have to carefully sort our garbage, and haul it ourselves. Believe me, if everyone had to do that you would not throw anything away, that could possible be used for something else. I do not buy ziplock bags or containers. I carefully wash lastic containers (cottage cheese, cool whip) and use them to store leftovers. When they get too old, I save the lids as paint allets, and use the bowls to water the ranch cats. We save empty dogfood bags, and when we scoop poop it goes in these. I use plastic grocery bags to scoop cat poop. We do not get a newspaper, because the news is outdated by the time it reaches us in the mail anyway. I save paper circulars, junk mail, and boxes to use as fire starter in the winter. (For fireplace or woodstove) I give away my old cloths. (My sister gets first pick, the rest is donated to the church group who then cuts up the old cloths and makes quilts. They donate the quilts to charity.) DH gives his older cloths to the kids at work. We do not throw old appliances away, even if they do not work anymore. Usually we know someone who wants them for parts. We do not throw away old carpet, doors, windows, or cabinets from home improvement projects. If we can't re-use these items, someone we know will use them.  At work I save worksheets and computer paper. I cut it up and make it into scratch pads. Who needs post-it notes![] 
 
We keep our heat in the house no higher then 65 in the winter. We put on extra cloths if we are cold. (It is 38, raining, and the forecast calls for snow, but my furnace is not on. I don't need to turn it on until it gets colder out.) We finally had central AC installed this summer. I only used it on the hottest days. I have never used my dishwasher. I like the small lamps with 15 watt bulbs. I hate overhead lights, they are too bright. We save rainwater for our flowers. I have an garden, so do our neighbors. We can and freeze fruits and vegetables. If I end up with too much lettuce, I give it away. My neighbors that grow better squash or tomatoes share with me.I buy my milk and eggs from a farmer down the road. The milk comes in a 1 gallon glass jar which I wash and return.When I get eggs he just refills my old egg carton from the week before. We buy 2 pigs and half a cow each fall. I store the meat in my deep freeze. It's wrapped in freezer paper. I can't remember the last time I had meat that came on a styrofoam tray, wrapped in plastic.
 
I don't have a snow-blower, nor do I know any neighbors who have one. I shovel my own driveway. Younger neighbors get together and help out the elderly neighbors with shoveling. When the weather is bad we check on the older people in town, pick up their mail at the post office, and drop off food for them.
 
Our car gets great gas mileage, and even the new Hummer gets 22 mpg. (Much better then our old SUV) In town I walk to the post office. DH and I ride to work together. We often carpool with co-workers. Especially in the winter.
 
Living here is like stepping 50 years back in time. We re-use and recycle everything, because when you are this isolated you cannot waste a thing.

ORIGINAL: ron2

I have an older car instead of buying a newer one (that will be several years down the road. Since it is nine years old and only has 70,000 miles on it

I have you beat. My truck is 10 years old with 265,000+ miles on it.

I can beat that age!  Mine is about 23 years old!  Wow...thats depressing, its older than I am!  My other car got totaled and this one runs well and is in great condition.  Honda Accord with only 170,000 miles.  Not bad for a 23 year old car!  I try to combine trips as much as possible.  I recycle papers by using them in my sugar glider cages and for the rabbits to play with.  I don't use any chemicals on my one outside plant.  I use the rabbit droppings occassionally in the soil in it, and pour some aquarium water on it.  I use the AC as little as possible and leave the windows open.  Except at night, I can't sleep with the windows open.  I try not to leave lights on when I am gone, except for in the kitchen where the sugar gliders are so they know its day time.