GreenNature.ca offers tips and practices you can implement in your household, school, or community to save our planet.

Green Living Tips

Duty & Responsibility
Walk & Ride
Food & Water
Wood & Paper
Electricity & Electronics
Heating & Cooling
Plastic & Chemicals

A-to-Z list

Duty & Responsibility [ top ]
 
 Adopt 
 Adopt a park, a stream, a road or an animal. There’s almost no limit to the number of environmental causes to which you, your family, your friends, or your class can do to make our world a better world. 
 
 Avoid 
 Avoid buying products that are not environmentally-friendly, products with disposable packaging items and/or excessive packaging. Avoid fast food, for example. 
 
 Buy locally 
 Support the local economy and enjoy fresh local food when possible. The transportation of food and goods emits tons of carbon dioxide, not to mention increases the cost to the consumer.  
 
 Buy only what you need 
 Resist freebies if you can, buy stuff only because you need them, not because they are on sale. 
 
 Classify 
 Know what can be recycled and put them into the right recycle bins; don’t throw away used batteries, recyclable styrofoam – ask if there are recycle bins/stations nearby. 
 
 Clean up 
 Pick up liter to keep parks and streams clean when possible, and ask your family, friends, classmates and colleagues to do it together. 
 
 Donate 
 Donate or give away unwanted items others may need, keep unwanted items out of trash as much as possible. 
 
 Invest 
 Green investing is getting more and more attention. You save and the environment saves when you replace old energy-consuming appliances with energy-saving ones. In recent years, Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) has become a growing segment in the financial industry. It’s about making investment decisions not solely on financial return, but also environmental, social, and ethical criteria. 
 
 Plant 
 Plant a tree or grow a garden to help reduce air pollution and soil erosion. At the same time, try to use as few pesticides and chemical fertilizers as possible. 
 
 Reach out 
 Reach out to get neighbors, friends, children and teens involved. There are many educational outdoor programs – fun and green and you can be one of the volunteer organizers. 
 
 Recycle, Reuse, and Reduce 
 Bring your own bags when you go to grocery stores; bring your own containers when you buy take-out or coffee; and maximize recyclable by rinsing out cans, bottles, and other recyclable materials. 
 
 Resist 
 Resist non-environmentally-friendly freebies, and cheap stuff. Don’t buy cheap plastic toys that will break after a few tries, for example. 
 
 Stand up 
 Stand up and let others hear your “green” opinion – vote for “green” candidates; write to producers, authorities and politicians; talk to your family, neighbors and friends; support “green” companies, groups, researches … 
 
 Volunteer 
 Become a green volunteer, enjoy and reduce cost. When you help reduce cost, you help reduce the pressure on the planet! 
 
 Watch out 
 Watch your eco-footprint. Food, housing, transportation, consumer goods, and services all heavily affect the Earth. 
 
 
Walk & Ride [ top ]
 
 Bike 
 Wear a helmet! When you enjoy the freedom, convenience and speed of bicycling, make sure it’s safe. 
 
 Check tires monthly 
 Over or under-inflated tires use more fuel. Checking tire pressure monthly could save you fuel costs and tire replacement costs. 
 
 Drive better 
 When you drive, don’t accelerate like a race car driver every time you take off from a red-light or stop sign. Keep your tires properly inflated. Combine your errands so you’ll drive less. 
 
 Drive the speed limit 
 Driving the speed limit is more likely to keep your vehicle a stead speed to reduce the number of times of speeding up and slowing down, which also means less fuel costs, no speeding tickets, longer tire life and safer. 
 
 Join a carpool 
 If walking, bicycling or public transportation is not a reasonable choice, join a carpool. There are many carpooling websites, click here to see an example. 
 
 Maintain your vehicle 
 A poorly maintained engine can use up to 50% more fuel and produce 50% more CO2 than one that runs properly. 
 
 Stop idling 
 Get out of your car to walk around and breathe some fresh air when you are waiting. Don’t let your vehicle idle for more than one minute. 
 
 Support public transit 
 The more you use and support public transit, the better public transit services will be. 
 
 Walk 
 Walk to school, walk to office and walk to grocery stores. Walk can keep you in shape, let you enjoy the nature and know the neighborhood. 
 
 
Food & Water [ top ]
 
 Buy only enough to eat 
 Don’t waste any food, buy only what you can eat or drink up before you have to throw some away. 
 
 Collect rainwater 
 Rainwater can be used for your garden, rainwater collection may offer a potential breeding habitat for mosquitoes. Be careful and check your local by-laws. 
 
 Compost food waste 
 When food waste is buried in a landfill or dump, it isn’t exposed to the oxygen needed in the process to break down the food, so it changes much more slowly and release methane gas. Composting is easy and odour free if you follow some guidelines on what to put in the compost and what not. In general, only put in fruits, vegetables, and garden waste that do not have any oils, fat, or meat with them. Coffee grounds and egg shells can also be composted. The added bonus in this solution for going green is that you will have rich natural fertilizer for your lawn and garden.  
 
 Drink water from tap 
 Bottled water not only adds transportation costs, but also adds pressure on recycling, not to mention how many plastic bottles have been dumped in the land fill. 
 
 Eat home grown food 
 There are a number of resources on the Internet to help you start a vegetable garden. Have fun and enjoy the true green food. It can be as simple as growing tomatoes in a planter or as extensive as producing all your food needs for the growing season and beyond. 
 
 Eat local food 
 Think about the trip that food must take to reach your grocery store. Those long trips are contributing to climate change.  
 
 Eat organic food 
 Organic food is “pesticide-free” food, and it is much more than that. Organic food is produced using natural methods of farming. This means no artificial fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, etc. 
 
 Eat seasonal food 
 There is nothing better than eating food that is in season. Non-seasonal food requires transportation and/or cold storage to keep fresh, both affect climate change. 
 
 Put bricks in toilet tanks 
 Put a brick in your toilet tank to save water when flushing your toilet. The brick replaces some of the water that would normally go down the drain. If the tank works well with one brick, try two bricks. 
 
 Reduce running water use 
 Never leave the tap running when washing vegetables or dishes, shaving, or brushing your teeth. Use tubs or plug the sink if you can. 
 
 Replace old toilets, shower heads 
 Replace old toilets, shower heads with new water saving ones. 
 
 Stop leaking 
 Repair leaks and leaky toilets immediately. 
 
 Switch to front-load washing machines 
 Depending on the model, front-load washing machines consume as little as 90 litres of water per wash. Older top-load washing machines can consume up to 170 litres per wash, while those built after 1990 use approximately 155 litres per wash. 
 
 Water lawn wisely 
 Water early in the morning or late in the evening. Some experts say lawns don’t need watering at all, since grass will go “dormant” during extended periods of dry weather, and will return to normal once dry weather stops.  
 
 
Wood & Paper [ top ]
 
 Print on both sides when possible 
 Use the blank side of computer paper for students to work out math problems, and use both sides of poster board before recycling or discarding. 
 
 Print only when necessary 
 Print only the part you need and print only if it’s necessary. People may find that they print, they read or don’t read and they recycle or throw away. 
 
 Reduce wood heating 
 Wood smoke contains over 100 pollutants. These pollutants not only negatively impact the environment but are also linked to a wide range of health problems. Reducing wood heating and campfires can also save trees and forests, which in turn helps reduce greenhouse gas. 
 
 
Electricity & Electronics [ top ]
 
 Donate old computers and monitors 
 Donate or give away unwanted computers and monitors others may need, keep them or their parts out of trash as much as possible. 
 
 Dry clothes naturally 
 Some communities may not allow to hang wet clothes outdoor, write or call the authorities to talk about it. 
 
 Keep refrigerator stocked 
 A full refrigerator retains cold better than an empty one. Your refrigerator and freezer will require less energy to maintain the coldness if they are full of food. The food itself will help maintain the temperature. 
 
 Recycle cellphones and batteries 
 Don’t throw away used cellphones and batteries, ask if there are recycle stations nearby. 
 
 Turn off computer 
 Turn off computers and monitors when they are not in use. 
 
 Turn off the light 
 When you leave home or office, remember to turn off the light if possible, and don’t turn on the light when it’s bright enough. Remember, light pollution kills birds and insects. 
 
 Use compact fluorescent light bulbs 
 They last much longer than a traditional incandescent bulb, run cooler, and use almost 80% less electricity. 
 
 Use green energy 
 Think about using wind power and solar power, see where you can invest and save your money and the Earth. 
 
 Use microwave more 
 Your microwave usually uses much less electricity than your conventional, electric oven and cooks food in less time, so use it more often to conserve electricity. 
 
 Use task lighting 
 When reading or working on a desk, use small lamps to illuminate the area you need rather than using overhead lights to light up the entire room. 
 
 Vacuum under refrigerator 
 Every three months or so, vacuum the condenser coils under your refrigerator. If they get built up with dust and dirt, the refrigerator has to work harder to keep your food cold. 
 
 
Heating & Cooling [ top ]
 
 Close doors and vents to unused rooms 
 Turn off heat and close doors to unused rooms if you have individual room heat. Close doors and vents to unused rooms if you have a central system. 
 
 Have an energy audit 
 For buildings more than 25 years old, energy audit & improvement typically yield a 20-35% reduction in energy use. Find out if there are government grants available to aid in funding the improvements. 
 
 Install a programmable thermostat 
 A good programmable thermostat can give you convenience and efficiency, and it can have a large impact on your heating costs. 
 
 Insulate hot water pipes 
 Wrap your hot water pipes with water pipe insulation kits to help keep the heat in as the water travels through the pipes. 
 
 Lower hot water tank temperature 
 Use cold water as much as possible. 
 
 Lower the thermostats 
 Lower the thermostat by a few degrees in winter and save money and pollution. 
 
 Seal out the cold 
 In winter, reduce the heat lost from your home or workplace by getting rid of drafts around windows, doors, baseboards, and outside wall openings. Windows can account for a large part of heat loss in a building. Upgrade them if they are too old. Window insulators can help keep your home warm in winter and cool in summer. Insulate power outlets and other sockets using foam pads – this is really important if the walls are not insulated.  
 
 Turn off air conditioner 
 On those days when it’s not too hot outside, go green by opening the windows and turning off the air conditioners to save on fuel/electricity, pollution, and money. 
 
 
Plastic & Chemicals [ top ]
 
 Reduce chemical use 
 Reduce indoor and outdoor pesticide use; get rid of spiders and other insects by vacuuming; select unscented and less toxic cleaning products; use detergent and water instead of disinfectants; avoid the use of aerosol sprays of any kind inside the house; etc. 
 
 Reduce pesticides use 
 Some communities may have already banned outdoor pesticide use. 
 
 Reduce plastic bag use 
 Say no to plastic bags if possible, bring your own bags when you go to grocery stores. 
 
 Try to recycle plastic 
 Plastic is difficult to recycle, however, there are places that accept plastic for recycling. 
 
 Use home-made cleaning products 
 Vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice and coca cola can also be used as cleaning products. For example: white vinegar can be used to kill molds and bacteria; baking soda can be used to scrub surfaces and wash fruits; lemon juice can be used to dissolve hard water deposits; and coca cola can be used as rust cleaner.