P2 Tips for You •Air
•Dealing With Pests
•Eating
•Electronics
•Energy
•Landscaping
•Paper
•Shopping/Products
•Travel
•Vehicles
•Water
•Waste Minimization/Recycling
•General Tips, Facts and Information
Air
Leave your car at home two days a week (walk, bike, or take the bus or subway to work instead). You'll reduce carbon dioxide emissions. More clean air tips:
Protect the Environment: On the Road
Air Pollution Prevention
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Dealing with Pests
Storing pesticides and other chemicals up high in a locked cabinet -- out of reach of small children -- is an effective way to ensure that kids do not mix with dangerous chemicals.
More information:
Safe Storage of Pesticides
Before using insect repellants on your skin or in your yard, read the label first!
Outsmart and prevent pests by removing sources of food, water, and shelter before deciding to use a pesticide.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/controlling/index.htm
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/backyard/PestMgt.html
Mosquito Control
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Preventing Harm to the Environment - Do not dispose of gasoline, oil, or weed killers and other lawn and garden pesticides down the drain, into surface water, onto the ground, or in the trash. Check with your local household hazardous waste collection agency for safe disposal for these types of products.
Crowd out weeds the natural way- Keep your grass long. Over-seed your lawn each Fall for a thicker lawn in the Spring. Slightly longer grass, around 2½ to 3½ inches, is healthier and drought-resistant with fewer pests and weeds, which have a hard time taking root.
Many plants and insects can serve as nontoxic, natural deterrents to weeds and garden pests. Introduce ladybugs to eat aphids, plant marigolds to ward off beetles, and look for quick-sprouting plants to block weed growth.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/regulating/disposal.htm
Household Hazardous Waste
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Eating
Eat fewer fatty fish, such as lake trout, or fish that feed on the bottoms of lakes and streams such as catfish and carp. These fish are more likely to contain higher levels of chemical pollutants.
Eat a locally produced diet. Grow your own food or support local farmers, natural food stores and food co-ops. You'll save money, eat quality foods, create jobs, increase farmlands, and strengthen your community. You also reduce pollution generated by transportation and energy costs from shipping food.
Buy domestically-produced, certified organic food. Organic farmers don't use toxic chemicals, or harmful pesticides or fertilizers. Buying locally produced food decreases on the environmental impacts of transporting food.
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Electronics
Buy Energy Star electronic equipment from manufacturers with take-back programs.
Recycle your computer.
More tips and information :
http://www.energystar.gov
http://www.eiae.org
http://www.earth911.org/master.asp?s=lib&a=electronics/elec_index.asp
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Energy
Ask your power company to switch all or some of your electricity to green power.
Look for the Energy Star label on products and equipment, you can reduce your energy bill by 30 percent and your electric lighting charges by 40 percent while cutting pollution.
Get a programmable thermostat and set the temperature up in the summer and down in the winter while you are at work.
Turn your water heater down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. You'll cut your water-heating costs by 6-10 percent.
Keep your home appliances running at peak efficiency to save electricity, conserve resources and reduce global warming. Remove lint and dust from your refrigerator coil and freezer. Clean up lint around your dryer, furnace, and any vents leading to or from them. Change or clean the filter in your air purifier or furnace.
Paint your exterior and interior walls in a light color so more light is reflected. Paint the edges of the window in white so more light reflected inside. During the day, open blinds to bring in natural light instead of turning on lights.
More tips and information:
http://www.energystar.gov
http://www.epa.gov/p2/pubs/energy.htm
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=heat_cool.pr_consumer_cool_change
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Landscaping
Doing major landscape renovation, time the grading and excavating projects when rain is less likely to prevent erosion and contamination of run-off water. Cover excavated materials, dumpsters, and stockpiles of asphalt, sand, and yard clippings to prevent contaminants from getting into storm drains.
More tips and information:
http://www.epa.gov/reg3esd1/garden/index.htm
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Paper
Using double-sided coping, reusing single-sided paper, using electronic mail, and circulating documents with routing slips, an organization can save a significant amount of energy and natural resources. One ton of waste paper saves enough energy to power an average home for 6 months not to mention the monetary savings from purchasing less paper.
One ton of recycled paper uses: 64% less energy, 50% less water, 74% less air pollution, saves 17 trees and creates 5 times more jobs than one ton of paper products from virgin wood pulp.
Purchase paper products containing post-consumer recycled paper.
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Shopping/Products
Use a baking soda paste as a general stain remover. Rub chalk on grease stains prior to washing. Apply butter or margarine to chocolate stains, let set at least 15 minutes and wash.
Use herbs, set out a small dish of vanilla or leave an open box of baking soda in the room as an air freshener.
Use cat litter or sand instead of salt on icy walks.
Buy products that contain recycled materials.
Buy food and other products with reusable or recyclable packaging instead of those in nonrecyclable packaging. It can reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a green house gas that is potentially harmful to the envirnment.
Buy in bulk when you can and avoid excess packaging. Even recyclable packaging requires energy and resources to create. Also look for refillable containers. Seek out concentrated products which use far less packaging.
Choose low or no-VOC paints, water-based floor sealers, and wood products from certified sustainable forests.
When asked whether you want paper or plastic bags, select the type you are more likely to reuse for other purposes, such as trash can liners, newspaper recycling or future shopping.
Some retailers like Home Depot offer suggestions for buying "green" products: ask them about it.
More tips and information:
Learn about Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP)
http://www.earth911.org/master.asp?s=lib&a=shopsmart/shop.inc
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Travel
Next time you travel, look for lodging that practices conservation.
Use e-ticketing to reduce paper usage.
More tips and information:
EPA's Green Meetings Guide
http://www.greenhotels.com
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Vehicles
If you change your own motor oil, recycle it at a "quick lube" shop, gas station, or auto store that accepts used motor oil for recycling.
Check out EPA's Green Vehicle Guide. You may be surprised to know that you have cleaner more fuel-efficient choices in any vehicle size you need, even an SUV.
Keep tires properly inflated and wheels aligned to reduce tire drag on the road. Gas mileage drops 1% for every pound below the recommended level.
Don't top off the gas tank. This allows harmful chemicals to escape into the air.
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Water
Think before you pour. Many hazardous products flow from household drains through sewage treatment plants and into coastal water bodies.
Install a water-efficient shower head (2.5 gallons or less per minute), it reduces water consumption and energy used to heat the water. They pay for themselves in only four months.
Only run full loads in the washing machine or dishwasher.
Turn off water while brushing teeth and shaving.
More water saving tips: http://www.epa.gov/p2/pubs/water.htm
virtual house http://www.h2ouse.net/
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Waste Minimization/Recycling
In a lifetime, the average American will throw away 600 times his or her adult weight in garbage. This means that each adult will leave a legacy of 90,000 lbs. of trash for his or her children.
Recycling all of your home's waste newsprint, cardboard, glass, and metal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions, a green house gas, by 850 pounds a year.
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV set for three hours or to light one 100 watt bulb for 20 hours.
The energy required to replace the aluminum cans wasted in 2001 was equivalent to 16 million
barrels of crude oil: enough to meet the electricity needs of all the homes in Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, San Francisco, and Seattle.
Between 1970 and 2003, one trillion aluminum cans were sent to landfills worth well over $15 billion.
Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet.
Five recycled plastic bottles make enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.
Improving or remodeling your home, try to buy recycled products. It reduces the amount of material going to landfills. Flooring, insulation, plastic lumber, woodwork, shingles, and many garden/lawn products are made from recycled materials.
Buy carpet made from recycled drink bottles (polyethylene terephthalate fiber). This recycled-content carpet is durable, resists moisture and staining, and requires no additional chemicals for its manufacture.
More tips and information:
EPA's Consumer's Handbook for Reducing Solid Waste
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General tips, facts, and information for consumers:
The average American needs twenty-five acres of ecologically productive land to support thier lifestyle. That's three times the world average. Want to know your ecological footprint (amount of land needed to provide all the resources and space you use, directly or indirectly, including the amount for storing and absorbing your waste and pollution)?
More information on your ecological footprint:
http://www.ecofoot.org/
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Getting involved to make a difference in your community.
•Take action - United We Serve
•Protecting Your Air
•Protecting Your Water
•Dealing With Waste
•Community-Based Environmental Protection Efforts
•Tips and Tools
•Search Your ZIP Code
•Regional Offices
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Take action - United We Serve
Adopt your Watershed: Work for clean water by joining with local organizations to monitor water quality, restore habitat, build rain gardens, plant trees, or clean up debris.
Fight Global Warming with Energy Star: Take the Energy Star Pledge to save energy, and work with community organizations to educate and drive others to take the Pledge.
Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign: Help a local school avoid chemical mismanagement. Discuss responsible chemical management with school staff and the community, implement responsible chemical management programs, and encourage the safe removal and disposal of outdated, unknown, potentially hazardous and unneeded chemicals.
Visit Serve.gov for more ways to take action in your community.
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Protecting Your Air
Partners- Working together for Clean Air - This page describes federal, regional, state and local agencies which work together to help attain and preserve clean air in the United States.
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Protecting Your Water
American Heritage Rivers Initiative - Learn about the Presidential initiative to provide communities along these rivers with assistance to address community concerns.
Coastal Watersheds - This series of factsheets about Coastal Watersheds is now available online, featuring information about beaches, nearshore waters, coral reefs, and estuaries, and include tips on how residents can help protect the coastal watershed where they live.
Monitor the Health of America's Water - Volunteer Opportunity - Through this document, learn about water quality issues and how to get involved in citizen water monitoring programs.
Surf Your Watershed - A service to help you locate, use, and share environmental information on your watershed or community.
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Dealing with Waste
Pay As You Throw - Recycle More, Toss Less - This site is about pay as you throw programs where residents pay for trash disposal directly based on the amount of trash they generate.
Recycling Hotline : Earth 911
By simply typing in your zip code, this hotline helps you locate recycling centers "for all types of recyclables" in your community.
Superfund Community Involvement - This Superfund (hazardous waste site clean-up) Web site provides opportunities for community involvement in the clean-up process.
Superfund Community Involvement Toolkit - EPA is committed to involving community members in the hazardous waste cleanup process. One of our first steps is to provide you with quality information. You'll find resources on a variety of Superfund topics like The Community Advisory Group Program, Community Issues, and more.
The Hazardous Waste Permitting Process - Briefly defines hazardous wastes and hazardous waste management facilities in nontechnical terms. Lists laws and regulations governing treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs). Describes permitting requirements, steps in the permitting process, and public participation.
RCRA Expanded Public Participation Rule - One of the key principles identified as essential to "reinventing government" and to improving the way EPA does business is the need to improve and expand opportunities for public participation in our decision-making processes. The RCRA Expanded Public Participation Rule promotes partnership, empowerment, and flexibility in the RCRA permitting program. En español
Waste Not/Want Not: A Guide for Feeding the Hungry Through Food Recovery - Explains how any state or municipality, as well as any private business that deals with food, can reduce its solid waste by facilitating the donation of wholesome surplus food according to the food hierarchy. Also lists ways you can join the growing food recovery movement, and provides a framework to help you protect the environment while making a difference in the daily lives and futures of hungry families across our nation.
Volunteer for Change: A Guide to Environmental Community Service (PDF) - (24 pp, 571 K, About PDF) || en español (PDF) (23 pp, 576K, About PDF) Contains examples of volunteer projects related to solid waste management, including reuse, recycling, composting, and household hazardous waste projects.
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Community-Based Environmental Protection Efforts
Smart Growth - Smart growth is development that serves the economy, the community, and the environment. It changes the terms of the development debate away from the traditional growth/no growth question to "how and where should new development be accommodated."
Green Communities - Green Communities are "sustainable communities": communities that integrate a healthy environment, a vibrant economy, and a high quality of life. This Web site provides information on how to make your community a green one.
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Tips and Tools
Planning Environmentally Aware Events - This guide outlines the key steps in planning and conducting an environmentally aware event, profiles a variety of meetings and events, and provides a checklist that can be used as a planning tool.
Find Stewardship Opportunities - Every person has the chance to make a difference by practicing environmental stewardship. Look for opportunities at home, at school, at work, in your community, and while shopping and traveling. The possibilities are endless, and the cumulative impacts of individual actions can really add up.
Software for Environmental Awareness - This Web site offers free interactive software programs covering a variety of environmental topics. Some of the software is available in Spanish.
Search Your ZIP Code - Get information about pollution emissions or releases and related information where you live.
Pick 5 for the Environment - Do more to protect the environment by choosing at least five actions you'll commit to. Pick 5 also helps you identify more actions you can take in the future.
The Great Outdoors - Stay safe and help protect the environment, just outside your door or across the country on vacation
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