Keep Your Garden Green

*Plant some bamboo. Bamboo contributes to the balancing of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

*Don’t use a leaf blower. The horrible noise is reason enough to avoid these machines. Compost instead, and never burn leaves!

*Plant a garden using xeriscaping-no water needed. Find out more at ecolife.com/garden/natural-lawn/xeriscaping.html.

*Capture rainwater for gardens.

*Fertilize with grass clippings.

*When watering your garden, turn on the water early in the morning to minimize evaporation.

*Try not to fertilize before a storm to avoid the fertilizer being washed away.

More Ways to Avoid Plastic

• Jars. So many jars. For salads, soups, sauces, juice, opened packages of things. Justy jars. Lots of jars.
• Aluminum foil is a great stand-in for plastic wrap and can be easily recycled or saved for reuse.
• Wax paper is great for wrapping sandwiches. So are reusable sandwich pouches you can make or purchase. Many close with velcro and are easy to launder or wipe clean.
• Reuse empty yogurt, sour cream, or cream cheese containers. You’ve already got them and you have to wash them before tossing them into the recycling bin anyway, so you may as well use them again.
• Invest in reusable lunch containers like bento boxes or tiffins to avoid waste when sending off your little one (or yourself) with a bagged lunch.

Walking Your Talk (I Am a Bag Lady)

• Keep a compact, reusable bag in your purse for those spur-of-the-moment purchases.
• Refuse a plastic bag for five items or less.
• Fit purchases from different stores into the same bag wherever possible. There’s no reason to have eight shopping bags with only one item in each.
•  Put your cloth bags back in your car as soon as you’re done unloading groceries.

There’s less chance of forgetting them at home that way (and you’ll be one step closer to using them!). Keep them on the front seat, rather than in the trunk. If you see them, you’ll be far less likely to forget them.

Don’t Be Idle

Turn off your car if you’re going to be idle for more than 30 seconds (unless you are stuck at a red light). This will help save gas money, lessen air pollutants, and improve your car’s fuel economy.