marihayes-soapbox is open!

There are so many easy ways to go green for the holiday season. While shopping, cluster trips according to location. Running from store to store in one trip saves gas and time. Also when you look at purchases, keep in mind the excess packaging of some products. All that packaging is a pain to open and to dispose of. Buy from local merchants. Shipping stuff uses alot of gas. This also helps the little guy in a tight economy. Look at where the product was made. We all need to support our manufacturing to save our jobs. Buying American is more important than ever. And things shipped across the world have a high carbon footprint.

Inside your house, there are new lights that use much less power. If your old lights have seen better days replace them. Only leave the lights on when you are there. It is not only a cost savings but a safety issue too. In the kitchen, you can compost all the scraps from dinners. It is very easy to do and your dirt will thank you. Mother Nature does it all with no work from you. Also, garbage disposals send the scraps to a treatment plant where they add to the greenhouse gas problem. I have been doing it for years and it makes your trash smell less. It also makes it less appetizing to garbage picking animals. All kinds of plants grew out of my mulch pile, including huge pumpkins.

Gift wrap can be recycled in two ways. If you are careful and the wrap is strong you can slip the package out and reuse the paper the next year. This works really well with the foil wrappings, even the tape comes off clean. If you can’t wait to open the presents or you have little kids you can recycle them in your bins, not in the trash. Live trees can be harvested responibly so go ahead and indulge. The new little trees they constantly plant help with carbon emmissions.

Look for organic foods in your super market. Not only are they better for you, but the farms themselves grow their products  with the effect on the planet in mind. It is amazing what chemicals are allowed in these other countries that aren’t used here anymore. More and more stores are catering to people who are trying to live a greener and cleaner lifestyle. It’s sometimes a little more effort to try new things, but if we all do a few little things it will make a huge difference. Happy Holidays to All

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