by T J Neale

Created on: March 01, 2008

Going green need not entail huge sacrifices. It is easy to find lots of small changes you can make to add a green tinge to your lifestyle. Here are 10 simple and painless changes to get you on your way.

1) Replace your light bulbs with energy efficient ones

These use up to 80 percent of the electricity of normal light bulbs and now come in all shapes and sizes. They are often a little dimmer when first switched on, but this passes after a few minutes. They last longer than conventional light-bulbs as well. Available just about everywhere, some environmental organizations give them away free.

2) Modernize your heating controls and turn down the thermostat
In winter, do you really need to walk anywhere in the house in shorts and T-shirt. Turning your thermostat down a few degrees can make a lot of difference to your fuel bills and your carbon footprint.

Make sure each radiator in a room has a separate thermostatic control valve; this stops some rooms overheating, whilst others are chilled.

3) Switch off at the wall
The average household has up to 12 gadgets left on standby or charging at any one time. Save money and the Earth by always switching off and unplugging. It is also safer, especially with TV's and monitors.

4) Recycle
Recycle glass, cans and paper. If your local authority does not have a recycle stations then campaign for ones to be set up. Once a whole community is recycling, economies of scale kick in and you will be saving on your taxes twice once from profits from recycling, once from not paying for landfill.

Do not things away if someone else might have a use for them. Take them to the local charity shop, or sell them on ebay. If it still works, it is not rubbish.

Similarly, have you browsed your local charity shop for books and DVD's?

5) Be water aware
Water resources are under pressure nearly everywhere on the planet. A few simple ways to reduce you consumption of water
* Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth
* Shower, not bath
* Collect rainwater in a butt for watering the garden
* Fix leaky taps
* Wash only full loads of laundry

6) Reduce your car usage
This maybe not so simple for some, but it is a fact that there are ways of traveling other than by automobile. Exercise is good for you so try cycling or walking for a change. Join a car pool at work, saves money and maybe add a few years to your life.

7) Dump the plastic bags
Do you really need all those disposable bags from the supermarket? See http://www.reusablebags.com/

8) Support local farmers
Make long supply chains, and associated fuel costs obsolete by shopping locally for locally produced products.

If you are in the UK you can try one of the many farmers' markets. http://www.farmersmarkets.net/ for a wide range of freshly produced local products. It may be my imagination, but I swear it tastes better as well.

9) Compost
Recycle food scraps and garden waste to make compost for your own our your friends garden. (Nothing quite shows friendship that the gift of partially decomposed leftovers)

Loads of web sites to give you tips on this, here is a place to start http://www.compostguide.com/

10) Give eco-friendly gifts and a big hint to your friends and family
Many environmental organizations offer eco-friendly goods that can be sent as gifts. Oxfam allows you to send the gift of a goat, 100 school dinners or tools for farming on behalf of someone else. See http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/.

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