How can help the environment

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But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. Necessary Necessary. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Help the environment by greening your at-home routine Power your home with clean energy. Pollution-free electricity plans , using wind and solar power , ensure your household is helping the environment every day of the year.

Practice the three Rs for the environment: reduce , recycle and reuse to eliminate the amount of waste in your home. Neutralize your carbon footprint by purchasing carbon offsets. Use a programmable thermostat to save on energy costs. Upgrade the lighting around your house to smart LEDs to conserve energy. Wash clothes in cold water to reduce water-heating costs. Use water-conservation techniques in your kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms. Decrease the amount of trash your household accumulates.

Teach the family how to cut down on food waste. Save on heating and cooling costs by properly sealing and insulating your home. Be eco-friendly on the go Use your bike or public transportation whenever possible. Remember your reusable shopping bags. Reuse sturdy takeout containers as Tupperware at home. Make a to-do list to keep you on track and efficient with your stops when running errands.

Do helpful things for the environment while at the office Reusable lunch containers BPA, PVC and lead free are perfect for your midday meal. Same goes for water bottles and coffee mugs. Single-serve containers are a no-no. Use computer bags and tablet totes made from recycled materials. Recycled paper is a must, along with chlorine-free processed paper.

Want to know how much you waste? Start logging a weekly record of every moldy banana and half-eaten box of cereal you toss in the trash. Over time, you can start to see patterns, and tweak your shopping habits accordingly. Some apps warn when that leftover cantaloupe or jar of tomato sauce on the middle shelf is about to turn. Lots of people in need would really appreciate the bag of bagels you were just about to discard. Find a local food bank and ask what kinds of food donations they accept.

A bunch of techniques can help extend the shelf life of everything in the kitchen. Who wants to eat the same lasagna 5 nights straight? Instead, breathe new life into those old meals. Roast turkey easily transforms into next-day turkey sandwiches, chili, or tetrazzini. Or, freeze leftovers and eat them down the road. Soups and stews can stay on ice for up to 6 months, and leftover meat and poultry can keep them company in the freezer for just as long.

Cold food storage chart. Composting means recycling nutrients back into the ecosystem, which keeps food out of landfills and waterways while making the garden greener.

Some communities have local composting programs. Or, start your own compost indoors. Worms are optional; we promise. Order an appetizer instead of an entree and save the planet, plus some calories in the process. Buffets are notorious traps for anyone whose eyes are bigger than their stomach. It can be tempting to load up on everything from soup to chocolate layer cake, even though eating that giant pile of food would be like climbing an edible Mount Everest.

Avoid temptation by starting with a smaller plate. Disposable plates, plastic forks, and ketchup packets are small, but they add up. Food packaging and containers create 39 million tons of waste annually — nearly one quarter of solid waste produced in the United States. A whole lot of those containers end up in landfills, where they release more methane into the air. The good news is that many companies are becoming more aware of how much food packaging they use and taking steps to reduce it edible wrappers, anyone?

Individuals can pitch in, too. As just one example, coffee behemoth Starbucks blows through 8, paper cups a minute, which adds up to more than 4 billion cups a year and one major buzz!

Starbucks and our plastic pollution problem. Starbucks and some other coffee retailers will give you a discount if you BYO mug. Consider purchasing non-perishable foods think pasta, cereal, and nuts in large quantities.

One big bag of rice or pasta uses less plastic than five smaller ones. Cooks, beware: Using a new disposable aluminum tin every time you bake a cake or roast a chicken creates a distasteful amount of waste. Instead, consider investing in some metal and ceramic baking pans that you can re-use. Eliminate an easy-to-overlook source of food packaging waste by buying loose tea instead of individual tea bags and making a one-time investment in a tea infuser. Beyond its eco-friendliness, loose tea is fresher and better for you.

Tea bags stored for too long lose their nutrients. Buying fruits and veggies is a smart move for your health. Wrapping each red pepper and head of broccoli in its own plastic bag?

Eh, not so much. Experts estimate it may take as long as 1, years for the average plastic bag to break down. When turtles and other sea critters get their fins on these bags, they sometimes mistake them for food, with fatal results. Buy fruit and veggies loose or use a disposable bag from home. If you do choose packaged products, check the label to see if the packaging was made from recycled materials. It may be tempting to toss every juice bottle and peanut butter jar, but you can easily repurpose plastic and glass.

Think of them as free containers to plant seeds in, store the rice, nuts, and other bulk goods you stocked up on, or to hoard all the extra pennies you saved by recycling. But these items can easily be reused with a little creativity. Use your own silverware. Also ask the restaurant to skip the napkins, utensils, or condiments with your order.

Every stage of the food production process, from packaging to shipping, uses energy. And certain foods leave a bigger carbon footprint than others. Check out these tips for eating in a more environmentally friendly way. More and more Americans have taken eating into their own hands by growing their own food.

An estimated 1 in 3 U. The practice has a number of benefits: For one thing, it saves on the other kind of green. And people who grow their food without pesticides and herbicides spare the planet from at least some air and water pollution.

While cultivating a backyard garden might be ideal, even apartment dwellers can grow herbs on a windowsill or tomatoes in an indoor planter. Cattle use up the most land and produce more greenhouse gases than other animals raised for food. Producing 2 pounds the equivalent of 4 jumbo-sized fast-food burgers of beef releases pounds of greenhouse gasses. The same amount of peas? Just 2 pounds of greenhouse gasses. Ritchie H. You want to reduce the carbon footprint of your food?

Focus on what you eat, not whether your food is local. Get in on the farming lifestyle, no overalls or tractors required!

Community supported agriculture brings farm-fresh ingredients directly to consumers. Participants sign up for a share. Every week, they pick up a box filled with local, seasonal food from nearby farms.