Living Green

If you are looking for ways to reduce your impact on Planet Earth, this hub is here to help. The goal of Living Green is to give you tips and resources that will help you live a greener, more eco-friendly life.

Remember -- you don't have to do everything at once. Take it one step at a time, and soon you'll find that you're thinking green without even realizing it!

The Worldwatch Institute has created Good Stuff? A Behind-The-Scenes Guide to the Things We Buy, an excellent booklet about the environmental and social impacts of the products we buy and use. It's free, and you don't have to waste any paper to read it! Click here for the PDF file.

Going green is not only good for our planet, it can be great for our wallets. Use less electricity, lower your electric bill. Use less water, lower your water bill. Simple math!

A Consumer's Guide to Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, by the U.S. Department of Energy, is a good place to start if you want to learn more about ways to save energy and use renewable energy.

Since 2004, GreenHomeGuide has been helping consumers go green with tips, case studies, expert Q&A articles and regional directories of products and services for those who want to green their homes.

Just because products are widely available in the marketplace doesn't mean they are safe for you or good for the environment. Have you ever read the labels on the cleaning products you buy? Many of the ingredients are toxic, corrosive, flammable, and/or reactive, Who needs that?

Green cleaning means using products that don't endanger you, your family, and the environment. I find that green cleaning is also a good way to save money: you don't need to buy all those different chemical-laden products because a few basic items from the grocery store will take care of just about every cleaning job you have.

Get started now by downloading A Green Cleaning Guide for free. (It's a PDF file.)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has an excellent website about recycling - everything from everyday household waste to the most toxic of chemicals.

Earth911 has a nifty search tool to help you find recycling or reuse locations for electronic, automotive, household, and other items.

At the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) consumer website you can remove your name from mailing lists, so if you are receiving unwanted catalogs and other marketing materials, visit this site and click on "Remove My Name From Those Lists." This is one easy way to reduce the use of paper. Think of the energy that's saved as well - less printing, transporation, and so forth.

How food is grown, packaged, and transported has a huge impact on our environment. These resources will you learn more about the process and find shopping resources.

Through Local Harvest you can find locally grown produce, anywhere in the USA. Just enter your zip code or use the interactive maps to locate farmers markets, family farms, food coops, CSAs, farm stands, and pick-your-own produce in your neighborhood.

The Organic Consumers Association is the research and action center for the Organic, Buy local, and Fair trade movements. You'll find lots of great information here.

We all know that eating fish is healthy for us, but how do your choices affect the environment? The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California helps you choose ocean-friendly seafood wherever you live or travel in the USA. Download their pocket guide for your region so you'll know which seafood are the best choices and which you should avoid for environmental reasons.

The U.S. Department of Energy is a good place to start if you want to learn more about renewable energy. The DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) division's website offers a lot of renewable energy information, including the following:

• Geothermal Technologies Program works with U.S. industry to establish geothermal energy as an economically competitive contributor to the U.S. energy supply.
• Solar Energy Technologies Program focuses on developing cost-effective solar-energy technologies that have the greatest potential.
• Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program works to develop clean, domestic, innovative, and competitive wind energy technologies and to improve conventional hydropower systems and investigate emerging wate power technologies.
• Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program is working to accelerate the development and successful market introduction of these technologies.

EERE has many PDF documents for you to read, along with information designed for both consumers and businesses.

You can put your green principles to work!

Green jobs are becoming increasingly available in many sectors, both non-profit and for-profit. As our society becomes more aware of enivronmental issues and more committed to resolving them, the number of green jobs will continue to grow. These websites are excellent places to look for green job opportunities, and students will find a good number of internships.

Environmental Career Opportunities is a good place to start, with everything from internships to engineering to advocacy and education positions. You can also sign up for their newsletter - every two weeks you'll receive information about current environmental jobs.

Over at the Greener Careers section of GreenBiz.com you'll find environmental jobs with businesses, non-profits, and educational institutions. International positions as well as USA.

The EnvironmentalCareer site has quite a few resources in addition to job listings. While you're at the site, be sure to check out the Green Careers Journal, which was created to provide individuals, current professionals, students, university colleges, departments and career offices with a publication that contains current job listings and information, as well as articles and insight on the environmental careers world.

If you want a green career but want to be your own boss, take a look at the book I've highlighted above, 75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference.