What really strikes me is that the US national average greenhouse gas emissions are 27 tons per person and the worlds average is 5.5 tons for a 1-person household. Holy cow! I understand most Americans live dramatically different than the rest of the world but maybe we can begin to understand some basic principles in how to reduce our own carbon footprint. The world has a fixed amount of natural resources and as our population grows we strain these finite resources so we need to preserve what we have so that our children and grandchildren can enjoy the same standard of living we have enjoyed.

A great place to begin is to find out what you or your family’s carbon footprint is. The Nature Conservancy has a great Carbon calculator that is easy to use. Once you have an idea, you can get busy doing some easy things to help our climate.

* The first thing you can do is to turn it off, if your not using it! Lights, TV, DVD players, computers, etc…

* You can save around 10% a year on your heating and cooling bills by simply turning your thermostat back 10°–15° for eight hours. You can do this automatically without sacrificing comfort by installing an automatic setback or programmable thermostat.

* Turn down the water heating setting. Just 2 degrees will make a significant savings!

* Fill your dishwasher and washing machine with a full load – this will save you water, electricity, and washing detergent.

* Hang your wash on a line instead of tumble-drying it. You can do this indoors or outdoors. I have a wooden clothing rack that I dry all my shirts and jeans on indoors. Drying clothes costs around $0.50/load of laundry done in an electric dryer or around $0.45/load of laundry to dry in a gas clothes dryer. The gas dryer costs around $0.04/load for electricity and $0.41/load for the gas. The average family will do around 6 loads of laundry a week, which is 312 loads of laundry a year! So if you are using an electric clothes dryer you will spend around $156/year just from drying your clothes. If you are using a gas clothes dryer, you will spend around $140.40/year to dry your clothes! (gogreeninyourhome.com)

* Travel less. This is a joke in Los Angeles because most of us have no choice but to drive on our freeways, however, if you are mindful of this idea there will be opportunities to make a carbon footprint friendly choice from time to time! Carpool, use the bus, or train, walk or cycle, and reduce the number of flights you take.

As well as your primary footprint, there is a secondary footprint that you cause through your buying habits. This is where my family and I started when we wanted to take being green seriously. It has been a slow and evolving commitment but we do not even think about these things because they are a part of our everyday living. We just do it!

* Don’t buy bottled water!!! Purchasing a reusable bottle is easier than ever. Tap water is safe!!!! Save yourself a lot of money and buy a water filter and fill up your own reusable bottle. This is a no brainier! More plastic bottle facts found here.

* Use reusable bags when at the store. There is a bag for every personality type out there. It depends on when and what I am shopping for but I always have two Flip & Tumble bags in my purse for those last minute occasions when I have to run to the store. They are the best!! Keep reusable bags in your house and in the trunk of every car so you have one no matter what. For more sobering plastic bag facts, go here.

*Buy local!!!! Folks, we all can find a farmers market close to our homes now. I know not every community has one but most do now a days. It is so much better. I love going to markets and knowing who grows my food. I love talking to the families who take great pride in traditional farming methods unlike most of the conventional farming that is ruining or food supply. Please take the time to learn more about commercial farming and the horrible conditions that take place. More resources found here.

* Buy organic when you can. I know this is not possible for everyone but if you can, please do. Pesticides are not helping our bodies.

* Reduce your consumption of meat. I am a meat eater. I grew up on a farm and what can I say…I love meat. The commitment I made is to only eat red meat once a week. That works for me. Maybe you can start meatless Mondays. Cows, pigs and other livestock are a big part of the climate change problem; estimates vary, but between 18 and 51 percent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming come from livestock production. As bad as the air pollution is, the effects of animal feces on water may be even more immediate and troubling.

* Don’t buy over packaged products.

* Recycle as much as possible. The city of Los Angeles collects all plastics 1-7, cardboard, magazines, paper and all clean dry paper, glass bottles, jars, aluminum, tin, metal, bi-metal and styrofoam. We are lucky, most communities only collect plastic and glass. Call you local government to find out what you can recycle.

This all comes down to being mindful of your actions and how you move through your life. If we continue to walk around with our eyes closed to our responsibilities we will wake up one day and ask, “What the hell has happened to our beautiful country?” Start with one thing. Get it down. This takes time when you’re converting an entire family. They will rebel sometimes. When you accomplish that first goal, pat yourself on the back, and pick your number two goal. Just start! This is what will make a change. All of us making these changes together make a difference!!!

Basically Spencer is reinventing the cardboard box. He is changing the way people pack and move with his invention called The Recopack. It stands for Recycled Ecological Packing and it’s a replacement for using new or used cardboard boxes when you pack and move anything. It’s available in 3 sizes and delivered direct to your door on a fleet of super green eco-trucks powered by waste vegetable oil and bio-fuel.

Not only has he designed and manufactured the Recopak but he’s also designed many other products made from our trash. I get so excited when I look at what he has accomplished. 100 Recopak boxes use up 500LBs of our trash. They are designed to last up to 400 round trip applications and when the Recopacks wear out he grinds the boxes up and makes another Recopak. Brilliant!!

Another group of items in his list of designs are the Recocubes, Recopaper and Gemini Paper. The Recocubes are made from 100% recycled newspaper sludge. It’s a replacement for petroleum based styrofoam packing peanuts or corn based biodegradable packing materials. This sludge is usually dumped into the landfill but Spencer collects this end life cycle resource and adds sugars, starches and B-12 then compresses it into cubes and compostable packing sheets. The list does not stop here. Another great product is his Poo Poo Pallet. Yes you heard me! Each poopy pallet uses 700 recycled baby diapers. Wow, let’s hope they left the stink at the landfill!

I encourage you to visit Spencer’s site to check out his additional products made from our trash. What a genius!

Rentagreenbox.com is currently servicing every city in Orange County, Los Angeles County and select areas of the Inland Empire and San Diego County. If you do not see your area they are expanding as fast as they can. They are expanding nationwide so partnership opportunities exist!!!

Did you know that up to one hundred million cell phones are replaced each year? As crazy as it sounds some owners aren’t aware that the electronics contain metals and other materials that can be hazardous to the environment and chuck them in their garbage cans, which then go to the landfill. Yikes!!!! FYI, cell phone circuitry and displays contain toxic compounds like cadmium, beryllium, arsenic, copper and lead.

Because manufacturers use so many different types of plastic in electronic equipment it’s the most challenging to recycle. It is also difficult and costly to sort all the different types of plastics used in cell phones. So my suggestion today is to donate your used cell phones!!! I am a drop off point for Cell for Soldiers. If you are not in the Los Angeles area remember that many charities will collect cell phones for fundraising or give them directly to people who need them. So do something easy, drop your phone off at a collection point or send it in to a participating site. Most will even send you a prepaid shipping label to speed along the process.

If you are a local customer of All Green Things, bring me your used cell phones!!!! Cell Phones for Soldiers is a great organization and they expect to collect 50,000 cell phones each month through a network of more than 3,000 collection sites across the country. The phones are sent to ReCellular, which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone – enough to provide an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad. Let’s show some love for our soldiers and our environment!!

It is unlawful in some states to not recycle your cellular phones and cell phone accessories. There is a growing movement to protect the environment and lawmakers all over the world are taking note.