EAST COAST GRAPHICS

A step-by-step plan to lead a more eco-friendly life and save yourself a little money.

Reduce Water Temperature. Cooling your water heater from 140°F to 120°F will not only prevent burns, but will save up to 10% of your home’s energy usage.

Buy Local. Shopping at a local farmers market or buying local in your grocery store doesn’t just support your area’s agriculture, it cuts down or out the CO2 emissions that result from the thousands of miles food normally travels to get to your table.

Stop Idling. Idling your car for more than 30 seconds gets 0 miles to the gallon. If Americans reduced their idling by 2 minutes, it would save our country 400 million gallons of gasoline per year.

Recycle. Sorting and recycling your trash works! If every American recycled just their Sunday paper each week, it would save 500,000+ trees every week and create more recyclable fibers for the paper industry.

Change Your Bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs produce the same amount of light as standard incandescent bulbs but consume 1/3 of the energy. They also last 10 times longer. Switching just 5 bulbs in your home or office can save almost 500 pounds of CO2 and $40 per year in energy costs.

Adjust Your Thermostat. Turning your thermostat down 2° in the winter and up 2° in the summer not only saves energy, but can reduce your heating bill by 3% each day.

Reuse Your Bags. The US consumes approximately 100 billion plastic bags each year. Using a canvas bag for your market shopping will save almost 1000 bags per year.

Take Better Showers. Showers account for 32% of a home’s water usage. Keeping your showers to 10 minutes and installing a low-flow showerhead can save a family of 4 up to 20,000 gallons of water each year.

Pump Your Tires. 25% of all cars on the road have under-inflated tires. If all drivers checked their air pressure it could save over 800 million gallons of gasoline.

Sign up for Green Energy. Over 50% of electricity consumers now have the option to purchase green power. Visit www.doe.org to check your state’s availability.

Slow Down. Speeding decreases a car’s fuel economy by as much as 7%. If 1/3 of all drivers decreased their speed by 5 mph it would save 2.5 billion gallons of gas.

Visit the Car Wash. If you wash your car, use a professional car wash. Car washes use an average of 32 gallons of water per vehicle, whereas cleaning your car in the driveway uses 10 times that amount.

Don’t Wash the Dishes. Loading the dishwasher will save as much as 20 gallons per full load than hand washing or presoaking. And, your dishes will be just as clean.

Repair Leaks. Check your house for leaky faucets and running toilets. Fixing leaks can save up to 2,700 gallons of water per year.

Use Cold Water. Washing clothes in cold water saves approximately 85% percent of the energy used to machine-wash clothes and gets them just as clean.

Buy a Water Filter. Manufacturing 17, 1.5 liter bottles for water releases 40g of hydrocarbons, 25g of carbon minoxide, 20g of nitrogen oxides and 2.3 kg of carbon dioxide into the air. Plus, bottled water consumes exorbitant energy costs in the transportation of the materials to the manufacturer and then to the market.

Know Your Waste. Nearly 4500 tons of mercury is released into the atmosphere each year. Reduce this toxic emission by donating cell phones, computers and other electronics instead of throwing them in the trash.

Reduce Your Carbon Footprint. Carbon and lifestyle calculators like the one at www.earthlab.com show you how big of a footprint you’re leaving and what you can do to reduce it.

Carpool. Carpooling not only saves gas and money, but reduces almost 10% of your monthly carbon emissions.

Computer screens, cell phones and microwave ovens contain all sorts of toxic elements, so it’s best not to put them in a hole in the ground when they’re no longer of use. But, the reality is most of these items are carted away and put in landfills. In fact, an estimated 70% of toxic landfill waste is a direct result of technology. NBC Universal used Earth Week (April 21-25) to spur homeowners to recycle these items.

Its “Green is Universal” campaign kicked off on the Today Show on April 21. HP, Staples, the Environmental Media Association and Electronic Recyclers International (ERI) partnered for the event. Part of the push involved placing recycling bins where consumers could place old electronics. In the New York area, consumers were invited to also bring their old equipment to participating Staples stores. HP offered $50 off its more energy-efficient printers and $150 off select computers in exchange for old models.

At Rockefeller Center, New York School of Visual Arts students were invited to create a giant mosaic using the donated products. ERI handed out “Green is Universal” T-shirts at the event. The brand typically provides eco-friendly shirts that say “Green is Good,” but it altered its tagline in honor of the event. ERI owns 1-800-Recycling (a service people can call for free to find out how to properly dispose of their electronics and other items).

“With us, it’s all about being in touch with our green DNA and spreading the word in as many positive far-reaching ways as possible,” said John S. Shegerian, ERI’s Chairman and CEO. “So whether we are appearing at a local high school or on the Today Show, we make it a point to come armed with meaningful takeaways that inspire, empower and motivate people to think about the green messages we shared.”

In addition to shirts, ERI hands out logoed tins of chocolate-covered raisins that were grown on organic farms. Its business cards are even printed on recycled paper using soy ink. Shegerian said, “Everything we share is part of our message.”

Will global warming cause huge disasters in the near future? Are we to blame? Scientists have determined that a number of human activities are contributing to global warming by adding excessive amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Driving cars and planes, using electricity from coal-fired power plants, or heating our homes with oil or natural gas, we release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

Global warming is getting worse causing some plants and animals to become extinct. The number of storms and floods are increasing and the sea levels are continuing to rise which may cause people to move away from the coasts. Some areas are becoming too dry for farming as well. There have been impacts on human health as mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects and rodents are increasingly spreading diseases over larger geographical regions. The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1990. Mountain glaciers are fading on every continent and the sea ice is melting.

It’s already too late to stop global warming completely, but you can help minimize it by using less energy. You can do simple things like turn off the lights when you leave a room, turn of the computer or TV when you’re not using it, take shorter showers, dress warmly when it’s cold, instead of turning up the heat etc.

Our environment should always be taken into consideration in both our personal and professional lives. Something that is constantly overlooked by businesses is the materials they use for printing. The paper and ink they’re using might be hurting the environment. Using post-consumer waste paper (PCW) is so much more environmentally friendly – it uses only recycled products in production. This prevents the unnecessary destruction of virgin tree fiber and helps preserve forestland and biodiversity. In the United States, currently 90% of our paper comes from virgin tree fiber, meaning that 90% of our paper is destroyed forest. Using PCW paper can help decrease the number of trees being cut down. The paper that most people are using is bleached with chlorine or chlorine derivatives. These chemicals can cause toxins and pollutants in several conditions. You should try to use paper that is Process Chlorine Free.

The ink you use can also be hurting the environment. Petroleum-based ink has VOCs, harmful toxins that can cause cancer and birth defects. VOCs are released when the ink dries on printed paper can even filter into the soil when printed paper is disposed of in a landfill. A healthier choice would be to use soy ink. It contains much less VOCs than petroleum-based inks and many people are already using it for magazines and other companies. Using eco-friendly printing is good for the environment and good for business. Customers will take preference in your business when they know you are putting an effort into helping the environment.

Our human drive to invent and build has led to extraordinary advances and great technological promise. It’s also had grave, unintended consequences. You can take action today to help reduce global warming by making environmental friendly choices in your daily and professional lives.

There is no such thing as a bad time to go green. Our environment should always be taken into consideration both in our personal and professional lives. Where there’s an opportunity to do something differently and thereby help prevent damage to Mother Nature, we should look into it and probably do it.

One thing that is easily overlooked, especially in business, is what materials we use for printing. While the printing of brochures and pamphlets and other miscellaneous reports might help inform both your colleagues and the public alike, the paper and ink you’re using might be hurting the environment. In fact, the production and use of paper is one of the largest contributors to air pollution and the consumption of fossil fuels. So looking into more eco-friendly printing isn’t all that bad of an idea.

Post-consumer waste paper (PCW) is an environmentally healthy and morally aware way to purchase and use paper without nearly as many wasteful setbacks. PCW paper uses only recycled product in production. This prevents the unnecessary destruction of virgin tree fiber and helps preserve forestland and biodiversity. In the United States, currently 90% of our paper comes from virgin tree fiber, meaning that 90% of our paper is destroyed forest. Using PCW paper can help cut that number down.  Much of the paper we use is bleached with chlorine or chlorine derivatives. These chemicals can cause toxins and pollutants under certain circumstances. So also look to try and use paper that is Process Chlorine Free (PCF).

But of course, paper is not the only instrument implemented in printing. There is also the ink. Petroleum-based ink contains VOCs, harmful toxins that can cause cancer and birth defects. VOCs are emitted when the ink dries on printed paper and can even leach into soil when printed paper is disposed of in a landfill. A better alternative is soy ink. It has a significantly less amount of VOCs and is already a regularly used product by magazines and companies alike.

Using eco-friendly printing is not only good for the environment – It’s good for business as well. Customers are more likely to take interest in your business when they know about your efforts put forth in helping the environment. You’ll attract attention from like-minded businesses. By using eco-friendly printing, you help contribute to a change for the better. Your actions will influence fellow businesses and customers alike to make greener improvements to their living.

Eco-friendly printing is the wave of the future. Having your company become one of the first to make use of it will benefit both your business and the environment. Go green!