05 Dec The “Little Things” Do Matter

According to Wikipedia, the United States is the No.1 on their list of the largest consumer markets of the world in 2009.  The more we want the more of a demand for consumer products to be produced.  Now consider the way all this comes into existence—it’s manufactured.  What is the carbon footprint left behind by manufactures? The manufacturing industry alone takes up one-third of the energy and 13% of the water supply in the U.S. before the products reaches stores.

Little adjustments in the way we buy things can make a big difference.  Take the following as examples:

• Toilet paper.  Make the switch to 100% recycled content.  The affect?  Huge actually.  If every household replaced just a single 12 roll pack of regular toilet paper with 100% recycled content, it would save almost five million trees and enough paper waste to fill 17,000 garbage trucks.
•  Paper Towels.  Again, make the switch to 100% recycled content.Making recycled paper produced from waste paper rather than making new paper from virgin wood pulp, saves trees, uses 30-70% less energy, 50% less water, reduces air pollution related to making that paper by 95% and water pollution by 35%, reduces acid rain, reduces garbage overload thus saving landfill space, and creates 5 times as many jobs.   In addition, choose paper towel rolls with smaller size sheets in order to extend the life of each roll. 
•  Have a greener cup of Joe.  Purchase organic, Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance certified coffee or Bird Friendly (check out more information on what Bird Friendly means at http://nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/MigratoryBirds/Coffee/faq.cfm).  You would do your part in supporting coffee farms that practice sustainable agriculture to preserve or restore rain forest ecosystems.  With just one household alone purchasing certified coffee for a year is enough to protect 9,200 square feet of rain forest!
•  Soy.  Consider buying soy food products.  Growing soybeans doesn’t require nearly the amount of water that is needed to raise animals.  If only 20% of households in the U.S. and Canada substituted four ounces of beef for four ounces of soy per week, the annual water savings would be enough to provide 10 gallons of drinking water to every person in the world!  Visit Soy Connection website for more information on the benefits of soy http://www.soyconnection.com/
• Implement a Meatless Monday meal for your pets too.  It takes less energy to manufacture vegetarian pet food because of the processing involved.  If every dog in the U.S. ate vegetarian even for just one day per month, the energy saving per year would be the equivalent of 190 million gallons of gasoline!

So always look for ways to reduce your consumption and waste. The “little things” really do matter and can make a big impact on our beautiful home.