 
Environment
- Exchaning CDs, DVDs, books and magazines keep landfills less full and they stretch your entertainment dollar. Check out <a href="http://www.swapcd.com">swapcd.com</a>, <a href="http://www.swapdvd.com">swapdvd.com</a> or start up a swapping library at the office.
- Ask your stylist about eco-friendly hair coloring. Most hair dyes are made from synthetic and petroleum-based products that are harsh on hair and, when rinsed, makes its way into the groundwater, polluting wildlife. Many salons offer plant-based dyes.
- Many retailers provide in-store drop-off bins for recycling cell phones, while items such as clothing, toys and computers are great for local shelters and resuce missions. By donating we not only relieve some pressure on landfills, but we also give back to our community.
- Paying bills online not only saves trees, it helps reduce green house gas emissions by lessening the load on trucks and planes delivering paper checks. If every household paid it's bills online, it would cut waste by 1.6 billion tons a year and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2.1 million tons per year.
- Try a battery recharger. Americans buy roughly 3 billion dry cell batteries a year, the majority for one time use. Using a rechargeable battery can prevent thousands of single use batteries from entering landfills.
- It might be tempting to flush unused medications down the toilet, but a lot of prescription meds have high concentrations of metal and other substances that are harmful to the environment and wildlife.
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife has expressed concerns that medications flushed are entering lakes and streams and causing deformities in fish and waterfowl. Luckily, unused or expired meds can be taken to the pharmacy where you purchased them to be disposed of properly.
- When buying pots for your patio get the real terra cotta kind. Plastic pots are filled with "pvc", a toxin that has been linked to health problems. Terra cotta pots are from a natural material that can be recycled.
- Watering plants first thing in the morning or late at night helps save water. That's because soil retains moisture better when temperatures are cooler so we actually use less water.
- It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to make bottled water in the U.S. each year, that's enough for 250,000 homes! Save some from ending up in a landfill by choosing a reuseable stainless steel water bottle, it will end up saving you money too!
- Get your lawn and garden ready with organic fertilizer. Chemical fertilizers can burn the earth and leak into the water supply. Natural fertilizers retain soil moisture and release nutrients at a slower pace with less waste.
- Ask what plants are drought-tolerant. Landscaping with those plants will cut back on the amount of water used in the garden this summer and cut down your water bill too.
- Set up a compost bin and turn your kitchen scraps into natural fertilizer and mulch for a great garden this year. The homemade compost reduces the amount of petroleum-based fertilizers going into the ground.
- With the average American using 700 pounds of paper a year, cutting back on the number of documents you print can save energy. When you do print, use recycled paper, which takes about 50 percent less energy to make.
- Tissues help destroy acres of ecological forests, next time you have the sniffles stash a hankie or two over disposable tissues.
- Christmas trees can be ground into woodchips for mulch, no wood chipper handy? Go to Earth 911 and enter your zip code to find out where to have your tree recycled.
- According to the E.P.A. there are up to 130 milliion unused cell phones in the U.S. recycling them would save enough energy to power nearly 200,000 households for one year.
- When gas caps are too loose, fuel evaporates, in the U.S. about 147 million gallons of gas evaporate every year from cars with gas caps that are too loose, broken or missing.
- Lessen the yuletide carbon emission by sending gifts by ground service and try to skip on the styrofoam peanuts for packing. Instead, use edible peanuts, air-popped popcorn or even peppermint candies.
- According to The Pay it Green Alliance, if 1 in 5 households makes the switch to online bill paying, the impact would save 151 million pounds of paper and avoid producing nearly 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year!
- Besides buying recycled wrapping paper there are other earth-friendly ways to wrap gifts. Try a reuseable fabric bag for oversized presents. Brown grocery bags look great with some natural rafia ribbon on them or even try wrapping a gift with newspaper or some magazine photos.
- Ever notice that haze created by cars waiting at schools, malls and train stations? That's carbon dioxide and we can reduce it...ask for a sign to be posted that requires people to turn off their vehicles when they are waiting. You'll create an idle-free zone and a cleaner earth too.
- Eat fruits and vegetables in season...it saves enormous transportation costs and the energy needed to transport them.
- Avoid products with a lot of packaging: You can save 1200 lbs of CO2 if you cut down your garbage by 10%.
- When we brush our teeth, simply turning off the tap water can save as much as ten gallons a day. For a family of four, that's over 14,000 gallons of water a year!
- Turning off electronics...by simply turning off our TV, DVD, stereo and computer when we're done with them saves energy – thousands of pounds of C-O-2 a year!
- Drive less: Walk, bike, car-pool, or take mass-transit more often. You'll save 1 lb of carbon dioxide for every mile you don't drive!
- Pump up the tires...by keeping our tires properly inflated we improve gas mileage by 3% and every gallon of gas saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of our atmosphere.
- According to the National Arbor Day Foundation, the net cooling effect of one healthy tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.
- E-vite Your Guests: Emailing invitations saves paper (and money), especially if you have a long guest list. If a printed invitation is an absolute must for your event, use postconsumer recycled paper -- easily available in stores and online -- and give a phone number for RSVPs instead of reply cards.
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