The wind blows hard among the pines
Toward the beginning
Of an endless past.
Listen: you've heard everything.
~~Shinkichi Takahashi
Consider vegetarianism. If you only cut down on your meat consumption, you will still save hundreds of lives a year, as well as quite a bit of money. There is the health reason, the environment reason, the financial reason, the political reason...I can't see one reason *not* to eat less or NO meat. Not only are these animals giving up their lives for your dining pleasure, but their lives are often spent in pain and slavery. For example, pigs breed for food stock develop foot and back diseases that leave them in constant misery because they cannot support the unnatural weight they are bred to carry. Besides, cattle farming is the number one reason the rainforests are being slashed down. If there was less demand for beef, fewer trees would die, and that would help everyone in very tangible ways. See the Vegetarianism section on the Social page for places to go for more information.Choose cruelty-free cosmetics. Most of the chemicals used in cosmetics today have been tested and re-tested hundreds of times in identical formulations. We know they're safe. Why kill more and more animals every year? Most testing is unnatural in the first place. I don't know anyone who eats their eyeshadow, yet it has been revealed that one company force fed their animals over a pound of eyeshadow to see if it was safe. Why is this necessary? It isn't necessary.Volunteer even 2 hours a week with the organization of your choice. Let your voice be heard by your actions. Many public service agencies have more money than help, if that tells you anything. If you can't physically help someone out, consider setting aside a certain amount of your paycheck every month to be donated. Even a poor college student could afford, say, $5/month. That's a little to you, but it adds up. $5 is enough money for the United Way to send one of their vans to take a handicapped or elderly person grocery shopping, giving that person a much better quality of life, all because of you.Use a phosphate-free detergent. Phosphates are added to detergents to soften water, but they also cause "algae bloom" in lakes and streams once they've been flushed into the sewers. As algaes die, the bacteria that cause the decay use up the oxygen in the water. The upshot of this is that waterways can die, including all life within.Aerate your water. Those of you who pay for your water are particularly with me on this one. A faucet aerator adds air to the water stream as it comes out of the tap, reducing water usage by 50%. For a typical family of four, this saves over 3300 *gallons* a year. Installation is easy and quick, and the hardware itself is widely available and inexpensive (about $5). You can do this on any showerhead or faucet. A correlary to this is to put a plastic bottle in your toilet tank. The toilet will still work just as well, but will save you 1-2 gallons of water per flush, depending upon the size of the bottle you use. Try it; you'll see.Be careful at the gaspumps. If your state requires vapor catchers (little plastic hoods on the nozzle), don't pull them back. The vapors that these things prevent are poisonous and deplete the ozone layer, a typical double punch of dangerous chemicals. Also, don't pull the nozzle back and "top off" the tank when you fill it up. Any amount of gas that you add after the nozzle clicks itself off will be over the fill line; as the gas is heated inside your car, it will expand and push that extra bit of gas out as poisonous gasoline vapor. Therefore, you don't get that extra amount anyway, and it just hurts the air you have to breathe.Plant a tree. A tree uses several thousand tons of CO2 a year. Clusters of trees in urban areas can reduce ambient air temperature by up to 10 degrees, reducing energy consumption in those areas by 10% to 50% (for air conditioning). The energy saved by the presence of the trees and the CO2 absorbed by the trees makes planting successful on two fronts. This is an act that provides benefits for years to come, even after you personally are gone.Let your voice be heard. Come on, it really doesn't take *that* long to write a letter to a Representative or Senator. Besides, there are places all over the web at the homepages of various conservation groups where you can send an email--all you have to do is fill in your name and address, and click "send." What could be faster? Many Congressmen truly want to know how their constituency feels; don't let them only hear the voices that disagree with you. Remember to write if your politicians have done a good job, too. Reinforce good behaviour. It's best to write about one topic at a time, double check the proper number or name of any bill you are writing about, and make sure you have the person's name spelled correctly. Reduce your hazardous wastes. Not only nuclear plants and hospitals have hazardous wastes, you know. Paints, paint thinners, mothballs, oven or drain cleaners, and many other household things are extremely toxic. Never throw such substances away. They will find their way into groundwater that *you* will then have to drink. Many of these chemicals are *not* treated for at water processing plants before they find their way back to your tap. Most cities now have recycling programs that will pick up hazardous wastes and properly dispose of them for you. If not, call your local wastewater treatment plant (in the yellow or white pages) for instructions. It will only take a minute.Xeriscape. For those gardeners out there, don't plant things that you know will take lots of water or fertilizer. There are plants even here in the Deep South that are native to the area and will thrive and bloom beautifully without having to waste water or poison the earth with chemicals. Try wildflowers or antique plants native to your area. Local horticulture societies, nurseries, or universities have all of the information you might need. Try installing drip irrigation, a much more effective and lower cost alternative to sprinklers. Use organic soil that your plants can use more efficiently; this usually makes them healthier and more resistant to things that would usually call for chemicals.
If you have pests you need disposed of, native plants often have natural defenses and won't succumb to bugs. If you are being invaded, however, try good bugs, like ladybugs or praying mantises. They will do a better job than many commercial chemical bug sprays, especially against aphids. Also, many native species are endangered now, and would love to have the chance to thrive protected in your backyard. Native plants are also more likely to attract friends like radient butterflies and birds, even to balcony or patio gardens. Have old clothes that are still good but don't fit you anymore? Blankets you never use and you have no emotional attachment for? How about utensils or appliances that you never use? Magazines you haven't gotten around to reading in the six months they've been lying around? Besides simplifying your life and giving you fewer things to clean around, these items could be desperately needed by people in your own city. Check out homeless shelters, battered women's shelters, even children's homes to see what you have to do to donate things to them you would not even miss.