More tips on becoming 'green'

I'm fortunate to live in the Bay Area, am walking distance to BART, AC transit lines, and a ferry that can take me to nearby Alameda or San Francisco. In fact, when I worked full-time, BART was my main mode of transportation, and it allowed me to get some serious shut-eye (even if it was brief) on my way to and from work. So it goes to follow that my next tip in becoming more 'green', is to drive less. 


Easier said than done right? Driving affords me the opportunity to take off in my car whenever I want and please,allows the ease of popping the car seat in and out of the car, storage space, and it puts my baby to sleep for a nap while he listens to Baby Einstein music (used to work for me, but not much nowadays). It's much harder relying on public transportation to be on time and efficient. Though it is worth the time to evaluate your options. As with the pros stated above, there are cons to driving. Such as, price of gas, parking (plus the steep price you pay for in urban cities), traffic,the increased wear on your car, there's a higher chance of being in an accident, and of course, the more cars on the road, the higher your carbon footprint is and you create more pollution. 



So how do I remedy this? I do a combination of the two. I drive less and use public transportation. It's better than always driving. In addition, my son has the chance to experience commuting in varied forms, I'm helping reduce my carbon footprint, and I'm not sitting in traffic. As a stay-at-home parent, it's easy to use the car as our "getaway" from the madness at home. You can still do that, by either taking the baby out for a long, leisure walk in the stroller, or grab a bus map, hop on a line and explore where it can take you. You may discover a cool, new park just blocks from a bus stop, or find a hole-in-the-wall eatery that you and your kids will enjoy. I researched a bit and discovered that some of my favorite baby-friendly shopping areas are minutes away from a BART stop. And the bonus to all this, is you get exercise.


If you must drive and insist on it, and can't afford to fork over money to buy a hybrid car, then designate two or three days during the week where you can run most of your errands. Structure meetings and appointments accordingly. In doing this, you'll use your time wisely, and become more efficient in handling your day-to-day tasks.  


On the heels of the above advice, buy less so you consume less. This is much harder to achieve since we are a nation of consumers. I'm still trying to abide by this tip and am continually improving my consumption habits. I don't want to be a wasteful consumer. I've purchased so many non-essentials in my life and realize the impact it has is more frustrating than productive. Naturally, I love to shop. But, with economic times being the way they are, and our environment suffering tremendously, I wanted to become more conscientious about how I spend my money and time. Do I really need that third diaper bag? Or will it just take up space in my small apartment (and I'd have to take time to rearrange stuff just so I have somewhere to store it--as if I live in a 25-hour cycle)? What value does it add to my life? Believe it or not, these are questions we should be asking ourselves anyway.



By buying only what we need and when we need it (be careful when evaluating 'when' you need things; if you notice you go through several rolls of toilet paper in a week, it might be more efficient and wise to purchase bulk when it's on sale), we'll be kinder to our pocketbooks, increase our organizational and time management skills, and reduce clutter. All in doing so to become more 'green'. 


For all those items you realize you may not need or want, sell it on Ebay or Craigslist. Other alternatives are to donate them or use Freecycle.