New Year's Resolutions To Go Green

By Liz Kaadou

As the champagne bottles pop and the noisemakers blare away, the countdown begins 3...2...1...and before you know it yet another 365 days have passed in the blink of a glitter adorned eye and 2010 has arrived.  Decked out in party dresses and tuxedos, you all lift your glasses to toast a healthy and happy start to the new year.  But then your mind starts racing, "did I really accomplish everything I set out to do in 2009?" Chances are you didn't, because in all honestly we set so many gigantic goals and many times it is hard to accomplish them all when reality sets in after the holidays.  So this year, make a new year's resolution that you can actually live up to...one that will not only make a change in you, but one that will help change the world as well.  Sounds like a lofty goal? Not exactly, the goal is to go green. Vowing to be more environmentally friendly does not mean trading in your hefty SUV for a hybrid or installing solar panels in your house. These are big steps... and we are talking baby steps.  Here a few simple and easy steps to make a few new year's resolutions for 2010 that you will most definitely be able to keep! Cheers!

1) Say bye bye to plastic grocery/shopping bags- it is really that simple.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency somewhere between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags are used each year! This year, opt for the smart eco alternative- a reusable shopping bag like the Green Bee tote.  Click Here to buy one.

2) Buy a Brita or Pur water filter and just say no to plastic water bottles! Not only will this delightful device remove 99.9% of water contaminates, but by bottling your own filtered water, you will save money and help the environment by reducing plastic waste from discarded water bottles. Click Hereto take a gulp of green goodness and buy a Pur filter.

3) Here's a bright idea, switch out your regular light bulbs for some energy efficient ones like  the Verilux Global Cooling Bulbs.  These beneficial bulbs last 13 times longer than normal bulbs, which means fewer bulbs in landfills.  They also use less energy to produce light, so fewer greenhouse gases are released into our atmosphere. Click Here to buy some!   

4) Don't waste water! An easy way to be more green is use less water. Turn off the faucet when brushing your teeth, do laundry every other week and invest in a digital shower timer so you can monitor how long you have been in basking the bathtub. 

Check out RTM's Earth Tones section for more ways to go green!

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