This Old Hippie.com

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In the middle of 2008 Yonkers put together its Green Policy Task Force. This task force was put together to help make Yonkers cleaner and healthier. The task force has the power to pass city policy and legislation. When the task force was put together they worked with the Code Protections team and Code Enforcement teams as well as the Board of Education and the Transportation to figure out how to make sure that they were up to speed on current laws.

Eventually the Green Policy Task Force for Yonkers will work with the schools to help put together a curriculum that helps educate students on how to live “greener” lives and be friendlier to the environment. The city of Yonkers is determined to keep up with the larger cities that are already known for their green practices (like the city of Portland, Oregon which was named the Greenest city of the year for 2007).

By now most people already know the basics: recycle soda pop cans, walk or take the bus instead of driving, but there are more creative ways to reduce reuse and recycle as well! Here are some hints to help you get started:

1. Instead of buying brand name spices, buy some small containers and use them for the spices that you can purchase in bulk. Some stores in Yonkers are starting to offer spices and other things like flour, sugar, pastas, oatmeal, etc. in bulk. Buying these foods helps to reduce the amount of packaging you throw away.

2. Use Tupperware containers instead of plastic bags to transport sandwiches and store leftovers. The Tupperware is recyclable and you can wash it out between uses. This will reduce the amount of trash that you produce by quite a lot!

3. Figure out how to reuse things like soup cans, cardboard boxes, etc—the things you would normally throw away. Cans make great pencil jars. Cardboard boxes can be broken down and used for padding or patching of things.

4. Rather than purchase expensive home cleaners use home made cleaners—vinegar is a fantastic cleaner.

5. Instead of using sponges use washcloths that you make from old clothes. The washcloths can be washed and it will keep you from throwing out your sponges and old clothes. This saves quite a lot of space in Yonkers’ landfills and town dumps.

6. Invest in some canvas bags and reusable bags to go shopping with. These bags last a long time and will cut down on the number of plastic shopping bags that you take home from the grocery store and other stores around Yonkers.

One of the best things about living a “green” lifestyle is that it can save Yonkers’ residents quite a lot of money. Reusing products means that you do not have to replace them with new products. Recycling things cuts down on the amount of space needed for Yonkers’ landfills and dumps. Living green is beneficial for everyone.

For more information on Yonkers, visit http://www.yonkersmicroblog.com. For more information on New Jersey, visithttp://www.njmicroblog.com.

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In this article I want to take a look at two possible worlds. One, a world where everyone has embraced the living green way of life and the other where living green never quite caught on. I just want to say up front that these two worlds aren’t based on any research by experts. These are merely forecasts as I see them based on my observations.

First lets look at a future world that is a result of everybody embracing the living green way of life. In this world everybody is happier and healthier. Because of usage of alternative fuels and energies there’s cleaner air due to the lack of carbon and other harmful emissions. With cleaner air and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables people started feeling better and exercising more, which made them healthier.

With the reduction of toxic emissions along with the reduction of trees being killed and more being planted the ozone was able to repair itself, which averted the green house effect and also helped us rid ourselves of deceases caused by exposure to harmful sun rays.

Because of using cleaner energy sources we were able to stop water pollution, which gave us more fish as a food resource, which also makes you healthier. As you know when you’re healthy and happy you’re friendlier, which reduced violence.

Is this future world possible? Maybe not in the near future, but if we all adopted living green as a why of life our future generation could live in this world.

Now let’s see what a future world might be where living green didn’t catch on. The population has been greatly reduced because of illness, violent crime and war. The ozone is greatly damaged. That and the polluted air cause people to spend most of their time inside. Wars are fought to control the depleting energy resources and only the ultra rich can afford to buy gas.

Pollution of our water and land for toxic chemicals being dumped from industrial factories has greatly reduced our food supplies causing rationing and an increase in violent crime in order to have something to eat. Brown outs and even black outs are commonplace in order to stretch our energy reserves. Global warming has melted the polar caps causing a sever change in our climate. The prognosis for this world is very bleak.

Both of these future worlds may or may not be an exaggeration of what could be, but how close are they? What do you think a future world would be like if living green is embraced or if it is rejected?

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Living green is becoming a way of life more and more everyday for more and more people. People are more aware of the danger this world is in from global warming and the green house effect. I have noticed that big companies are even adopting the living green way of doing things. Car companies are making and pushing hybrid and electric cars. Energy companies are looking in to using alternate energy sources such as wind and solar energy. TV stations are promoting green activities. Politicians are even starting to put saving the environment on their agenda. If you just look around you can see that living green is really catching on.

For most people saving the environment is enough for them to start living green. But there are still others that might just need a little more of a nudge. Well, money is always a great motivator for people to do anything so here are some ways you can save and make money by living green.

Save Money On Your Energy Bill

Save Money On Gas

Make Money Living Green

I’m going to leave it there. This gives you a taste of how living green and saving as well as making money can go hand in hand. So if you’re one of those that needed an extra nudge to start living green I hoped this pushed you over that edge.