Going Light Green and Compost Sample Labels

Although I'm quite the tree-hugger and green-doer, my family and friends are not so convinced to go the eco-route. Maybe "not so convinced" is harsh...perhaps "not so interested" or "not so motivated"?

Every little bit counts and you can help even the most stubborn get started. Accusations and guilt-trips are no fun on either side- it's simpler to just share the most painless ways to begin.

Here a few almost effortless tips to launch a "light" green life:

• Use the dishwasher.  Dishwashers will get your dishes cleaner, save you time, and use less water and energy.  Learn about the top 10 most efficient dishwashers here or look at the most efficient one here- these are a little pricey, but the light green thing to remember is that the dishwasher>hand washing the dishes.
  
• When light bulbs burn out, replace them with compact fluorescent bulbs, which are up to 4x more efficient, use 75% less energy when they are turned on, and last from 10 to 15 times longer. Energy Star has some great tips about using CFLs.
  
• Shop til you drop- locally and with your own bags. Farmers markets offer the best in locally grown produce, and you can find the closest one using Local Harvest- and it tastes so much better anyway.  Plastic bags just take up space and who can use the million they use to bag your groceries with anyway?  I even found a color coded cloth set, which could reduce the time it takes to put everything away when you get home by keeping freezer items together in one bag, bathroom supplies in another, and so on.
  
• Drop the bottled water and move to a re-useable water bottle. Word travels slowly, but a few years ago, many bottled water companies revealed their water was not being collected from a slow trickling stream from high in the Alps, so why bother? If you are concerned about the quality of the water, Britta even makes reusable water bottles with filters.

These are easy to share and pretty painless to implement- even light green is better than no green at all!

This weekend, I created a simple compost sample label. I'm going to adjust some sizing and spacing, and maybe add a fun fact, but the first draft is below. The final version will be coming this week! Only 7 days til the fair!