Ride green

  • walk, bike or take public transit to get to work, school or to pick up a few groceries
  • if your workplace is too far to walk to, consider carpooling — if just 100 Ontarians carpool to work with even one other person, we can save 60 tonnes of GHG emissions/year

Live green

Food

  • buy local food where possible — it doesn’t have to travel as far which reduces GHG emissions from transportation
  • compost food scraps, use your organic food recycling bin or ask your condo or apartment building property manager to provide organic food recycling
  • take a reusable shopping bag to the store

Energy

  • adjust your thermostat (2 degrees lower in winter, 2 degrees higher in summer) while sleeping or away from home
  • unplug electronics when you’re not using them
  • try doing your laundry or running the dishwasher before or after peak hours of  7 am and 7 pm
  • fix leaky faucets and upgrade to low-flow toilets
  • if you live in a house, use a rain barrel to collect spring rainfall to water the garden
  • take shorter showers – keeping them under five minutes can save up to 3,500 litres of water per month
  • replace bulbs with longer-lasting energy-efficient LEDs
  • replace insulation
  • purchase energy efficient appliances and products
  • switch out older, polluting wood stoves for newer electric or ultra-efficient wood pellet stoves
  • install energy-efficient heating and cooling systems

Waste

  • consider new ways of using unwanted or old items
  • recycle – recycling just 1 aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours
  • buy products with little or no packaging
  • clean with non-toxic, environmentally-friendly products – a simple vinegar and water mix will work on most surfaces

Work green

Conservation

  • turn off computers at night
  • start a coffee club with other employees by bringing in a large coffeemaker and recyclable or biodegradable filters – for $5 to $10 a month per employee, enjoy premium coffee of your choice at a fraction of the cost. And you can use your own mug
  • where possible, use natural light from windows instead of artificial lighting
  • consider not printing documents and circulating them electronically instead

Meetings

  • consider teleconferencing, videoconferencing or other remote meeting options to avoid unnecessary travel
  • choose a meeting location that is easily and quickly accessible by public transit
  • make your meetings paperless by using a laptop and a projector
  • use whiteboards instead of flipcharts for brainstorming