Do you want to make a change in your life that makes a difference?  This is a new year and you can make simple changes to help the environment.    How do you start?  What are the simple things you can do to help?

1.  Recycle.  Recycling reduces the amount of garbage that goes into the landfill.  This has a snowball effect.  Less in the landfill means less methane in the atmosphere.  This means less of an impact on global warming.  Of course this is just one aspect of going green, but it is one of the most basic.

2.  Buy CFL’s.  This is such an easy thing to do.  I don’t want to waste the regular incandescent bulbs, so I will wait until they burn out then replace them with the CFL.  These use a fraction of the electricity with a lower wattage.

3.  Turn off the lights.  This doesn’t require you spending any money, just requires you to make the choice to shut off the switch after leaving a room.

4.  Plan your trips.  If you have errands to do, plan them in the most gas efficient way so you don’t have to drive out of the way.

5.  Plan your meals.  Planning your meals before you go to the grocery store will reduce the amount of food you end up throwing away because it goes bad.  Also keep track of what you have left so it doesn’t rot before the week ends.  Again, this leads to less garbage that goes into the landfill.

6.   Turn down the thermostat a couple of degrees when it’s cold, and up when it’s hot.  Also make sure the air conditioner is maintained.   Also check that the heater filter is replaced once a month.  Use fans when it’s too warm; they use less electricity than the air conditioner.

7.  Buy in bulk.  This puts less packaging in the landfill.  Any way we can divert garbage from ending in the landfill is a great change to make.

8.  Buy from local farmers/farmers markets.  This helps the local economy, and also the produce has to travel less distance to get to you.  Plus it’s fresher.

9.  Plant a tree.  Trees reduces the amount of carbon that ends up in the atmosphere.

10.  Buy recycled products.  This completes the cycle.  Creating demand for recycled products will make more companies realize that they should make products from renewable materials.  Thus closing the loop.

BONUS:  One last one idea.  Bring your canvas bags instead of taking home plastic bags.  Plastic bags are one time use items that take energy to create/recycle.  If you bring your canvas bags you can save these plastic bags ending up in the landfill and harming wildlife.

What changes will you  make this year to improve the condition of the planet?   These changes are just a beginning of what you can do.  Being green requires some thought and some time.  But in the end you are making the world a better place.  What new change are you making this year?  Please comment below.  Thank you very much for visiting!

OK, I have not posted in a while and I am not quite sure if I am going to get back into the groove.  You should, however, check out my wife’s new blog at www.ecoshabby.com.  Honestly, go visit her site.

I will probably post every now and then here and honestly, I have learned a great deal from Guy Goes Green.  I have made some lifestyle changes that will follow me the rest of my life.  I hope to continue making these changes with Ashley.

For now, though, go visit www.ecoshabby.com.

The water is starting to go down in my area and things are getting back to normal.  I am going to start back up here in the near future, but wanted to make sure you all knew that I have not abandoned this site or my quest.

Question for the day…. Did you participate in Earth Hour and what did it mean to you?

I will be back tomorrow…. I went to catch my next organic meal.  Unfortunately, it will likely be the last ice fishing trip of the year and I am pretty sure I will not have enough of the stuff to last me until May.  sigh

One day left to enter and win a composter.  Sign up by going to the link to the right.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnCpDroX4lM

CONTEST CLOSED.  Will notify the winner on Tues.

Welcome to www.guygoesgreen.com and to our first giveaway!  This week, we will be working in coordination with NatureMill to give away one free colored Pro XE Compost Bin with a retail value of $399.00!  We own two NatureMill composters and they have really been convenient and useful in disposing of our food waste.  Because of our NatureMill composters, we have reduced the amount of trash that goes to the landfill immensely.  So, check out the NatureMill products and enter to win your own here at www.guygoesgreen.com.  Competition ends on 2/22 and winner will be announced on 2/23.

Multiple entries are allowed and here are the ways you can enter

1. Comment on this page on how NatureMill composter could be useful to you.  Limited to one comment of this type per day.
2. Tweet the following on Twitter “RT @guygoesgreen – RT and visit to win a $399 @NatureMill Pro Compost Bin at http://tinyurl.com/yhnd5td” – This can be completed two times a day, but if any are within one hour of each other, I will only count them as one.
3.  Write a blog about this contest, link to www.guygoesgreen.com and also to www.naturemill.com.  To ensure that this is counted, I would send me a message on the contact page or leave a comment here.  Otherwise, I can be reached at the email listed on the About page.
4. Sign up to receive Guy Goes Green updates via email… located I the upper right corner.
5. Stumble this page or www.guygoesgreen.com, but please be sure to message me via email, contact page or comment here that you have done so.
6. Become a fan of Guy Goes Green on Facebook.
7. Become a fan of NatureMill on FaceBook, but please make sure to email me or leave a comment here that you have done so.

Rules:

1. This is a US giveaway and will only ship in the US.
2. You will be able to select between one of the colored models(green, red or yellow)
3. The competition starts when this is posted on 2/15 and ends at 8 AM CST on 2/22/10. 
4. I will make the final determination on what entries are allowed and what entries are not.
5. This giveaway is in coordination with NatureMill and after the winner is determined and you have responded to my notification (via email or Twitter), I will provide that information to NatureMill.  The prize is being furnished by NatureMill and once the winner’s information has been provided to NatureMill, any questions about the product or condition of product is between the giveaway winner and NatureMill.
6. Since many of the methods of entry require uptime and proper functionality of third party applications (Twitter, Facebook), I will do everything within my power to ensure all entries are received, but may not be able to add some entries if third party applications do not allow me to pull proper information.  AKA… Twitter sometimes works funky and I might not be able to get all entries if this happens in the next week.
7. I have the final say so on entries and the winner.

I had to do a little research on the company Burt’s Bees for the company I worked for and I came upon some information I didn’t know.  They have set .some pretty ambitious goals they are committed to for the year 2020.  Just a look into some of these numbers, they are “including a 51.5% decrease in waste to landfill, a 15.3% decrease in energy use, and a 5.5% decrease in non-product manufacturing water use versus the previous year.”  So far this article says they are on target during the year 2009.  Something they developed Live the Greater Good to help their employees become educated and take action to keep Burt’s Bees on track to their 2020 goals.  They want to be known as the “greenest personal care company on earth.”

I have been quite pleased with their selection of products.  I have purchased several Burt’s Bees products at Swanson Health Products.  I will soon be trying an exfoliate scrub.  I like how they pioneered the development of stricter guidelines to what natural really means when it’s on a label.  They helped create The Natural Standard for Personal Care Products.  These guidelines: natural ingredients, no health risks, no animal testing and should use biodegradable ingredients apply to Burt’s Bees products so you know you are getting a good product.  This standard also requires full disclosure of their ingredients and also use of recyclable materials.  With Burt’s Bees lofty goals for the future gives me hope that other companies may follow suit too.  If you know any companies that have great environmental goals or have new innovative technology to help the environment, please leave us a comment below.

I was recently given a Sunshine Award by Julie at EasyEcoToGo. It’s been pretty gray and dreary here lately and this was just the thing to brighten up my winter days.  Thank you for brightening up my day!  Also, it’s nice knowing that I brought a little sunshine to someone else.

The rules are pretty simple:

•Link back to the person who gave you the award.

•Give the award to 12 other bloggers who bring you some sunshine.

My Zero Waste

Green and Crunchy

Urban Homestead

Metro Hippie

Recipe Diaries

Tap It Talk

Terri Bennett

EcoSpheric Blog

365 Ways to go Green

Green LA Girl

Franke James

No Impact Man

There are plenty more, but here you go!

This upcoming week, we are going to do something a little different at GuyGoesGreen.  We are going to have an online contest!  I am not ready to give the full details on said contest, but am excited to give you all a heads up that this is coming and also a reminder to stay tuned to the site.

So, continue to visit my humble place on the internet and you might win a prize.  I think it is a pretty nice prize even!

This is a day when many guys across America focus on football and friends.  Whatever you are doing, I think it is possible to make the Super Bowl a little more environmentally friendly.  Keep these tips and mind and let me know any of your own!

1. Stay home instead of driving around and using fuel
2. If you do go elsewhere, bring your own reusable glass if they only have plastic
3. During half-time pick up all of the recyclables and put them in the appropriate bins
4. If you are getting pizza, use one that you already have in the freezer instead of delivery.  Better yet, make one from scratch!
5. Forego any Super Bowl branded signs, etc that are toss away schwag or not recyclable.   
6. Turn off the television during half time.