Zebra Mussels?

If you hadn't noticed, I'm into Scientific American lately. From their June 11, 2009 "special edition," here are eleven easy peasy ideas for being green:

1. Buy recycled toilet paper. The "soft" brands use virgin wood fiber and chlorine bleach. The recycled versions use recycled fiber.

2. Force your water to boil faster and save energy by lidding the pot.

3. Plant a garden. You know you've been wanting to! Start with something simple - carrots, a tomato plant or two. Next year do the same, add something. Keep it going!

4. Put your kids outside to play. Turning off the video games and TV saves a lot of energy. Not to mention what it does for your kids!

5. Consider buying used. Scientific American suggests used building materials for remodels, but why not used furniture too. There are some pretty cool pieces out there just waiting for new owners.

6. Use hand-powered kitchen tools like can openers, juicers, coffee grinders, etc.

7. Check your cosmetics and toiletries for bad chemical products and switch to less toxic varieties. Scientific American recommends Green Media Toolshed's Score card to help identify products, at www.scorecard.org/chemical-profiles/, and a couple others (see link below).

8. If you're a boater, check the Scientific American advice for keeping zebra mussels off your vessel. Zebra mussels???

9. Power down your PCs when not in use. Where ya heard that before?

10. Wash clothes in cooler water. Saves a LOT of energy.

11. Switch to electronic billing and reduce the footprint by the amount of the paper, transportation, etc.

The full article is here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=being-green-11-enviro-habits&print=true