Greeninteractshere

While there are infinite ways that you can change your everyday life to better the environment, the best ways are those that don't only help environmental health, but your health as well. Cutting back on your meat consumption will do just that.

Now I'm not a vegetarian by any means; I'll be the first to admit that I eat meat from time to time. But the facts about meat consumption contributing to pollution speak for themselves. Consider this: would you ever make 16 plates of pasta, toss 15 in the trash and just eat the one plate? Of course you wouldn't; but that's exactly what you're doing when you choose to eat meat. Eating meat is such a massive waste of resources, that according to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off U.S. roads.

I'm not suggesting that the world become vegetarians; while this would obviously be the best answer to our problem, it's a lofty and unachievable goal at this point in time. Join me in cutting out one meat-based meal a week, and substituting tofu, beans, or another protein rich, meat-free food. It's an easy and healthy choice to make that your body, and the environment, will be thankful for.

Jessica Daley, NBC.com

By Fern Dell Smith

I'm a big fan of inertia and complaining, so you wouldn't expect that I'd be good at this green business. I don't stick to diets and even though I've paid for a gym membership until the end of the world (December 21, 2012, natch), I couldn't tell you the gender of the person working the front desk. For all I know, there isn't even a front desk at my gym anymore at all.

That said, I am green in little, easy ways, and you can be too. Here's what I do. Let's see if you're unambitious enough to follow my lead.

I walk. I'm lucky enough to live near stores and restaurants in LA, so when possible, I actually stroll around with my dog, Chin Wii. It's great for mental health and it cuts down on smog. Plus, your dog might like it, too.

I don't eat red meat. Have you ever seen the warm, friendly, compassionate eyes of a cow up close? Me neither. But the point is: red meat is gross and heavy and it messes up the environment.

I don't litter. My apartment is a pigsty but you won't find me treating Mother Earth with the same level of disrespect. Want to know why? Because it's rude and you look like a lazy, entitled buffoon when you litter.

I never send anything via snail mail anymore. This is more out of laziness than anything else, but I still expect praise for this.

Thanks for reading my Lazy Guide to Being Green. Now I think it's time for a nap.

Having managed a restaurant in a past life, I can't help shake my early training - always be conscientious of resource and waste: how you get it, where you get it, what you do with it, and how you get rid of it. That's why I think living green is in some ways more of a mindset than a way of life. Once you start thinking this way, considering the full panoply of the repercussions of your choices, you'll find that the solutions aren't always the easiest or the clearest. And it's an ongoing commitment, a challenge to embrace new and evolving technologies and resources and integrate them into your daily life. Thinking green is about showing up, every single day. Thinking green is about doing best to reduce your carbon footprint - and doing your part to preserve our finite resources for when we need them most.

Sure, we all know it's better to use energy-efficient light bulbs, cloth shopping bags and water-saving toilets. But let's take it a step further. Do you really need to use that bleached white paper towel? Do you really want to patronize a restaurant that uses Styrofoam take-out containers? Wouldn't you like it if your state government used your tax dollars to promote solar energy, or wind farms, or emission-free transportation systems? The small decisions we make every day do have an impact, and the future of Mother Earth is in our hands. So think twice before you use that piece of plastic wrap...

If you are anything like me, perhaps you have not switched to using CFL light bulbs because of their not so aesthetically pleasing appearance. It seems silly given the amount money you can save on your energy bills, let alone that you are actually saving energy and thus doing your part to improve our environment.

Well, fear no more. On a random shopping trip I discovered they make CFL bulbs with the traditional bulb coverings we are so used to. Inside this traditional shell casing is the spiral CFL bulb. These amazing little treasures come in everything from the regular old lamp bulb to floodlights and other various shapes of specialty bulbs. Maybe I am easily amused but I was just amazed by this innovation.

Needless to say, all the bulbs in my home are now equipped with CFLs and you would never know it since they are disguised by this clever casing. So for those of you out there afraid of a little change.. you can now have the traditional bulb look and still know you are doing your part while forgoing any aesthetical pet peeves.

By: George Guajardo

Reduce your plastic waste! Instead of buying a plastic bottle of water everyday, try using a reusable water bottle that you can rinse and re-use. Millions of land and sea critters die annually due to the amount of plastic that we use in our everyday lives.

Think about it... if it costs you $1.50 a day for a plastic bottle of water, that would mean you spend nearly $550 on plastic bottles each year. Just stop and think to yourself... How much plastic do I use? Not only does it save you money to reuse, but it helps keep our land and oceans clean. So many products today are becoming reusable, so just do some research, save some money, and help save our planet!

By: Maggie E. Klaus, Content Editor, NBC.com

Do you ever open your mailbox and groan at how much mail you have stuffed in that little space? This was happening to me, a lot. Not only was it a time waster to have to sort out which items I needed and which could be thrown out, it was also a time waster because most of the bills that were in my mailbox had already been paid. You see, I made it a priority of mine to start paying my bills online to help me save money on stamps and also save me time writing yet another check.

Even though I was paying my bills online, I was still receiving envelopes in the mail giving me updates about my balances or receipts that my payment had been received and so on.

Then I noticed that when you pay online, you have the option to click on a little box that opts you out of receiving paper mail all together. Not only did opting out of paper mail reduce the amount of clutter I get in my mailbox, it also helps reduce the amount of paper wasted each year in this country. Think of it this way: if every household in America switched to online payments over paper payments, there would be over 18 million trees saved every year.

By: Ruben Carreno, Producer, NBC.com

Each time you get takeout from a restaurant that utilizes plastic containers, disposable plastic forks, knives and spoons, you're adding to a landfill, and ultimately the huge mass in the Pacific Ocean known as Trash Island.

There are at least five such islands around the world, and about 80 percent of the islands are made up of disposable plastic. Plastic is resilient -- we made it that way, and it's not going anywhere for a while. As these plastics break down, they multiply into tiny pieces that fish eventually eat, becoming contaminated. Just think, plastic makes up parts of our cell phones, our computers, our cars and televisions, so many things that we use to make it through a day in this modern life. Hopefully one day we'll replace our plastic with a substance better suited for a greener world.

As much as we might like to undo the harm caused by what we use and accumulate, we can't. But we can become better educated as to how our modern life is affecting the environment. Upon learning that Trash Island existed, I was automatically more conscious of how much plastic I was using. I immediately started to change my habits in regard to disposable plastics.

So, instead of getting your lunch to go, bring your lunch to work in a reusable container, and use silverware. More than likely, you'll have a healthier lunch, and you won't be adding to the growth of Trash Island.

By: Carole Angelo

Let's get naked, shall we? If you're like me, then you turn on the water in the shower and wait for it to warm up before stepping in. Maybe you're brushing your teeth in the meantime, or planning your outfit. Well that's just wasteful! Now there are some great showerhead solutions to help reduce your water waste at shower time.

One such device is the Ladybug Showerhead Adapter. This device fits between your showerhead and the showerarm and reduces the water flow to a trickle once the water reaches a warm temperature. The result? You waste less hot water and you instantly know when the shower is ready for you. Step in. Flip the switch to revive the full water pressure and presto! A family of three saving just one minute of hot water per shower can save up to $75 in energy bills and 2,700 GALLONS of water per year (based on a 2.5 gpm showerhead at three cents per gallon of hot water). At an average cost of $27 for the Ladybug, this thing basically pays for itself in four months. And you get to feel good about your clean self.

There are many similar adapters and showerheads on the market, so it's easy to find the one that suits you and your birthday suit best. So what are you waiting for? Update that shower and get naked!

I was pretty psyched to tell you all about my new water carbonation machine, which is my latest personal green initiative, when I realized that this initiative is actually TWO green ideas in one! We'll get to the water carbonator in a second, but first let me sing the praises of yard sale shopping!

While yard sales are a great way to score some sweet deals on stuff, they're also good for the environment in a couple ways. First, the items you buy get to go to a new home instead of into a landfill or junkyard. Second, you can avoid dealing with all of that annoying excess packaging that comes with most new items. I'd say that means buying stuff at yard sales is pretty much a win/win/win!

Which brings me to my fancy "new" soda water maker. I'm a big fan of fizzy water but I've never been a fan of all the plastic bottles I go through when I buy it at the store. I've looked into buying one of these things for a while, but they're not exactly cheap so I always put off buying one for later. Later finally arrived when I found out my friends were moving and selling their water carbonator at a yard sale... lucky me!

Now that I have the soda water machine and a water filter on my tap, I can avoid plastic water bottles almost entirely. The soda water maker comes with two reusable bottles to store the fizzy water, and the carbonators can be returned to participating retailers to be cleaned and reused. So with that, I say let the bubbling begin!

For more information on how bottled water impacts the environment or to get more information on getting a soda water machine for yourself, check out: http://www.sodastreamusa.com/environment.aspx