GETTING GREENER AT HOME

A nice link from Governing.com's blog about energy-saving tips for the home from the Chicago Tribune. We were doing pretty good at home, but I'm motivated to make three life changes as a result of this article:

* Use the garbage disposal. I have a habit that is annoying to my wife of throwing food waste into a small plastic bag and tying it up and throwing it out, instead of having the garbage disposal grind it up. Amy, I promise you I'll change my ways, now that I know that using the garbage disposal uses one less plastic bag, leads to less trash in the trash can, converts food waste into fertilizer, and doesn't stink up the kitchen.

* Don't use screensavers. Setting monitors to low-power mode is vastly better on our electricity bill than screensavers, to the tune of $50 to $100 per year.

* Use less plastic bags. This is hard one for me, as this is the last bit of anti-green behavior I indulge in. But while I might not be able to shake the use of these things, I can certainly use them more discriminately.

So there's my list of things to change. Won't you consider taking a look at the link and seeing if there are a few things you can do to save yourself some green and save the environment in the process?