Get Your Sweater On!
This week National Sweater Day is celebrated, during which Canadians are encouraged to throw on a sweater and to turn down their thermostat by two degrees. The goofier the sweater the better, says the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) who organizes the event.
National Sweater Day is an initiative that will draw the support of more than 150,000 Canadians, with many schools, towns and other organizations having official celebrations. With zany sweater celebrations, bringing some humour to the cause as well.
A day like this brings forth a few salient points- both for the environmentally and frugally conscious. In many cases these two practices go hand in hand.
Not only does a small habit change like this help contribute to positively to the fight towards climate change, being energy conscious (and environmentally aware) can lead to two kinds of green (like the kind that sits in your wallet).
Dig through your closet and go retro on National Sweater Day- but also think about incorporating some of these environmentally and fiscally responsible practices.
Change Your Views on Transportation
Can you carpool or bike to work? How about public transport? Each one of these initiatives will go far to help you trim from your budget and to help reduce your own carbon footprint. Jumping in the car and going on your own wherever and whenever is convenient, but costly.
Make Your House Energy Efficient
Sometimes you have to spend a little money to make money- and this is the case when it comes to having an energy efficient house.
If your home is older, consider investing in a retro-fit, upgrading doors and windows to make them more air tight and heat and cold resistant. This will greatly reduce energy bills over the long term.
If you are shopping for new appliances, select those with good ENERGY STAR® ratings which means that they utilize energy more efficiently and will go far to help pull back your home’s energy costs.
Depending on where you live, be mindful of peak use energy hours. You could be paying a steep premium by doing a load of laundry during prime time. Save things like laundry or running the dishwasher for late night or early morning.
Change Your Grocery List
By switching to a few vegetarian meals a week, or by shopping local, you are going to save money and help the environment.
As you cruise around the grocery store, think about how the food you are selecting got there. Meat had to be raised, consuming water and energy. Produce shipped from faraway places would have consumed a lot of fuel to get there.
Often, these costs are passed along to the consumer- and can be avoided or reduced by selecting produce that is in season and/or locally grown, or by switching out the meat in your main course a couple of times a week.