Ten easy ways to be green

Kermit the Frog once sang that it wasn’t easy being green, but if you’re a Minnetonka resident, being green is as simple as these ten steps!

  1. Plant a garden to attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.
  2. Drink tap water. If you want better-tasting water, buy a water filter.
  3. Plant a tree. The net cooling effect of one healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.
  4. Save a tree. If every U.S. household replaced one roll of toilet paper with a roll made from recycled paper, 424,000 trees would be saved.
  5. Reduce. Then re-use and recycle. Really! Buy less stuff; buy items with less packaging; buy quality; pass along used items to consignment or charity; then recycle as much as you can.
  6. Run your clothes washer on cold when possible—it uses 85 percent less energy than hot water.
  7. Air dry your clothes like grandma used to do. Use clothes lines outdoors; collapsible drying racks indoors. This is a great way to humidify indoor air during the winter.
  8. Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, which use about 70 percent less energy and last ten times longer.
  9. Reduce driving speed to conserve fuel.
  10. Drive less. Carpool more; bike more; walk more; and use mass transit when you can.