Is it an exaggeration to urge you to
“March for Science to Save Your Life”?

It is not.

Anti-science agendas and policies are being forced on the American people by politicians and corporations that intentionally choose to deny the very scientific principles upon which our entire civilization is based.

Rather than work in good faith to protect us, many companies actively oppose laws, regulations and initiatives that would keep us safe from toxic chemicals, protect the air we breathe and the water we drink, and stop the climate change that threatens to send the entire planet into a tail spin.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, the internationally renowned astrophysicist, says in this compelling 4-minute video that when people who deny science rise to power, they concoct a “recipe for a complete dismantling of our democracy.” He is right.

Science has allowed us to build our economy. Stop disease. Grow food. Put a man on the moon. Invent electric cars.

You can read this digital article thanks to computer science. Binge on Netflix. Facetime with your friends and family.

You can buy organic food because soil scientists and the scientists who study pests and plant disease have figured out how to grow our fruits and vegetables without spraying them with cancer-causing chemicals.

You have clothes to wear, furniture to sit on, deodorant to keep you smelling sweet, and coffee to drink, all because some inventor somewhere along the way used science to create them.

Basically, any service you value, any health care you receive, any medical emergency you’ve survived, any work you do, are all possible because science made them possible.

And yet – the Trump Administration is now destroying
the science-based programs and projects that society desperately needs.

It started with one particularly symbolic move: the Administration eliminated the word “science” from the mission statement of its Office of Science and Technology Policy. Whaaa?

But it didn’t stop there. Whole programs that reduce pollution and rein in climate change are coming under attack.

Don’t Miss: Pope Francis Calls for “Revolution” to Stop Climate Change

Writing here in the Los Angeles Times, Denis Hayes, who convened the very first Earth Day in 1970, describes Trump’s insidious plan to defund scientific research and the agencies that are doing the most to protect the planet and human health.

Specifically, the Trump budget would:

• Decimate the ability of the National Institutes of Health to continue to come up with ways to fight the spread of infections diseases like ebola and zika.
• Cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research by 50%.
• Eliminate the Sea Grant Program, which helps us protect and sustain coastal ecosystems and restore the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay and other waterways.
• Kneecap the U.S. solar energy industry, even though, says Hayes, in 2016 solar energy was America’s largest source of new electricity-generating capacity and the U.S. solar industry employs 260,000 people, more than three times as many workers as the coal industry.

We cannot let attacks on science – and on the ability of the United States to benefit from scientific advances – go unchallenged.

And we won’t. On April 22, millions of people will March for Science in hundreds of cities all over the world. The March, say the scientists who are organizing it, is

“the first step of a global movement to defend the vital role science plays
in our health, safety, economies, and governments.”

I hope you’ll march, too. You can find your local march right here.

Join the #MarchforScience.

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For me, Earth Day is a time to reflect on what I am grateful to Mother Nature for. Here’s my “short list.”

* I’m grateful for the abundance of inspiring flowers and trees that add beauty to the world.

* I’m grateful for the planet’s soul-expanding wild places and the chance they provide to experience Nature in the raw.

* I’m grateful to the Sun and the vital solar energy it sends down to Earth each and every day (now, if only we would take advantage of it!).

* I’m grateful that a planet called “Earth” is actually covered with so much water. We could not survive without it.

* I’m grateful for the community of friends I have and with whom I share a passion for hiking, camping, and exploring the outdoors.

* I’m grateful for the network of environmental activists to which I belong, and who magnify my voice when we join together to protect the world we love.

* I’m grateful for the changing seasons and the way they remind me that, when all is said and done, Mother Nature is still in charge.

* I’m grateful for singing birds, chirping crickets, blowing wind, and all the other elements that create a natural soundtrack in my day-to-day world.

* I’m grateful for the power I have to make a difference. As insignificant as it sometimes seems, I know what I do can change my life, help change the lives of others, and contribute to a better legacy for my kids and yours, too.

What are you grateful for? Please share your thoughts and comments!

Happy Earth Day!

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The post Why Are You Grateful for Earth Day? Please Share. appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Maybe you already eat organic produce. You’ve cut down on meat. You grow your own lettuce. That’s  great! But what else can we do, especially when it comes to the food we buy and eat?

Danielle Nierenberg of The Food Tank suggests 13 important ways we can reduce the environmental impact of growing, processing, marketing, and disposing of our food. Take a look at the list. I hope you’ll add your own recommendations!

1) Eat more colors.
The colors of fruits and vegetables are signs of nutritional content. The American Cancer Society reports that richly colored veggies like tomatoes can help prevent cancer and heart disease. Eggs that have brightly orange-colored yolks are also high in cancer-fighting carotenoids, and are more likely to be produced by healthier chickens.

2) Buy food with less packaging.
Discarded packaging makes up around one-third of all waste in industrialized countries,  impacting the climate, and our air and water quality. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s analysis of different packaging for tomatoes found that polyethylene terephthalate (PET) clamshell packaging increases tomatoes’ associated carbon emissions by 10 percent. What’s better? Choose foods you can buy in bulk, and bring your own bags – even to the produce aisle.

3) Choose seasonal produce.
Many farmers markets, including the New York City Greenmarkets, offer guides about which products are in season. Locally sourced, seasonal products can also be found at major grocery stores. Or sign up for a weekly CSA, which provides a mix of fresh, seasonal produce throughout the year. Other programs, such as Siren Fish Co.’s SeaSA in San Francisco, offer seasonal meats and seafood.

4) Get in touch with agriculture.
A great way to skip the crowds, save money, and get both children and adults in touch with agriculture is to book a farm-stay through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF). WWOOF runs networks in most countries around the world, offering individuals and families the opportunity to directly support small-scale family farmers. Participants spend a few days or weeks living with a host family and helping with tasks around the farm in exchange for free food and lodging.

5) Get creative in the kitchen.
Shopping at farmers markets, which often have a wide selection of less-ordinary produce such as celeriac, sunchokes, or kohlrabi, can prevent “food ruts” by helping consumers try new foods. Here are a few cookbooks I love.

6) Invest in perennial crops.
Perennial plants—which grow back every year—tend to hold water in soil more effectively than annuals and help prevent erosion. Their extensive roots also allow them to better access nutrients and water, reducing the need for artificial fertilizer. Or grow your own year-round in a hoop house. Here’s how.

7) Reclaim abandoned spaces.

As populations continue to expand, especially in cities, reclaiming unused land and buildings for food production can help meet growing demand. One new model is The Plant, a former meatpacking plant in Chicago that has been converted into an indoor vertical farm. The Plant currently runs an aquaponics farm, growing plants without soil using waste from its man-made tilapia pools. It also offers shared kitchen space for small businesses, and other services.

8) Build local and global food communities.
A great way to get involved in food and agriculture issues is with Slow Food International, an organization with more than 1,300 groups around the world called convivia. These groups support healthy, sustainable diets and traditional food cultures. Or join forces with  Meatless Monday and pick a day a week to eat less meat.

9) DIY.
Many Do-It-Yourself (DIY) food projects are easy and fun. Turning old t-shirts into produce bags to save plastic, starting seeds in eggshells, which can then be crushed for transplanting into the soil, and DIY foods such as homemade oat or almond milk and can all add a creative twist to healthy eating and sustainable agriculture.

10) Cook in batches and freeze for later.
Planning meals in advance can help reduce stress around cooking. It also helps reduce food waste, which is a big problem in industrialized countries. Preparing large amounts of food at once saves energy during cooking, while freezing helps prevent nutrient loss in fruits and vegetables. (Pictured left is what it looked like in my kitchen when I made a batch of homemade organic tomato sauce.) Tools such as the Love Food Hate Waste menu planner shopping list can help organize grocery trips.  

11) Brighten your outlook.
At the recent Warwick Economics Summit in February, Warwick University Economics Professor Dr. Andrew Oswald presented his research on health and happiness, focusing on the link between happiness and consumption of fruits and vegetables. His team of researchers found that eating more fruits and vegetables directly improves a person’s mental well-being, separate from other variables such as income level and how much meat a person ate. This research is supported by a similar study from the Harvard School of Public Health, which found a link between patients’ blood-level of carotenoids, compounds commonly found in colorful fruits and vegetables, and their feelings of optimism.

12) Rotate crops.
Crop rotation is an important way to preserve soil nutrients, prevent erosion, and protect against crop diseases and pests. In the central Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, agronomists at Agro Norte have developed new varieties of rice and dry beans that are well suited to the region’s tropical climate. By incorporating rice and beans into their yearly harvests, local soybean farmers can reduce the spread of soybean rust and nematodes, two of the biggest threats to their crops. The system also improves soil quality and provides jobs at times when soy and corn are not harvested.

13) Have fun around the table.
Talking and laughing while sharing food is a uniquely human experience.  The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition considers convivial food culture one of the most critical aspects of food and agriculture, alongside health, hunger alleviation, and sustainable development. Researchers from Cornell University and the University of Minnesota agree, reporting that the noted benefits of family dinners on children’s mental health and achievement levels depend on engagement with their parents at these meals.

About Food Tank
Food Tank: The Food Think Tank (www.FoodTank.org), founded by Danielle Nierenberg and Ellen Gustafson, is a think tank focused on feeding the world better. The non-profit organization researches and highlights environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways to alleviate hunger, obesity and poverty, and create networks of people, organizations, and content to push for food system change.

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The post 13 Steps to More Earth-Friendly Food appeared first on Big Green Purse.

“If I asked you to reach into your wallet and grab a couple of twenty dollar bills, and rip them up and throw them away, you’d probably think I was crazy, right?  But that’s essentially what most Americans are doing each and every week!  According to an article in On Earth magazine, “Americans waste 30 – 40% of their food, or the equivalent of about two full meals a day.”

Think about those weeks that you buy food without having carefully planned your meals.  Do you end up throwing away more flimsy produce, expired meats, or moldy cheese? There are high costs to wasting all this food, and they’re not just economic. All this extra food has to be produced and transported before it’s eaten and even after it’s discarded, resulting in higher energy costs and emissions.

What to do?

I’ve found my family can vastly reduce waste and save hundreds of dollars each month by:

* planning ahead for meals and snacks before grocery shopping,

* grocery shopping just once a week,

* keeping a grocery list on the refrigerator for all family members to update during the week so I can stick to shopping just once a week, and

* using up as much leftover food as possible in a final meal or two before doing the weekly shopping.

Start Composting

Even if you do plan your meals and cook at home, you’re bound to have some waste.  Last year my family started composting as a way to reuse some of our waste and reduce the amount of trash that has to be hauled from our curb.

While the thought of composting was a little intimidating, it turns out to be the easiest thing in the world! Each day I collect our fruit and vegetable rinds, peels and ends, along with any egg shells and coffee grounds, in a bowl on the kitchen counter.  At the end of the day I dump the bowl’s contents into a large plastic kitty litter bin I keep under our kitchen sink.  When the bin is full, we dump the contents in a pile in our back yard, rinse the bin with the hose, and start over.  This summer we’ll use some of the compost to enrich our garden, but until then, we can feel good knowing that we reduced the amount of waste that is transported and takes up space in local landfills.

(NOTE: If you want to get a compost bin, Big Green Purse sells them in our store here.)

This month, let’s all commit to saving money and the environment by reducing our food waste.  Please keep me posted on how your family has met or plans to meet this challenge by commenting on The Scramble Facebook page or via twitter(@thescramble) or by email at aviva@thescramble.com. I look forward to learning and sharing how much you save!”

Earth Day Bonus!

Between now and Earth Day (April 22), use the promo code EarthDay12 to get $5 off every subscription to The Six O’Clock Scramble weekly plan. As an added benefit, The Scramble will donate 5% of its Earth Day sales to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Subscribe to The Scramble here.

Aviva Goldfarb is a family dinner expert, mother of two and the author and founder of The Six O’Clock Scramble, an online dinner planning system and cookbook. Her most recent cookbook, “SOS! The Six O’Clock Scramble to the Rescue: Earth Friendly, Kid-Pleasing Meals for Busy Families” was named one of the best cookbooks of 2010 by the Washington Post .  Aviva contributes weekly to the Kitchen Explorers blog on PBSparents.org, and often appears on television, radio, and in magazines such as O, The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Working Mother, Kiwi, Every Day with Rachael Ray, and Prevention.You can sign up for her weekly newsletter at thescramble.com. For more information, contact Aviva@thescramble.com.

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Here’s How You Can Afford to Spend 30% More on Organic Food

Learn How to Compost

The post Earth Day or Any Day, Don’t Toss Your Cash With Your Trash appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Happy Earth Day!

To honor this day of environmental action and awareness, we’re highlighting some of our most popular Earth Day posts. We’d also love to hear how you’re celebrating this day devoted to Nature, the environment, and how we humans interact with both. Please share your suggestions and tips, and have a great day.

PETS

Earth Day Countdown: Make the Earth Friendly for Pets, Too! Research has shown that our beloved cats and dogs (I have two cats, and one wonderful dog) may be just as susceptible to pollution as we people are. Here’s what you can do to keep your pets happy and health.

Spoil Your Pup and Protect the Environment

PARTIES

Planning a party to celebrate Mother Nature? Here are our “green” suggestions. Please share yours.

Going on a picnic? Here’s how we do it.

BEAUTY

Earth Day Health & Beauty Countdown: Switch Your Liquid Shampoo to a Bar

Cosmetic How-Tos

Beauty…or the Beast? Depends on the Safe Chemicals Act

BUDGET

One of the biggest obstacles to “going green” can be the perception that it’s too expensive. You may change your mind after you read these money-saving suggestions for ways to lead a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle without breaking the bank.

This Earth Day, Save the Planet and Save $4,000 a Year, Too!

Ten Low-Cost, High Impact Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

More Money-Saving Eco Tips

And just for fun…

DON”T Do This on Earth Day!

and…

Earth Day Countdown Begins…With Sex!

The post Are You Ready for Earth Day? Best Tips for Pets, Parties, Beauty & Your Budget! appeared first on Big Green Purse.

“One of the sweetest things about children is that when you get their attention, it is 100 percent.  They aren’t thinking about politics, or what bills are due, or planning a million things in their head.  Nope, they are just in the here and now.

Likewise, if you explain to children why you want to conserve water, protect habitats, or keep bees healthy they’re also right with you.  They don’t calculate costs, or party affiliation, or what their friends might think.  Kids are natural conservationists.

Here are some fun ways you can explore conservation with your children for Earth Day or any day:

Make a Date: Check the online event calendars for your local science center, arboretum, zoo, aquarium, or nature center.  These calendars are full of fun days that make an average excursion unforgettable, and the focus is nearly all on hopeful conservation.  They also often list kid camps, classes, and volunteer opportunities for teens.  Look for ways to get your kids engaged by touching, feeling, learning, and helping.

Grow with a Purpose: Plant a garden this year with a lifecycle and habitat in mind.  For lifecycle growing, have your kids help you start and maintain a compost pile(which in itself is fascinating science at work!) that prepares and feeds your garden.  Also, encourage your children to help you plant and keep up native flowering plants for the bees and trees, with seeds and other fruits for birds and little tree critters, plus your vegetables – all organic, of course!

Bee Happy: Get into beekeeping.  It’s one of the fastest growing hobbies right now, and importnat giving the way bee populations are dying, a likely consequence of industrial pesticide and herbicide use.  Have your children learn with you about the necessity of bees, how to take care of them in a non-toxic way, and set up and take care of the bee hives together.  Enjoy delicious honey as a reward.  Check with your local municipality for any ordinances or permits.

Entertain for Good: There are a lot of television, film, and print resources that educate on conservation, the environment, and nature in a fun and entertaining way that kids embrace. Examples include the Ranger Rick Magazine from the National Wildlife Federation, Disneynature films like “Earth” and “African Cats,” and the captivating Discovery Channel series “Life” narrated by Oprah Winfrey which is now available on DVD or through a subscription service like Netflix.

Put on Your Flip-Flops: If you are going on vacation this summer, pick a beachside getaway that coincides with a local beach cleanup day.  Heal the Bay and Surfrider Foundation are great resources.  Your kids will spend two inspirational hours helping nature – and they’ll think twice about where trash goes after that!

Pump Up the Tires: Dust off your bikes and peddle to the local store or explore bike paths to make conserving energy fun.   You will be surprised how much kids enjoy biking and the diversity you will find outside your car window.  To find safer biking routes, if you go to Google Maps, type in your city and state, and then click on “Get Directions,” and you’ll see a bicycle path layer that clues you into designated safe bike paths in your area.  Many states also list nearby recreational bicycle paths for weekend adventures – do a browser search.”

Terra Wellington is the author of The Mom’s Guide to Growing Your Family Green: Saving the Earth Begins at Home (St. Martin’s Press).  Her family finds a lot of fun in cleaning up Southern California beaches, especially when it includes an ice cream treat!

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Kids Start Food Fight to Bring Back Re-Usable Lunch Trays

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The post What Do Kids “Calculate” When It Comes to Conservation? It’s Not $$$! appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Volunteer Spot, the nation’s premiere Web-based volunteer coordinator, has teamed up with Arbor Day to recognize you and your good deeds for the planet by planting trees in fire-damaged national forests. The Give and Grow program rewards activities ranging from organizing an Earth Day event to staging a beach clean up, to planning a community garden, as long as you register them with Volunteer Spot. The program is a natural extension of Volunteeer Spot’s own commitment to eco-friendly business. The company’s paperless online volunteer management system saves trees and conserves water while making it very easy for anyone to volunteer in her community. Even if you don’t get your act together in time to do something for Earth Day, check out Volunteer Spot whenever you need to organize an eco action in your community.

If you can’t be outside for Earth Day, commune with nature at the cineplex. This year, Disneynature is releasing OCEANS, the sequel to the stunning “Earth” it premiered this time last year. Nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s surface is covered by H2O, a fact OCEANS chronicles with footage of the sea’s deepest waters and most amazing creatures. Narrated by Pierce Brosnan, the feature-length film showcases spectacular never-before-seen imagery captured by the latest underwater technologies.

What do you get besides oohs and aahs and maybe some buttered popcorn? If you see OCEANS any time during opening week (April 22-28, 2010), Disneynature will make a contribution on your behalf to The Nature Conservancy to save coral reefs. That seems like it’s more than worth the price of admission.

The post On Earth Day, Plant Trees Without Getting Your Hands Dirty; Save the Oceans without Getting Wet appeared first on Big Green Purse.

The kids who founded GreenMyParents sure think so!

This youth-led movement is officially launching on Earth Day with a plan to inspire peers, parents and millions of American families to go green.

In the process, they aim to save $100 Million by this time next year. How? It will start with 100 “youth champions.” Each of them plans to recruit 100 more kids, then train them to promote easy, everyday steps that protect the environment and save money, too, at least $100 per family. It’s hoped each of those kids will recruit another 100, and another 100, and another 100, until tens of thousands or even millions are involved.

The program kicks off April 22 at 1 p.m. EST with a youth-led webinar  via The National Wildlife Federation’s SchoolTube.com, plus the downloadable publication of the Green Your Parents book.

But don’t wait until then to learn more about the amazing kids behind this initiative. They include:

•   Adora Svitak, a 12-year-old who is a published author and was the youngest speaker at the TED 2010 conference.
•   Jordan Howard, 17, a senior at Environmental Charter High in LA, Green Ambassador Youth leader, and prolific speaker and blogger who inspires at her blog jordaninspires.com;
•   Alec Loorz, a 14-year-old who founded Kids Against Global Warming as a 12-year-old. He is  the youngest trained presenter with The Climate Project.
•   Ally Maize, who three years ago, as a 15-year-old started the Green Youth Movement and
•   Erin Schrode, a freshman at Columbia University and founder of Teens Turning Green

Said Adora at the TED conference recently, “We kids still dream about perfection. Our audacity to imagine helps push the boundaries of reality.” Adora, could you deliver that message to members of Congress, please?!!!

Though GreenMyParents begins on Earth Day, it doesn’t end there. The group’s organizers plan to run the program for at least a year with the hopes of creating chapters in every school in America.

Here’s how you can learn more or get on their mailing list.

The post Kids Launch “Green My Parents” to Save the World appeared first on Big Green Purse.

With climate change on the upswing and even dogs needing to worry about exposure to toxic chemicals, I’ve come up with five things I’d ask Mother Nature for this Earth Day 2008 if I believed wishes really came true.

* President Bush signs a bill that will cut U.S. greenhouse gases 50% – starting tomorrow. Such bold action would help the U.S. meet recommendations issued by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and many world leaders that America, one of the globe’s largest carbon polluters, reduce its energy emissions significantly in order to avert drastic global warming. In reality, of course, last week, the President once again called only for voluntary actions that have virtually no chance of reducing the country’s carbon footprint even by 2025 – the President’s own date.

• Wal-Mart Urges Shoppers To Buy 20% Less. As the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart is the scene of more shopping – and consequently the engine behind  more resource consumption — than any other emporium on the planet. The company does a great job offering consumers organic produce, organic cotton clothes, and concentrated packages that reduce waste. But what if Wal-Mart actually encouraged customers to ask “Do I need it?” before saying “I’m going to buy it”?  The impact on the environment could be world changing; consumer pocketbooks would benefit; and Wal-Mart’s own image would improve. In reality, the company intends to open more stores, not fewer, and there are no plans to tell consumers to cut back.

• Coal-fired power planets convert to solar energy. Burning coal not only contributes to climate change; power plants fueled by coal also emit the mercury that is polluting lakes and oceans, rendering fish unsafe to eat and endangering the well-being of pregnant women who eat those fish . We could solve a whole host of environmental problems if we stopped burning coal and switched to solar, wind, biomass, and other renewable fuels. The reality, of course, is that utilities are trying to build new coal operations in many parts of the U.S. and a new coal plant is coming on line in China every week. Though solar technology is expanding, it’s not happening at nearly the pace needed to displace significant coal generation any time soon.

• Congress earmarks $1 billion to help farmers go organic. Talk to any farmer and the major obstacle to transitioning to pesticide-free agriculture is the cost of the certification required to meet Department of Agriculture organic standards. Representatives and Senators never seem to find any funds to help farmers take this important step – even though they fork over billions so conventional agribusiness can continue plying the fields with toxic pesticides and herbicides. How about a few bucks to help farmers really go green?

• Companies ban the use of all phthalates in everything. Phthalates are chemicals called “endocrine disruptors,” compounds that affect the hormones our endocrine glands release into our body to control reproduction, growth and fertility. Phthalates show up in all kinds of personal care products: perfume, air freshener, hair spray, and more. Most companies justify including these toxins by saying that the amount in their product alone doesn’t cause the problem. But because so many companies use phthalates, our cumulative exposure can actually be quite substantial. And when they wash into our water system, phthalates can affect animals, too – you’ve heard of male frogs and fish born with female sex organs? That’s the effect phthalates are having.

Actually, this wish may not be so far-fetched.  Thanks to consumer demand for alternatives, Orly, OPI, and Sally Hansen, the country’s largest nail polish manufacturers, have promised to remove phthalates from their polish. That’s a good start. Now what about the other personal care products we use?

What’s your Earth Day wish? Let us know.

The post Earth Day 2008 Wish List appeared first on Big Green Purse.

* Improve fuel economy – Gasoline is at an all-time high of $3.50 a gallon. Improved fuel efficiency means you travel farther on every gallon of gasoline. The cost savings? Consider this: Say you drive 15,000 miles per year. If your car gets an average of 20 miles per gallon, over the course of the year, at an average fuel price of $3.50/gallon, you will spend $2625 on gasoline. However, if your vehicle achieves 35 mpg, driving the same 15,000 miles will only cost you $1701 – a savings of $924. Say you drive that car for ten years. In all likelihood, gasoline will only get more expensive. In ten years, you could save more than $10,000. And if you invested that money over time, your savings increase considerably more.

* Bring your lunch to work – Lunchtime food packaging wastes enormous energy and other natural resources – think of all the plastic and paper you throw away after you’re finished with a take-out salad, sandwich or burger. David Bach, author of Go Green, Live Rich, calculates that, if you spend $9 a day on lunch from the local Subway or sandwich shop, you’re spending $45 a week, or $2, 250 a year to eat out. Much of what you’re paying for — the wrapping — you throw away. The greener, money-saving option: take food from home in reusable containers, including a durable lunch bag. If you save and invest the $2,250 every year, says Back, in 20 years it will amount to $111,000. (Need a lunchbox? Check out these.)

* Sell your stuff – Someone is willing to pay for what you might be throwing away. By some calculations, 75-90% of what people trash would willingly be used by someone else. Before you toss, try to sell. It’s easy to get started on Craig’s List or EBay, though holding a yard sale also works to generate income while unloading your “riches” on those who want them.

* Pay bills online – You’ll save money, time, paper and late fees — as much as $400 a year or more — by automating your accounts and paying with a click of your mouse rather than having to write a check, seal an envelope, and lick a stamp.

*  Buy less – Ah, abstinence! Like some of the other behaviors this action is associated with, keeping your money in your purse or pocketbook is among the most sure-fire ways to hold onto it – while not contributing to the excessive consumer demand that fuels climate change and pollution. Just do it.

Want more ideas? Check out the Top Ten Ways to Afford Going Green.

The post EARTH DAY COUNTDOWN: More Money-Saving Eco Tips appeared first on Big Green Purse.