5 Green Things You Can Do in 5 Minutes or Less

 

1 . Click Green Links for Charity Online


Let's start out with the one that doesn't even require you to get up from your computer—donating your mouse click to green charities. You can do this without coughing up a single cent, too. A number of forward thinking websites are using internet ad revenue to sponsor green initiatives—and since ad sales are passed on page views, all you need to do to help out is lend a click. The Rainforest Site is a good example: by visiting the link in the center of the page, you drum up traffic to the site, and the money goes to combating deforestation—so you can help save the rainforest one click at a time. And it's far from the only one. Click any one of these 21 links to make a real difference without lifting your hand from your mouse. And depending on your left-click prowess, you can plow through all 21 in under 5 minutes. Easy.


2. Switch Your Light Bulb to a CFL


In the amount of time it takes you to screw on a light bulb (this tip, for the obvious reasons, does not apply to blondes, lawyers drummers), you can save 60-80% of the energy wasted on your standard incandescent bulbs. Switching to CFL bulbs from the standards you've probably got around your home is one of the simplest, most impacting changes you can make. In addition to using up to 80% less energy than incandescent bulbs, compact fluorescent light bulbs also last for up to 15,000 hours—15 times the old guys. CFL bulbs are widely available; even big box stores like Wal-Mart are aiming to sell a ton of them.

3. Read Your Meters


Check your gas, electricity, and water meters, and see if you can make a major improvement. The actual act of checking your meters shouldn't take you longer than 5 minutes, and if you just jot down the readings and compare them a couple times a month, you should be able to get an idea of what areas you could be using energy and resources more efficiently in. Mathematically, this is one of the most important green actions you can take. You stand to save 4 kilowatt hours of electricity a day by making easy adjustments like turning lights off and unplugging appliances that suck away electricity with vampire power. Seeing exactly how much water you're using up in the shower will probably be a pretty good motivation to cut back on those, too. If you really want to get accurate (and use less time marching outside to the meters) you can pick up a smart energy meter to really see where you can amp up your efficiency.


4. Start a Compost Pile


Starting to make compost is really simple, and can be a really quick process to kick start. Whether you go with the indoor bin or the backyard box, there are pre-built compost containers you can buy. These help make composting less of a mess, and are good for the beginner. With a couple more minutes, you can make a compost bin out of an old storage tub. Or you can just start a pile in your backyard. Once you've got your compost bin (or pile), just take a couple minutes to gather stuff from around the house and yard—lawn clippings, apple cores, egg shells, coffee grounds—and get that compost pile started. (Here's a good list of things you can compost). And if you're really pressed for time/fertilizer, you can make compost fast with the help of a little manure (from an herbivore) or older compost sprinkled on top the newer stuff. This brief composting guide should get you acquainted with more of the basics.


5. Pick Up Trash Outside

Okay, obvious. But I figured I'd end the list with a classic and now overlooked conservation necessity. We can spend hours online looking at how cool the next plug in electric luxury car is going to be, or trumpet the virtues of emerging renewable energy technologies to friends at cocktail parties, but are you really willing to consider yourself green if you're not willing to get your hands dirty for a couple minutes a day? So when you've got a spare 5 minutes, why not hustle out to your street and snag any garbage that may have accumulated out front? Why not take a couple of minutes to do the same on your walk back from lunch at work? This is an easy one to make a habit of, and it sends an important signal to your neighbors in the process.