Earth Week 2012 Challenges: 7 Eco-Friendly Tips You Can Practice With HuffPost Green

Here at HuffPost Green, we realize that while every day should be Earth Day, it's pretty hard to live by that assertion. This Earth Week, we've decided to make going green simple. Really simple.

From April 16-22, HuffPost Green invites you to take on one easy goal per day to reduce your impact on the planet. We can't extend a challenge without attempting it ourselves, so our team will tackle each goal as well and share with you the highs and lows of our experiences.

We realize it will take more than a few small personal changes to make our planet healthy. But if you can make one lifestyle change each day this coming week, it's a start. If you can stick with that change beyond one day, even better.

If you participate in our daily challenges, we want to hear from you! Tweet to us at #ecochallenge, e-mail photos and video to [e-mail], and share your experience. We'll feature some of the creative ways that readers have tackled each daily goal to go green.

Check out the daily challenges below (many suggested by our readers) and check in each day to learn why these tips are important, read about our experiences and share in our efforts to go green:

Monday: Meatless Monday. Reduce your carbon footprint by cutting down or eliminating your meat consumption for a day. Click here to read about our experiences.

Tuesday: Power Down. Fix your computer settings, unplug energy sapping devices, install smart strips to eliminate vampire power.

Wednesday: Reusable Bottles & Mugs. Eliminate the use of all paper coffee cups and plastic water bottles.

Thursday: Cut Paper Waste. Reduce your use of paper, adjust your printer settings, cancel junk mail subscriptions.

Friday: (Reusable) Bag Lunch. Bring your own lunch in reusable containers or bring the containers to your favorite take-out restaurant and pass on the plastic utensils, excess paper napkins and bags.

Saturday: Second-Hand Clothes And Products. Instead of purchasing new items, reuse and upcycle old items.

Sunday: Waste Less Water. Take shorter showers, turn the faucet off while brushing teeth, do only full loads of dishes and laundry.

Check out #EcoChallenge tips from our readers to go green:

Also on HuffPost:

From our partners

• How Two Determined Sisters Set Up A Pet Rescue Pipeline To Colorado - Mother Nature Network
• Panel Finds Flaws In Hurricane Sandy Warning System - Climate Central
• 11 Images And Facts About A Misunderstood Creature - Mother Nature Network

Comments

[bjc33]

04:21 PM on 04/20/2012

Check out latest article on status of clean energy globally and in the US as Earth Day nears & former Pres. Obama Earth Day pledges blow away in the wind- www.examiner.com/green-business-in-phoenix/brian-coppa

[Karamel]

04:31 AM on 04/17/2012

Great initiative! :)

[DJMarian]

06:29 PM on 04/16/2012

If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down.

[Karma2U]

05:19 PM on 04/16/2012

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors - we borrow it from our children" - Native American Wisdom.

[WI Patriot]

07:03 PM on 04/16/2012

A toliet that uses stuff that falls from the sky isn't too much to ask for either.

[Karma2U]

05:09 PM on 04/16/2012

Available Now! - Hybrid vehicles, mass transit, car pools, energy efficient light bulbs and appliances, solar water heaters, plants and trees in front of windows, bicycles, recycle centers,
donation centers for clothes and household goods. Thrift stores, scratch and dent stores, locally grown food, second hand book stores etc. etc.

[Karma2U]

05:39 PM on 04/16/2012

I almost forgot two of my favorites - water barrels which are place at the bottom of my gutters - I use the rain water to water all my plants, plus I hang out my clothes to cut down on drying time. It works great!

[homer winslow]

06:10 PM on 04/17/2012

Until just recently it was illegal to collect rainwater in the state of Colorado. They deemed that all moisture that fell from the sky belonged to the state. That was changed in 2009.

[WI Patriot]

07:04 PM on 04/16/2012

The automobile is the most recycled manufactured item.

Don't buy a new hybrid - buy used!

[Karma2U]

05:01 PM on 04/16/2012

Recycling cans, bottles, paper packaging, etc. saves space and money - landfills are re-leaved and households require less garbage bags.

Donate all old clothes and household items to charity for a tax write off or to someone you know who can use the items.

Properly dispose of harmful solutions and waste.

Plants and trees help clean the air and cool and beautify your environment.

Get clean - go green - and smile more.

[Kenz300]

04:26 PM on 04/16/2012

It is time to shift to safe, clean alternative energy.

Wind solar wave energy, geothermal and second generation biofuels made from algae, cellulose and waste are the future.

Individuals, business and politicians need to develop a plan to deal with higher energy prices.

[WI Patriot]

04:26 PM on 04/16/2012

I do not understand how not eating meat reduces the "carbon footprint" and ordering up 5 cappuccinos per day does......

Oh thats right its all organic.

[BeAndNotSeem77]

10:25 PM on 04/16/2012

I do not understand how knocking down straw men makes people think its okay to blindly consume moremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremore with little to no regard for the myriad consequences.
Oh thats right it doesn't, it just makes them self-focused and determined to justify their actions by denying reality.

[Kenz300]

04:24 PM on 04/16/2012

As the price of oil continues to rise we will all become more interested in saving energy and saving money.

We will walk a little more, we will bicycle a little more, we will take mass transit a little more and we will think more about energy efficiency when we buy our home, car, truck, furnace, appliance and even light bulbs. LED bulbs use 25% of the energy of a candescent bulb.

[obamavet]

04:08 PM on 04/16/2012

I have reduced my carbon footprint thru green computing. My PC uses only 33 watts of power at peak load as opposed to a standard desktop's 150 watts. sustainablepc dot com.

[Conspiracy2Riot]

02:53 PM on 04/16/2012

the people here today need to begin to adjust to the idea that the generations that are young and yet to come are NOT going to be living in an ever increasing 'better lifestyle'.

gone are the days of cheap and easy oil, coal and gas. gone are the days that you can expect to do better than your parents. and when i say better, i mean a more monied, modern lifestyle.

industry is going to rip every inch of this planet apart sucking, blasting, drilling, pumping, piping and shipping what's left to those who can afford it. and climate instability is going to be the wild card.

we need to reduce consumption, reduce population and get over the idea that nothing will change and infinite growth is a reality.

[WI Patriot]

04:27 PM on 04/16/2012

I agree - we need to reduce the population rabid human-attacking environmentalists. Ahh its happening already, how organic!

[Piyali Dasgupta Saha]

12:59 PM on 04/16/2012

Come to India and Learn from us. Our way of living is the most eco friendly way. Unfortunately bi economic western giants are trying to walk all over us and ruin it all ! On a serious note we allready follow all these tips at a more deeper level in our daily life If you would want to learn, write to me at [e-mail]

[Conspiracy2Riot]

02:54 PM on 04/16/2012

fanned. do you have a website i can view?

[WI Patriot]

04:29 PM on 04/16/2012

generally you have to be off the computer for more than 10 minutes a day to do your daily bio break to be more eco-friendly.

[Forever Jung]

08:35 AM on 04/16/2012

This all exemplifies the whole "green" movement: make personal changes that make you "feel good" (and if possible, appear to be more "concerned and aware" than your neighbors) that make no significant impact on anything. Look at the size of the Earth, then look at the size of your coffee cup (or even everybody's coffee cup). Feeling good, the opportunity to be smug, and societal pressure should not be replacements for common sense, critical thinking and risking a more reality-based world-view.

[theveggiedude]

12:13 PM on 04/16/2012

Someone said a trip of a thousand miles begins with one step. I'm taking my step. Bye.

[IrieMoon]

12:37 PM on 04/16/2012

One person may be insignificant, but together we can do things that are significant.

[WI Patriot]

04:30 PM on 04/16/2012

Sounds awesome, more stuff for me!

Have fun living like a caveperson!

[florida native]

07:04 AM on 04/16/2012

"Learning to fly was a work of art. I'm so passionate about flying I often fly up the coast for a cheeseburger."...........Harrison Ford. Meatless Monday.......???

[Rob Terrill]

12:54 AM on 04/16/2012

Meatless Monday??? Your nuts, lost me right there

[tuezdaygirl]

09:32 AM on 04/16/2012

You can't go one single day without eating an animal? shame!

[theveggiedude]

12:14 PM on 04/16/2012

I guess you missed the United Nations report about 4 years ago that said eating meat causes more climate change and pollution than driving a SUV.

[WI Patriot]

04:32 PM on 04/16/2012

Not if you trap them with re-useable traps, dress/skin them yourself. You can even make some decent money selling pelts.

That's sustainability before it was trendy.

[north of 60]

02:48 AM on 04/18/2012

Speak for yourself, and don't assume everyone is like you. The meat I eat is local source grass fed free range.

Meaningless gestures like 'earth week' might bring kudos from your latte sipping cronies, but it has little or no real effect on the rest of the world.

Practice a low consumptive conserver lifestyle 52 weeks in a year, and then you'll have a real effect.