Three Green Decisions With Little or No Downside

Who was the guy that said living eco means sacrifice? It's not about living in a cave and shaking your head at the 'modern day luxuries,' folks. Getting this green life down is mostly about taking another look at the things you use and understanding the domino effect: from all the steps involved to get a product to you -- to the impact it continues to have.

In other words, you need to be aware of a product's Life Cycle Assessment.

Here are three things that you can incorporate in your life without the downside.

1) Say No to Fluff
The thin, medium sized towel versus the huge plush towel. Fact of the matter is, they both get you nice and dry. But with textiles, the more porous you go, the bigger the footprint. After harvesting raw fiber, fabrication for each textile product usually takes seven steps, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

(1) yarn formation
(2) fabric formation
(3) fabric preparation
(4) dyeing,
(5) printing
(6) final finishing
(7) product fabrication.

All of these steps are energy-, water-, and chemical-intensive. Not to mention textile manufacturing is one of the largest producers of wastewater, and the EPA estimates about 20 gallons of water are required to produce one pound of textile. Who knew fluff was so heavy on the earth? And that's just the beginning..most of textiles impact is in their use phase (washing and drying). A bigger, fluffier towel takes up more energy and water in this process. Pick a smaller, thinner towel and I bet it could be half the weight. And therefore by my guesstimation, half the impact. Plus they're good to get in your ears. :)

2) Eat Light
The thick, heavy table verses the lightweight table. That whole Minimalism movement started for a reason. You can chow down your organic mac 'n' cheese on both, but the thin, sturdy version -- preferably used or made from sustainable materials-- requires less to make. Once again, you trim down on the steps. It is also easier to ship. (Check out the Regreen Residential Remodeling Guidelines released by the American Society of Interior Designers and the U.S. Green Building Council for more furniture tips). Same idea here...make a table out of half the materials and you've got yourself roughly half the impact for likely the same results. Nice.

3) Cold is Still Clean
It's laundry day: Keep the knob on cold. According to the Australian government's life cycle analysis of washers, if you use cold water (or heat your water with natural gas) you'll have "considerably lower impacts than people who use electric water heaters." It comes out just as fresh and clean -- at a fraction of the energy consumption. Next step: forgo the dryer and hang your clothes on a rack.

Now that wasn't hard was it?

Do you do small things that have big benefits for the earth/us in the long run? Comment below!

More From TreeHugger on Life Cycle Assessment
::The Time of My Life Cycle
::Plug-In Hybrids Have Higher Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions
::Ethanol vs. Biodiesel: Life Cycle Impacts

More from Graham Hill on Huffington Post
::Global Warming: How We Got Here and Why We Shouldn't Beat Ourselves Up About It
::Would You Kill What You Eat?
::Europeans Happier than Americans yet Half the Footprint
::Should Airlines Give Bottled Water to Flyers?
::Phones as Fashion: Can You Resist the New Apple iPhone?

More From Huffington Post on Waste
::Three Things I Could Live Without: The Bath Mat, the Paper Towel, and the Cocktail Napkin
::Top 10 Most Useless Items of Crapola

Photos from top: mason bryant via flickrIngorrr via Flickr.

 

Follow Graham Hill on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ghill