Ecomemphis

This is where we’ll be adding easy, cheap and effective ways you can make Memphis a more environmentally-friendly place to live. Our promise to you this that we’ll post items that are indeed easy, cheap and effective – there’ll be posted backwards so you won’t have to scroll down to see the recently added items.

Please add your comments, suggestions, and tips!

95. Fast Food/Take Out: Nix it. The amount of packaging necessary to deliver a single burrito or sandwich is, by a generous margin, rediculous. Not to mention all the other effects (but we probably will in here somewhere.)

96. Fast Food and Drive Thrus: Okay, sometimes fast food is a must, and not a want. We get it. Next time instead of letting your car idling in the drive thru lane, park the car and walk inside the building.

97. Buy a rain barrel. This nifty devices catch rain water for use in your garden or in the yard. Free of all the chemicals (chlorine, flouride, etc.) added by our local water company, your yard will thank you. Not  local resouce, so find how to make your own here: http://bit.ly/Irvyq

98.  Use soap, not detergent. What’s the difference? Soaps are made from natural products such as oils, cassia, lye and vegetables. Detergent was invented in 1913 as a surfactant during soap shortages. Detergents include man-made chemicals such as alkyl benzene sulfonates, diethanolamines, and EDTA. Try Dr. Bronners in you soap dispenser beside your kitchen sink, and in the bathrooms.

99. Wash your car on grass or gravel. They filter contaminants from your wash water to keep them out of the storm sewer.

100.  Nix the paper towels – use cloth instead. Americans use 2.5 million tons of paper towels. That’s 51,000 treas per day are needed to replace the paper towels that are disposed of each day.