Green Living Ideas
EnergyGreen Living: Combining Errands
The ability to combine errands will support green living as you save energy and reduce the pollution your car emits. While it sounds simple, there is an art to combining errands to maximize your positive green living effect. Beyond buying milk and getting gas at the same time, a focus on combining errands effectively can have a great effect toward green living.
Before you set out on any errands, ask yourself if you could accomplish any of it by walking or riding a bike. Besides saving energy and reducing pollution in the green living way, it can also be a fun diversion on a nice day and an excuse to get some exercise. If walking or riding a bike aren't options, how about taking public transportation? Taking a train, bus, or even a ferry can be a wonderful help to green living.
If you do need to drive your own car, at least further green living by saving up several errands to accomplish on the same trip. Even if the grocery store and the vet aren't all that near each other, you will still probably save by not having to drive in and out of your neighborhood twice.
Furthermore, running those combined errands on the way to or back from work is a green living option (although carpooling or taking public transportation to work is of course even greener living if it works for you). And my favorite energy-saving strategy (for both the car and me!) is to ask a roommate or spouse to pick up the desired items on the way home from work!
Then, once you're already out running errands, practice green living by buying more food in bigger packages. This saves the energy which would have been wasted making the larger amount of packaging required for individually wrapped items, as well as make trips to the grocery store needed less frequently. And my last piece of advice toward green living would be to bring a friend and run your errands together. This is both more eco-friendly and more fun!
