A New Year's Promise to Treat the Earth Right

With the start of the New Year, the Internet keeps asking me about New Year’s resolutions. I, not really believing in New Year’s Resolutions, came up with a new idea: what about a New Year’s promise? A promise not to lose that extra weight or start working out for longer hours at the gym, but a promise to yourself and to the environment to live a greener, healthier lifestyle. A promise to catch hold of the new eco initiative wave this year. Going green has never been as simple and catchy as it is in College Park. Here are five tips to get you started living green this new year.

Buy local and organic. Choose the healthier option for your body and the environment by choosing organic foods. , located in College Park, strives to bring the community organic, local, and sustainable choices, offering the best options to better your everyday lifestyle and the environment. Some people doubt if organic is actually better. According to the results from a study comprehended here, it’s pretty clear to me that organic is not only better for the environment and you, but it also tastes better.

Bike or utilize the public transportation options. College Park offers an array of bus services with Metro, the Maryland Transit Administrative, TheBus, and the Shuttle-UM (free to College Park residents with a resident ID card). During the warmer weather, biking is another great way to cut back on car emission and keep fit and healthy while traveling about, doing what you normally do on a day-to-day basis. If you don’t own a bike, don’t worry! There are three stores in College Park that sell bikes: , and . Google Maps also offers directions for bicycling, public transportation, and walking.

Recycle. You can now literally recycle anything, but knowing the difference between what can be recycled and what you should just skip and trash could make a huge difference during the recycling process. College Park recycles most glass, metals, papers and plastics. For the complete lists of recycling dos and don’ts the College Park website offers a good list. College Park also asks that you rinse out everything you put into your recycle bin. NEVER recycle oil, batteries, and electronic waste in the city’s recycle bins; College Park offers a list of additional recycling options on their website.

Light up your home with CFLs. When they burn out, replace your incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent light bulbs. Right now Pepco is helping you save money on CFLs when you buy their Energy Star product CFLs. is one of the locations that sells these Energy Star CFLs, and — imagine that, they’re located right in College Park. (I hear the sound of bonus points ringing.) You can also recycle your burned out CFLs for free at Home Depot, too.

Shop with reusable bags. Wherever you go shopping, be it the local organic market or a clothing store, get into the practice of taking a reusable bag with you. These are great investments and, in most stores, relatively cheap.  When you do have to use the store’s shopping bags, you can temporarily reuse the bags as trashcan liners, or trashcans themselves. Although, you could always get really creative with trash bags and a plastic bottle and try this out.