Did you know that:

• the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization released a study in 1997 concluding that bottled water is not better for you than tap water.
• roughly 22 percent of bottled water brands have been found to contain, in at least one sample, chemical contaminants at levels above governmental health regulations.
• correlations have even been drawn between increased cavity decay and consumption of bottled water, due, some say, to the natural absence of fluoride in bottled spring water.
• in the first three years of this decade, the planet’s thirsty consumers drank over 500 million liters of bottled water?
• the World Wildlife Fund says the bottled water industry generates 1.5 million tons of plastic a year?
• that there is a No Bottled Water petition?

Chris Baskind @ Lighter Footstep rounded up 5 solid reasons to kick the bottled water habit:

1. Bottled water isn’t a good value.
2. It isn’t healthier than tap water. If you’re concerned about the quality of the water in your taps, you can have clean water without the disposable plastic. A filter system for your tap, or a filter jug in your fridge, is cheaper than buying bottled water and much, much greener.
3. Bottled water means garbage. Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year. And while the plastic used to bottle beverages is of high quality and in demand by recyclers, over 80 percent of plastic bottles are simply thrown away.
4. Bottled water means less attention to public system.
5. The privatization of water. Multinational companies are stepping in to purchase groundwater and distribution rights wherever they can, and the bottled water industry is an important component in their drive to commoditize what many feel is a basic human right: the access to safe and affordable water.

But if you had to buy a bottle of water, buy a local brand. This means less transport, and also that the water is being consumed closer to its source.

References:

1. Alternatives to bottled water
2. 5 reasons not to drink bottled water

Last year I took a pledge to unplug my mobile phone when it had finished charging instead of leaving it plugged in and devouring electricity or even worse, making calls while it was attached to the power socket. Although, I have forgotten a couple of times, on the whole I have stuck to this and while I know that each unplugging only saves a tiny amount of electricity, over time, I’m sure that has added up to quite a large amount. But, it didn’t stop there. I found that I started to think about other appliances that were left on stand by, or even fully operational but unused for long periods of time

The most glaringly obvious example was my computer. I rarely used it in the evening but I didn’t turn it off. It does go into standby mode if left unused, but even then it is still consuming power. So, now I switch it off. The same applies to the television. If no one is watching it, we turn it off.

Casting my eye around the house I discovered other less obvious electricity gobblers. The washing machine - I don’t think I had ever turned that off in all the time we had owned it. Now, after the laundry is finished, the machine is switched off. This even extends to the microwave - why on earth that needed to be left on simply so that we could see the clock I have no idea.

There is a nice bonus to all this switching off - our electricity bills are lower. We only save about £1 week, but that adds up over the course of year into a decent amount of money that can be spent on better things.

Kate is a mother and writer from the north of England. She blogs about writing at Kate Blogs About and posts her personal ramblings at itisi.

Did you know that refrigerators and freezers account for about a sixth of all electricity use in a typical American home, and they use more electricity than any other single household appliance?? Hence, keeping your fridge full, but not to the point of over-stuffing, will allow it to run at maximum capacity.

Did you also know that over-crowding or under-using makes the fridge work harder to maintain it’s optimal internal temp of 3 deg C (or 37 deg Fahrenheit)?

A simple way to retain cold temperatures when the fridge and freezer are less full is to place a glass or ceramic pitchers of water in their compartments. Not only does that maximizes the use of the fridge, it also provides several benefits in terms of energy and water savings, as well as your health.

First of all, a pitcher full of water will help your refrigerator keep your food cool more efficiently, much like how a cold ice pack works in a cooler. Also, whenever you want a glass of water, you won’t have to let the tap run for a few moments to obtain a cool temperature, cutting down on waste. You won’t need as much ice, which requires energy to make.

Secondly, having cold water at the ready will discourage you from reaching for disposable plastic water bottles, which have a sizable environmental footprint to produce, ship and store.

Besides, you’ll also be likely to drink more water, keeping hydrated while avoiding sugar-loaded sodas and other alternatives. Plus, when tap water sits for a while (particularly when uncovered), much of the chlorine that is present from the filtration plant evaporates out. This means you’re enjoying a tastier drink, and cutting down on the toxins, extremely dilute though they may be, that enter your body.

References:

• Fill the fridge
• Keep a pitcher of water in your fridge