Resource Library/10% Challenge/10% Challenge - More ideas
From Green Needham
Member and Friend Tip # 1: Say no to bottled water
- Russ Cohen of the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game Riverways Program suggests that minimizing the purchase of bottled water is a good way to reduce your carbon footprint, since the energy used to manufacture and distribute bottled water greatly exceeds the energy used to deliver drinking water to the tap. Avoiding bottled water saves money also. Click here to see his comments.
Member and Friend Tip # 2: Reduce driving by adopting the One Mile Solution
- The premise of the One Mile solution is simple: Find your home on a map...Draw a circle with a 1-mile radius around your home. Try to replace one car trip per week within that circle by riding a bicycle or walking (about 7 minutes by bike, 20 minutes walking).
- Needham is ideal for this project, with a downtown area in close proximity to about 80% of households. Reduced traffic would mean better health and a more vibrant, economically strong downtown. Short car trips, mile for mile, are also the most polluting. Engines running cold produce four times the carbon monoxide and twice the volatile organic compounds of engines running hot.
- There are a number of easy to use resources that provide help for folks who are interested in attempting to do this. One is the following that uses Google maps to list what is within one mile of your home: www.walscore.com More information can be found here.
Member and Friend Tip # 3: If you have an attached garage, close the garage door as soon as possible in winter and summer.
