Green Tips

If you’re like us, you need a jolt of caffeine to start your day, especially on these cold winter mornings. You already know to buy organic, fair-trade, and shade-grown coffee and tea, so this week we’re giving you other tips for making your daily cup eco-friendlier.

Both tea and French-pressed coffee require hot water, so you’ll likely need a kettle. To use energy wisely, choose an electric one (metal, not plastic) instead of the more traditional stove-top model, and don’t boil more water than you'll actually drink. Clean your kettle often to keep it efficient – boil a mixture of distilled white vinegar and water to oust lime and calcium deposits, then rinse.

Tell us: Do you use an electric or a stove-top kettle?

If you’re like us, you need a jolt of caffeine to start your day, especially on these cold winter mornings. You already know to buy organic, fair-trade, and shade-grown coffee and tea, so this week we’re giving you other tips for making your daily cup eco-friendlier.

Tip #3: Drink Tea Instead

Already a tea drinker? We applaud you. If you’re a java loyalist, though, consider switching to coffee’s leafy counterpart. Some black teas have just as much caffeine as coffee, and growing tea is much greener. In fact, producing one cup of coffee requires almost 75 gallons of water. The same amount of tea requires only about 7 gallons of water, so it’s much easier on the planet (and your body). As with coffee filters, skip bagged tea and brew loose-leaf.

Bonus: Not sure where to start? Check out the Sierra article about tea experts’ favorite eco-friendly brands.

The do-it-yourself option is generally the green way to go, but when it comes to cleaning your ride, the commercial car wash -- surprise! -- is actually the earth-friendlier choice. 

The water you use at home, loaded with gas and oil, spills into storm drains and travels to rivers and lakes with all its additives, causing a traffic jam of nightmares for our water system. Washington state, in fact, is telling local governments they must prohibit the driveway car wash unless residents steer their waste water away from storm drains.

Commercial car washes in the U.S. and Canada are required by federal law to drain their polluted water into sewer systems before it flows back into nature. Additionally, the International Carwash Association reports that pro car washes use less than half the amount of water than DIYers do. New York state's Hoffman Car Wash uses a reclaim water system to clean cars, and similar practices are being adopted around the country.

If you must do it yourself, buy biodegradable soap to do the job.

--Nicholas Mukhar

If you’re like us, you need a jolt of caffeine to start your day, especially on these cold winter mornings. You already know to buy organic, fair-trade, and shade-grown coffee and tea, so this week we’re giving you other tips for making your daily cup eco-friendlier.

Tip #2: Use a French Press

Save yourself some money by making your coffee at home. Consider using a French press instead of a drip coffee maker -- presses don’t require a paper filter. Besides the obvious waste-decreasing benefit, no filter also means more flavor. If you tend to make coffee only for yourself, French presses are great because they’re often smaller than drip machines, so you can just brew a single serving.