12 Animals Demonstrating Simple Ways To Help The Environment

If a group of dogs can deal with cloth napkins, can't you?

1. Don't Preheat Your Oven

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Unless you're baking pastries, ovens don't really need to be preheated. Stick your food in immediately and look through the door rather than opening the oven to conserved heat.

2. Use One Less Paper Napkin

Via flickr.com

Follow their lead and use fabric napkins! Americans use approximately 2,200 napkins per year. If we all used one less per day, we could save 1 BILLION pounds of paper napkins per year from their landfill-y grave.

3. Wash Clothes in Cold or Warm Water

Via itchmo.com

"If all the households in the U.S. switched from hot-hot cycle to warm-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day."

4. Wrap Presents Creatively

Via cutestuff.co

She feels very strongly that you could reuse that. Wrap with Newspaper, Aluminum Foil, or Inside Out Christmas Paper (which you can then decorate with your own creative awesomeness).

5. Turn Off the Water when You Brush Your Teeth

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You can save up to 5 gallons of water a day with this simple change. "Daily savings in the U.S. alone could add up to 1.5 billion gallons--more water than folks use in the Big Apple."

6. Use Less Toilet Paper

Via blogger.com

He missed the mark on this one. And is sorry.

7. Use Cruise Control

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You're car could get up to 15% better gas mileage, saving you lots of money at the pump and helping reduce fuel consumption. Win win!

8. Shower With Your Partner

Via treehugger.com

Conserve Water. Right.

9. Hang Dry Your Clothes

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Your clothes will fit better, last longer, and you'll save lot's of money (and energy).

10. Don't Use Coffee Stirrers or Unnecessary Straws

Via jokeroo.com

He totally could have just sipped that. Yeesh.

Currently, Americans throw away 138 billion straws and stirrers. "Determined to stir? Break off a piece of pasta from the cupboard. You can nibble after using it, compost, or throw away with less guilt."

11. Turn out (some) Lights when you Leave the Room

Via doggiebuddy.com

"Always turn off incandescent bulbs when you leave a room. Fluorescent bulbs are more affected by the number of times it is switched on and off, so turn them off when you leave a room for 15 minutes or more. You'll save energy on the bulb itself, but also on cooling costs, as lights contribute heat to a room."

12. Pay Bills Online

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If all Americans stopped receiving paper billing statements, we could save 18.5 million trees per year, 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses, and 1.7 billion pounds of solid waste.

Reference for all statistics and more great ideas found at http://www.50waystohelp.com/