9 Ways to Be a Better Steward of Natural Resources

I've never been a particularly green person.  My family just follows the recycling rules for where we happen live at the moment.  We generally don't buy organic stuff (unless it happens to be more economical) or make our own granola bars.  (Who has the time for that?  Although I've always wanted to try, just once...)

There are times, though, when I've wanted to find ways to be a better steward of the world God's given us.  On one of those days a while back, I decided to do some online research, and came up of a list of ideas.  This list then sat buried in my computer until now, as I was desperately searching for something to blog about, and uncovered it.

 

9 Ways to Be a Better Steward of Natural Resources

1. Buy and take cloth bags to use at the grocery store.  (Certain boxes of Jolly Time popcorn offer a free cloth grocery bag when you mail in 3 UPCs from their microwave popcorn boxes!)
 
2. Walk, ride a bike, take the bus, or carpool instead of driving to your destination.
 
3. Keep a recycling bin (or bins) in the room(s) of your home that you spend the most time in.
 
4. Have a place for scrap paper - paper that still has one blank side and can be reused for grocery lists, to-do lists, or even paper mache.  (You get the idea!)
 
5. Turn off all lights, televisions, radios, computers, Scentsy pots, and anything else using power whenever you leave a room.
 
6. Use the 'fast' or 'quick' setting when using the printer, and use grayscale/black and white instead of the color setting whenever possible.  (Even if a paper doesn't have color on it, the grayscale uses less black ink.)
 
7. Take a quick shower instead of a bath.
 
8. Drink tap water or use a purifier instead of buying water bottles; there are tons of choices for reusable bottles you can buy once and refill.  (This article clears up six myths of bottled water.)
 
9. Instead of throwing things away, (a) give them to someone you know, (b) donate them to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, or (c) find a project that uses them to make something else.  There are tons of books and websites out there for turning random items into art or something useful.  One I've recently discovered that's also kid-friendly is Art from Anything.