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Five Tips to Help Your Sustainable Lifestyle

• Collect rainwater for domestic use

Rather than water your plants with a hose, try collecting rainwater in barrels and reusing the water normally directed to the sewer. Install a spigot into the bottom of a 55-gallon barrel, then connect the barrel to your house’s gutter system. Fill up watering cans from your rain barrel and save some water!

• Compost your food waste

There are valuable nutrients in the food scraps tossed in the trash. Save your fruit rinds, vegetable scraps and eggshells for a compost pile. Start an easy compost pile by layering a few inches of dry “brown” material, like leaves, underneath a pile of “green” material, like kitchen scraps. Add a layer of soil above the “green” layer, and continue mixing brown material, green material and soil. Turn the pile every month to get oxygen in the pile.

• Use native plants in flowerbeds and gardens

Local nurseries are stocked with native plants to help you create the most eco-friendly garden possible. Planting native flowers like Purple Coneflower, Jacob’s Ladder and Blue Flag Iris will attract native pollinators to your garden and help promote the local ecosystem.

• Turn off unused appliances

If it glows, it uses energy. Turn off and unplug appliances to make sure they’re not sucking electricity while they’re not in use.

• Rethink home thermostat settings

If you have air conditioning, try seeing if you can stand bumping the thermostat up a few more degrees. According to the California Energy Commission’s Consumer Energy Center, you can save 1–3 percent on your cooling bill for each degree your thermostat is set over 72 degrees. The Center recommends setting your thermostat to 78 degrees when you’re home and 85 when you’re away from home.