9. Use non-toxic alternatives on your property rather than chemical pesticides or fertilizer which contain chemicals which are lethal to human health and the environment.

10. Change to recycled toilet paper when possible. Green Peace estimates that if everyone in Canada switched from non-recycled, bleach toilet paper to one roll of recycled, we could save 48,000 trees and, hopefully, prevent the Boreal Forest from further clear cutting.

Buy locally, lean and organic

11. Take the David Suzuki’s Nature challenge and have one day a week where you replace meat with protein and nutritional alternatives. According to the David Suzuki Foundation, “meat production requires more water than raising crops. For example, 283 grams (10 oz) of beef requires 85 times more water to produce than the same amount of potatoes.”

12. Buy one organic fruit or vegetable a week when available.

13. Eat one locally sourced meal a week when available. If your food has traveling many countries to get to your plate, chances are it has cost the environment in emissions. Whenever practical, follow the 100 mile diet designed by Vancouver’s Alisa Smith and James Mackinnon. For more information go to www.100milediet.org.

Recycle, Reduce, Reuse and Recover

14. Bring all rechargeable batteries and old cell phones to drop off sites subsidized by the Call2Recycle program. To find the site nearest you, visit www.call2recycle.org, or call toll-free 877-2-RECYCLE. If you don’t have one in your area, any retailer, business, community, or public agency can have boxes sent to them and send them back free of charge. By recycling your rechargeable batteries from your power tools, lap tops and so on, you are reducing the amount of waste going into the landfill and diverting pollutants from seeping into our streams and soil.

15. Buy second hand furniture or clothing whenever possible.

16. Avoid buying or using anything that you can’t recycle, reuse or compost, whenever possible.

17. Invest in a reusable coffee mug instead of using disposable cups.

18. Buy products that are sold in recycled packaging, reduce your packaging by buying in bulk wherever possible and avoid products with lots of packaging. According to Earth 911, 10 cents of every dollar goes into packaging.

19. Consider air drying your hands in public washrooms instead of using paper towels or an electric hot air machine.

Dispose Properly

20. Divert toxic substances from entering our landfills by disposing them separately from normal household garbage.

21. Check with your municipality about what programs are available for recycling or disposing of toxic cleaning products and other hazardous substances. Do not pour them down the sink or storm drains. The polluted water eventually reaches our lakes and streams.

22. Return any leftover or expired human and animal medication drugs back to the pharmacy. Do not flush them down the toilet or dispose of them by throwing them into the garbage. Environment Canada and Trent University were involved in testing water samples for pharmaceutical products near sewage treatment plants in 14 Canadian cities and in the Great Lakes and found Anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, birth control hormones, and Prozac in the water.