It seems that most folks who stop in the store already have an idea of what it means to be green for themselves, their families & friends.

Every once in a while, however, a “newbie” wanders in & it’s great to hear their questions about products & practices & to witness how the information affects them.  We’ve hosted a few groups of students, too (from 7 to 17), & they’re the most exciting & excited. But then, I’m partial to kids.

Anyhooo… since in reality we’re all students wandering this big blue planet of ours, I offer up a dozen “Did You Knows” – ways & means for saving & conserving our resources.

Will you send us your own best & favorites?

DID YOU KNOW?

1.  Turning down your thermostat by one degree can cut 8% off your fuel bill.

2.  An energy efficient washing machine will use a third less electricity for each wash, which could save you more than the cost of the appliance.

3.  If every household replaced one roll of regular toilet paper with one recycled post-consumer waste roll, 424,000 trees would be saved.

4.  Every three months, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild the nation ’s commercial air fleet.

5.  The energy saved from one recycled aluminum can will operate a television for three hours.

6.  The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle will light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours.

7.  Recycling a glass bottle also causes 20% less air pollution & 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.

8.  Recycling & reusing the material in “tin” cans reduces energy use by 74%, air pollution by 85%, solid waste by 95% & water pollution by 76%.

9.  It takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday Edition of the New York Times.

10.   The amount of wood & paper Americans throw away each year is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.

And two more for recycling inspiration…

11.  If Americans recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save 25 million trees a year.

12.  Producing one ton of paper from recycled pulp saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space & 7000 gallons of water. It also reduces air pollutants by 60 pounds, saves 390 gallons of oil & conserves 4200 kilowatt hours of energy – enough to heat a home for half a year.