8 Green New Year’s Resolutions

This story is part of Earth911’s “Green Eight” series, where we showcase eight ways to green your life in various areas.

So how many New Year’s Resolutions do you make each year? More importantly, how many do you actually keep? If you’re looking for some extra incentive this year, try making eco-friendly goals. Here are eight of the more common resolutions most people make, and ways to make it a green 2009:

1. Get in Shape

The Resolution: Whether it’s losing holiday weight or prepping for swimsuit season, it’s no surprise that gym membership sign-ups increase every January. But treadmills use electricity and you exercise the same muscles doing push-ups as bench pressing free weights. Consider a home-based workout to achieve your fitness goals.

Last year's Times Square Ball was revamped with 9,576 energy-efficient bulbs

The Results:

1. Energy Savings: Running on the treadmill for 30 minutes likely uses the same energy as powering a Christmas tree for six hours.
2. Save Waste: Dumbbells are a mixture of steel, plastic and rubber so they’re difficult to manufacture and recycle, whereas push-ups only require your body and dedication. Now, drop and give me 20!
3. Save Cash: A gym membership will probably cost you $50 per month, meaning a home-based workout will save you $600 this year.

2. Work on Your Home

The Resolution: Home renovations make your rooms more attractive and can add significant value to your property. But you’re also generating lots of waste, consuming a great deal of energy and releasing toxic fumes in the process. Finding recycled content building supplies and energy-efficient products can limit this impact.

The Results:

1. Zero-Landfill: Recycling your obsolete supplies (including carpet, wood and tile) reduces the need for virgin resources and makes it possible for you to continue to buy recycled supplies.
2. Star Power: Installing ENERGY STAR appliances can save up to 50 percent off your monthly energy bill.
3. Breathe Easy: Finding non-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint will reduce exposure to fumes that cause headaches, nausea and respiratory problems.

3. Stay in Touch With Loved Ones

The Resolution: Be honest: when you saw family and friends over the holidays you totally promised to stay in touch more. But what does this mean? Is it weekly phone calls, or a cross-country flight for a weekend visit? Start small by sending an e-greeting to all the special people in your life on their birthday.

The Results:

1. Don’t Forget: Sites like American Greetings allow you to set up free reminders for upcoming birthdays so you won’t need to keep a paper calendar of these dates.
2. Lose 5 Lbs.: Sending 50 e-cards instead of paper greetings can save five pounds of waste.

4. Improve Your Financial Situation

The Resolution: Are you starting 2009 with a pile of debt? Perhaps you’ve peaked (performance-wise or financially) at your current job and are looking for a change. Well, you can find a new employer and create a sound financial plan without burning through a bunch of paper.

The Results:

1. Improve Your Credit: You can avoid missing bill payments (and dinging your credit score) by signing up for online billing and automatic bill pay, which will also cut the paper use for monthly statements via mail.
2. Digital Applications: Many companies now let you apply for jobs online, and collecting business cards at job fairs allows you to form an email relationship instead of mailing/faxing your resume.
3. A Taxing Time: Tax season is just around the corner, and you can now file taxes online to avoid printing copies of your return and financial documents

5. Learn a New Skill

The Resolution: It could be a foreign language, a musical instrument or a trick to show off at parties. Whatever you decide to add to your repertoire of talents, it’s likely you’ll have to buy books and supplies to hone your craft. Why not buy these items used, or in the case of books, check them out from the library?

The Results:

1. Get Used: Publishers produce new editions of educational books faster than any other type of book, simultaneously dropping their average shelf life and letting you save money on used versions at the same time.
2. Play it Again: At second-hand shops, you can find everything from used instruments to sporting equipment. Use the money you saved for lessons instead, and wait until you’re a pro to buy new supplies.

6. Give Up a Vice

The Resolution: There are plenty of vices you may be looking to shake. All of them have environmental ramifications to consider, but let’s target one that affects 43.4 million Americans and is responsible for about 20 percent of annual deaths: smoking.

If you’re looking for more reasons to quit smoking, consider its effect on the environment.

The Results:

1. Flipper Doesn’t Smoke: Cigarette butts are consistently ranked the top form of marine debris when measured by quantity.
2. It’s Hot!: These same butts are a major cause of forest fires leading to deforestation.
3. Get a Car Instead: The air pollution produced by cigarettes is about 10 times greater than that of a diesel car.

7. Meet Someone Special

The Resolution: Tired of making dinner for one? Maybe you just need a wedding date that will make your friends jealous. Regardless, you can spend a lot of energy and resources finding “the one.” Simple changes in the way you meet people can make it a greener process.

The Results:

1. Get Local: Supermarkets can be a hotbed for singles activity, but so are farmers markets, which will let you purchase locally-grown and organic products instead of processed food high on packaging.
2. Happy Hour: If you opt for a Green Drinks event instead of the local bar, you’ll instantly have something in common with potential mates.
3. Stay In: Online matchmaker sites will keep your environmental footprint low while you search for that special someone – and you can do it from your PJs at home.

8. Volunteer

The Resolution: Somewhere in between your third holiday feel-good movie and seeing all the gifts Santa left you, you’ll probably realize how fortunate you are and want to give back through volunteering. If you’re passionate about the environment, consider donating your time to an organization that specializes in environmental protection.

The Results:

1. Do Your Part: Keep America Beautiful collected and recycled 189 million plastic bottles and 10.2 million pounds of metal during 2008’s Great American Cleanup due to the support of three million volunteers.
2. Thumbs Up: Many volunteer organizations will keep track of your hours, which is information you can use on your resume or to apply for awards.
3. Get Working: Talk to your boss about having the whole company volunteer, which could get you some time out of the office and good PR for your organization.