10 Ways to Reduce your Footprint
1. Wear a cotton t-shirt instead of a polyester or wool one: The footprint of cotton skyrockets if you wash and dry it on recommended hot/warm cycles, so always wash in cold water. (Savings: 2.2 to 2.9)
2. Boil your water instead of filtering or chemically treating it: Boiling is the most carbon efficient option. (Savings: .2 to .3)
3. Snack on gorp, granola or home made trail mix instead of an energy bar: Because the packaging causes more of a carbon footprint than making a mix yourself. (Savings: 3)
4. Buy a down sleeping bag or comforter instead of a synthetic (polyester) one: The petroleum cost of making anything polyester is a huge impact on the world. (Savings: 6.9)
5. Wear a wool sweater instead of a polyester fleece coat: Natural materials will always beat out synthetics any day despite the written documents stating that sheep produce a lot of methane, even without wool production, sheep wool still exist. Right? (Savings: .7)
6. Hike in leather boots, instead of nylon-upper boots. (Savings: 23)
7. Use a candle lantern instead of a AA-battery LED lantern: A candle lantern will give off less light but it’s environmental impact is over the top. Mainly the throw-away batteries aren’t used. (Savings: 13.3)
8. Print your maps at home instead of buying the at the store: This will eliminate the transport of the maps from the print factory, to the store, to your hand, then your home. (Savings: 5.1)
9. Drinking from a hydration reservoir instead of using a polycarbonate bottle: It’s all based on the materials used here. (Savings: 2)
10. Cook over a campfire instead of a canister stove or gas stove: Burning wood is part of a natural cycle within the world. Getting your wood from a sustainable forest is that much more important. Gas stoves are all about the burn off of carbon. (Savings: 0.002-0.004)
*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use more concentrated products than the single use take home variety. There are many products now such as dish soap, laundry soap and even some body products that come in a concentrated form and will save on packaging cost, as well as your money in your pocket book in the long run.
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