Random Acts of Eco-Friendly Kindness
June 5, 2008 by Peggy
A random act of kindness arrived in the mail today.
I knew immediately it must be my lost zoo membership card. Someone named Joe had found it on the floor of his store and he mailed it to the zoo, hoping they could return it to Mr. and Mrs. Rowland.
Sure, enough. The zoo mailed it to me with Joe’s note.
I could have requested and received another plastic membership card from the zoo, but since Joe was kind enough to send the lost card on its way, all I have to do now is recycle the note and envelope. Thanks, Joe!
That whole thing got me thinking about potential random acts of kindness with eco-friendly benefits. I suppose not all of the ideas below are totally random. Some involve just doing favors for people you may see each day.
Acts of Eco-friendly Kindness:
1. Return lost items so they don’t have to be replaced.
2. Buy reusable shopping bags for someone who can’t afford them.
3. If your place of work doesn’t recycle, take the cardboard boxes from shipments and drop them off at the recycling center. It’s an act of kindness for the earth.
4. Combine errands with your neighbor. If you’re going to the post office, ask if your neighbor needs anything. That might save your neighbor a car trip.
5. Make your grocery shopping trips a party by giving a friend a ride and shopping together.
6. Sew a reusable shopping bag for everyone in your child’s class at school. Then offer to give a talk on why it’s important to take your own bags when shopping.
7. Give an elderly neighbor a ride to the farmer’s market each Saturday.
8. Help insulate a house in need. Plenty of people are struggling to pay utilities. Help them lower heating and cooling costs by providing the tools to properly insulate their houses.
9. Encourage a lunch ordering system at your place of work. This means one person goes to get food instead of 10-12. Choose restaurants that use eco-friendly to-go packaging. (My former job provided a lunch service, and they even payroll-deducted the lunch to keep things simple.)
10. Another tip for offices that don’t recycle: Keep an aluminum can recycling box near your desk at work. Take whatever is collected and dump it in your recycling bin at home. (Someone Michael works with does this!)
Do you have any eco-friendly acts of kindness to add?
Heart vine image via flickr.
Helping to insulate a home of someone in need is a wonderful way to help. I know first hand how expensive utilities can be in a home that is underinsulated.
Here in Buffalo we have a problem with some landlords who do not insulate well or have it checked. Renters are really feeling the bite.
Julie, I once had an underinsulated home too, but we got it all fixed up in time to sell it!
That’s too bad about the renters. Another thing that stinks about renting is that landlords don’t always buy the most efficient appliances.
buy a nice mug for peole in the office, so thay can use that next time they take coffee