Last week Kathleen Shecter witnessed a crime scene.  There was no blood or dead body.  The crime was a crime against her community and future generations.  Kathleen saw an older man power washing his driveway.

“Unless it’s a murder scene and you are the chief suspect and therefore washing away evidence against you,” Kathleen joked, “there is no reason to wash a dirty driveway.”

Only 1% of all the water on Earth is usable.  The rest is salt water or frozen.  The average family of 4 uses 400 gallons of water a day.  That is about the same as taking 10 baths.

The nation’s water supplies and distribution systems are increasingly stressed by the public demand for water.  A recent government survey showed at least 36 states are anticipating water shortages by 2013.  By using water more efficiently, we can help preserve water supplies for future generations.

Kathleen, who is my green guru, offers the following helpful suggestions on simple ways to decrease water consumption on a daily basis: 

1.  Install a low flow showerhead for each bathroom. Most showerheads use twice the water needed for a thorough shower.  Every day 3 billion gallons of water flow through showerheads in the United States. 

2.  Turn water off when brushing teeth. Why do we feel the need to leave it running?  Water savings: 8 gallons per day.

3.  Use the “old” water from pet bowls to water plants. Hey, the plants don’t care!

4.  Make sure every load of laundry is a full one.  Don’t wash partial loads.  Water savings: 15 gallons. 

5.  Don’t rinse dishes.  Just scrape the food off and then load.  Run only full loads.  Water savings:  2 gallons of water per day. 

6.  Use run off water.  When I rinse produce in my salad spinner I remove the basket, dump the water into my watering can for later plant watering or dump it into plants right then. And then I spin. 

7.  Don’t wash your car at home.  I wash my car at one of those self-wash places that recycle the water. It goes down a drain in the carport and gets recycled. No washing the car in the driveway for me.  Water savings:  25 gallons.

8.  Don’t power wash sidewalks, driveways, or decks. The number of gallons of water used in those high pressure gadgets is alarming. Instead I get out the stiff bristle broom, some good biodegradable soap and scrub with a bucket of water. Then you can use the regular hose to rinse. Hey, who needs the gym? Great upper body workout, and the calories burned……wow!  Water savings: 22 gallons per week. 

9.  Don’t use the toilet as a “trash can”.  This can save you 1.6 gallons daily.  Be sure the toilet you DO have is low flush one. They use half the water for each flush. If you can’t afford to replace (though it pays for itself in the long run), put a brick in the tank.  Does the same thing, low-tech.  Water savings:  8 gallons at 4 flushes daily.

10.  Don’t water the lawn or other landscaping at the peak of the day.  I see so many sprinklers going off at noon! Water before 6am or after 8pm when the temperature is cooler. Be sure all sprinklers are in working order and that you aren’t watering the sidewalk! If it’s running down the gutter you are wasting water (and your money - be prepared for a rise in your water bill - it’s coming.)  Water savings: 20 gallons per day.

This week for our Monday mitzvah join me in taking the 10 Gallon Challenge and shave 10 gallons off of your daily water consumption. What other ways have you found to save water?  

Did you know that every night you are being robbed? There are thieves under your own roof stealing from you. They lurk in the kitchen, your home office, family room and garage. You think that when you go to sleep so do they. But they are insatiable insomniacs wickedly wasting your energy while you slumber. They are your appliances.

Microwave ovens, computers and TVs even when turned off continue to use energy. Like a leaky faucet, they are responsible for a tremendous amount of waste. In fact, 40% of the energy used to power consumer electronics is consumed when the devices are not in use.  The typical American household has 27 appliances that are always on according to the Electric Power Research Institutue.

The Department of Energy says “vampire energy loss” represents between 5-8% of a single family home’s total electricity use per year. Taken across the United States this adds up to approximately 68 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually which is the equivalent output of 37 typical electricity-generating power plants. Yikes!

For this week’s Monday Mitzvah let’s vanquish the vampires. You can cut up to 10% off your electric bill by unplugging your appliances at night.  One of the easiest way to manage your power sucking devices is to use a power strip that automatically turns off your electronic devices.

Two of the most popular are the Smart Strip and the Isole Power Strip.  Energy Saving Smart Strip With Autoswitching Technology #LCG3 has a series of outlets that are controlled by a single controlling outlet. For example, when you shut down your computer it will automatically shut down power to your mouse, keyboard, printer, etc. Isole’ Power Strip Auto On/Off Sensor has a mountable motion sensor which automatically turns off and on all of the controlled devices. The time delay can be adjusted from 30 seconds to 30 minutes.

To see more information about home automation networks check out Finding and Fixing A Home’s Power Hogs published in the NY Times on Sunday. 

Let us know if you have found any other good ways of slaying energy vampires.

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.”  Dale Carnegie

Last week as I was working on my guerrilla good deed to stop complaining, I became acutely aware of how much negativity there is in our world. We are inundated with bad news. The stock market is plummeting. Gas prices are rising. Homes are foreclosing. The Feds are taking over banks. People are losing their retirement. It is all really scary.

Complaining is a common denominator. We can connect on bad news because it is so prevalent. However, complaining about how bad things are is like adding more waste to an already overflowing landfill. It is interesting that there is so much attention given to going green in our homes yet no discussion about going green in our relationships. The mantra of the green movement is reduce, reuse and recycle. Reduce your consumption, reuse what you already have and recycle your waste.

For this Monday Mitzvah let’s focus on the reduce component. And by reduce I mean reducing the negativity in our minds. Let’s reduce our consumption of negativity. Take a week off from the news and allow your mind to detox. I have a family member who watches Fox news 15 hours a day. As a result he thinks we have reached the end of times. It sounds like that when you watch the news. California is on fire; the mid-west is flooded; the artic is melting. Pretty soon we will be able to buy oceanfront property in Reno.

My challenge to you this week is to greenify your mind by not polluting it with any negativity. Just like farmers rotate their crops to allow the soil to mend this week purify your minds with something positive. One strategy for greenifying your mind is to adopt an attitude of gratitude. It may sound trite but it really works. You can’t be negative or fearful and be grateful at the same time. Our minds can’t hold two opposing thoughts. Every time a negative thought, complaint or fear rises up in your mind this week think about what you are grateful for in the situation.

Often things that seem horrible at the time turn out to be blessings in the long run. It is like the old story of the poor farmer who lived alone with his one son. They were poor and lived a hard life. One day their only horse ran away. Their fellow villagers lamented saying, “What will you do now? That was your only horse. How will you farm your land? You are so unlucky.”

To this the poor farmer said, “We’ll see.”

A few days later the farmer’s horse came back bringing with it a wild horse. And the villagers said, “Now you have two horses to work your land. You’re so lucky!”

And the farmer said, “We’ll see.”

The next day the farmer’s son was taming the wild horse when he was thrown from her back and broke his leg. And the villagers said, “Now who will help you work your land? That is your only son. How unlucky!”

And the farmer said, “We’ll see.”

A few days later the army came through town. They were there to draft all the able-bodied young men to fight in a distant war for their emperor. All the young men of the village, except for the poor farmer’s injured boy, were taken away. The villagers watched as their children were taken away. They looked at the poor farmer and his boy and said, “You’re so lucky.”

And the farmer said, “We’ll see.”

And so it goes. Be grateful this week. You never know what is going to turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Talk about a simple way to help. Replace your paper coffee filters with a permanent filter. Considering landfills are approximately 40% paper, we can help reduce that volume by not purchasing paper filters. Chlorine bleach, which releases toxic dioxins into the environment, is used in the manufacture of white coffee filters so by making the switch we are helping the environment on two fronts.

There is some debate in the coffee connoisseur community about the taste of coffee when a permanent filter is used.  I personally think a gold filter makes the coffee taste better although some people complain about too much sediment leaking through. If sediment is a deal killer for you, another green option is to use a French press which does not use a filter at all. Not only does a French Press not use paper filters but it also doesn’t use electricity.  One concern with a French Press, however, is that oil on ground coffee beans has been linked to increased levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol.  French Press coffee makers do not filter out the oil at all.  Paper filters in drip coffee makers remove most of the oil but metal filters are not as thorough. 

So what is the solution?  Hemp.  I know it sounds a little green extreme but hemp cloth coffee filters effectively strain out coffee bean oil and since they are washable are great for the environment. The tightly woven hemp fabric produces a slower and finer filtration than paper thereby producing a stronger, richer cup of coffee.  One filter will last for many years and will pay for itself within 3-4 months.