Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day, everyone! Here at CustomInk, we do try to thInk (get it?) about the planet and be environmentally-friendly. We provide a room to store bikes for those Inkers who want to bike to work instead of putting another car on the road; we give out sustainable water bottles, coffee mugs and lunch bags to reduce waste; we recycle office and mixed paper, aluminum, glass and more; and, we offer organic t-shirts as options for our eco-friendly customers. But enough about us…

Okay, maybe just a little bit more… Every year, I send out some easy, earth-friendly tips to the team and challenge Inkers to commit to just 3 in honor of Earth Day. Here are a few:

Save Energy. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFL) use about 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs and last longer, which not only saves energy but also saves you money! According to the bulb producer, ENERGY STAR, if every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that of 800,000 cars. Wow!

Recycle… everything! Besides the more well-known recyclables like paper, aluminum, glass and plastic, there are so many more! Old electronics, batteries, blue jeans, golf balls… you name it! Learn from the EPA where to donate your old DVD player, computer, etc., and then peruse all of the many other recyclable items from Earth911.com – an environmental services company that provides great recycling information!

Buy Local & In-Season. Check out www.localharvest.org to find a Farmers’ Market near you. Whether at a market or your grocery store, try to buy fruits and vegetables that are in season to not only enjoy them at their finest but also to eliminate the environmental damage caused by shipping foods thousands of miles. Epicurious.com will show you what ingredients are in season by month and state here.

Go Green for Spring…Cleaning. Use organic cleaning products for your Spring Cleaning this year, or even go old school and make it yourself with household items like vinegar and baking soda. TheDailyGreen.com – a great site for everything you need to know about going green – shows you how.

Switch Fonts. Say what?! As font fanatics here at CustomInk, this might be one of our personal favorites… You can save some ink by switching fonts! Compare Century Gothic to, say, Arial and you’ll see that Arial is a bit bolder and thus uses more ink, but that both are still quite readable. Be careful not to use a font that will increase the number of pages you’re printing, though, in order to save paper too!

Invest your green in something good. Put your money into green investments. Check out GreenAmericaToday.org for a list of earth-friendly funds.

Which will you try this year? Have any of your own? Let us know your Earth Day activities and pledges here!