6 Internet Resources You Need to Live Green in San Francisco

In San Francisco, living green isn’t just an option, you’re pretty much going to be tarred and feathered if you DON’T think about your carbon footprint on a daily basis and do something proactive about it.  And frankly, tarring and feathering is exactly what you deserve if you can’t make a little change to positively impact our amazing City, and our fragile planet.

Fortunately for you, you can avoid the whole tar and feather process with a few clicks of a mouse… or at least that’s where it starts.

Here’s a few sites that will help you to live life a little greener.

RECYCLE

You’ve made a commitment to a greener lifestyle.  But somewhere deep in your closet you still have all these toxic and hazardous items just waiting to be disposed of, if you only knew where to go!  Never fear dear blog reader! You can visit SF Recycling’s Hazardous Waste page, and while you’re there, you can go ahead and order your green compost bin for San Francisco’s new mandatory composting program.

GET PAID FOR YOUR E-WASTE

OK, so you won’t get paid for ALL of your E-waste (remember, what you can’t get paid for, you can dump safely at the SF Recycling’s Hazardous Waste center.) If you’ve got an old collection of cell phones, laptops, desktops, computer monitors and other electronic gadgets, www.Gazelle.com will actually PAY you, YES! Pay YOU! for your used electronics.  Good for your pocket, good for the world.

LEARN ABOUT THE IMPACT OF FOOD, TOYS AND MORE

Do you ever look at your shampoo bottle and wonder just how socially responsible it is?  You better if you’re a San Franciscan! (Lest I remind you that you WILL be tarred and feathered!) Well, you can check out www.GoodGuide.com to get information on over 70,000 food, toys, personal care, & household products to see just what kind of an impact the products you use are having on our environment, from the San Francisco sewage system to the ozone in general. AND find alternatives that ARE good for you and for the environment in general!

BUY LOCAL PRODUCE

We all know that eating locally is good for you, but we don’t always know where to go to get local products.  If you don’t have the route to your SF neighborhood’s farmer’s market memorized by heart, along with days and hours of operation, you can find the closest ones by going to www.LocalHarvest.org.  From farmer’s markets to personal beekeeping services, you WILL find what you need to eat local.

LEAVE A SMALLER FOOTPRINT

I’ve hit on a few ideas here that can get you started on a low impact lifestyle, but there’s always more you can do.  www.LowImpactLiving.com tells you how.  According to their site:

At Low Impact Living, we want to help you lower the environmental impact of your home and your daily life. To do that, we help you find the best green products, practices and service providers to help you achieve your environmental goals. And we will also help you understand the environmental benefits and economic trade-offs of your choices. Our primary goal is to make the path from inspiration to implementation as short and as smooth as possible. Only by taking action will we collectively reduce the damage to our planet and ecosystems.

LUBA’S SAN FRANCISCO REAL ESTATE BLOG

OK  – I’m cheating and throwing in a bit of self-promotion here, but it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want!   For a limited time, I’ll be providing FREE, yes FREE, reusable canvas grocery bags for San Francisco residents.  To keep MY carbon footprint low, I won’t be mailing them, packaging them or whatnot.  They’re available for local pick-up or delivery – limit 2 per San Francisco household while supplies last.  The first 30 people also get a free reusable water bottle!

Want YOUR free canvas grocery bags (and potentially free water bottle if you act fast)??? Email me at luba@zephyrsf.com.  And don’t worry about your information – you won’t be signed up for any annoying SPAM or mailing lists – unless you want to!

Have a green day, San Francisco!

OH! And P.S – if you have more green resources for SF residents, drop a note in the comments or email me!