Come clean

DETOX FROM...

...that eco-unfriendly lifestyle

Waste not
Drip, drip, drip. Aren’t you sick of that noise—and the knowledge that your circa-1900 bathroom sink is endlessly hemorrhaging water? Figure out just how much H2O you’re tossing per year (type in the number of drips per minute at ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/sc4.html) and then ride that guilt trip right to the landlord’s request line. Encourage the owner of your building to get a free assessment from the Department of Environmental Protection (nyc.gov/html/dep/html/ways_to_save_water/index.shtml), which will advise on how to use less water (and save a ton of cash on bills).Also, stop trashing batteries and other items with the most eco-damage potential (e.g., cell phones, ink cartridges, that pager you stopped using in ’92). Instead, toss ’em in the recycling bin at any Staples (multiple locations, staples.com). And on Sunday 4, the Lower East Side Ecology Center will collect all your e-waste—including computers and printers, for which Staples charges a processing fee. Union Square Park, 17th St at Broadway (lesecologycenter.org). Sun 4 10am–4pm.

Support local gardening and farming
Mom always talked about kids starving in Africa, but since you can’t send your leftover veggie stir-fry there, use it to fortify our gardens and farms instead. Freeze all your food scraps (sans meat, dairy and greasy things) in a plastic bag to prevent odors or fruit flies, then bring them to compost drop-off centers at the Union Square Greenmarket (15th St and Union Square West; Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat 8am–5pm) or the Lower East Side Ecology Center Garden (E 7th St between Aves B and C, 212-477-4022; stick drop-offs through the fence anytime or come when the garden is open, Sun 9am–5pm). Once you’ve gotten in the habit of repurposing your leftovers, learn to do the dirty work yourself at a free worm-bin composting class (Jefferson Market Public Library, 425 Sixth Ave at 10th St; Jan 24 1–3pm).

Live on a commune
If you really want to minimize that footprint, you’ll need to make a lifestyle of it. Move to an ecovillage—a suburban or rural community that runs on solar power. EcoVillage at Ithaca, a 60-member compound 200 miles from New York City, reports that each person on-site expends 40 percent less energy per year than the average American. According to the Fellowship for Intentional Communities (fic.ic.org), about 100,000 Americans have already devoted their lives to the conscience-clearing cause. Your turn.—Julia Schweizer

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