Do Just One Thing

Many of us are looking for alternatives to paraffin candles because they are petroleum-based and can add pollutants to the air when burned. One natural alternative -- palm oil -- may seem like a greener choice because it’s completely plant-based. But it’s not sustainable. Most palm oil (which is from the palm tree) is grown on clear-cut land that was once rainforest. This old, diverse rainforest land is home to endangered animal species. It’s best to avoid palm oil altogether to help preserve atrisk rainforest land from deforestation. *** When using your oven to cook dinner, use a few simple tips to make your energy usage as efficient as possible. First, make sure your cookware is flat-bottomed; warped cookware can have reduced surface space and use up to 50 percent more energy to heat up than flat-bottomed pans. Also, copper-bottomed pans heat up faster than others, which can help save energy. If you bake in a glass or ceramic dish, you can actually set your oven 25 degrees cooler than the recipe suggests, since these dishes are better at conducting heat. *** One of the easiest ways to save energy when using the oven is to defrost frozen food in the refrigerator. A thawedout meal like a frozen meatloaf will cook more quickly in the oven versus cooking it straight from the freezer. But when you defrost food in the fridge, be sure to do one more thing: Cover it. Uncovered frozen food releases moisture as it thaws out, which makes your refrigerator’s compressor work harder and use more energy to run. *** Whether you’re frying an egg or sauteing vegetables, it matters what size pan you use on your cooktop. If you’re using a smaller pan on a larger burner, you’re wasting heat and throwing money away. Here’s an example: Cooking with a small pan on a larger electric burner cooktop can cause up to a 40 percent decrease in energy efficiency. By choosing the right-size burner for the pan, you can save around $36 a year. And don’t forget: Putting a lid on top can help speed up your cooking, too. *** One of the biggest culprits of waste is buying lunch in disposable containers on a daily basis. But it can also be a real waste of money, equaling about $2,000 a year on average per person. By bringing your lunch, you can cut back on all the waste when you use reusable containers. And you can also use reusable hot and cold beverage bottles at work, one for your morning coffee (and most coffee shops give a discount for bringing a bottle) and one to fill with filtered water from free water fountains.