Easy Ways to "Green-up" Your Home

Indoors

1. Avoid disposables- use reusable food containers, cloth napkins, cloth towels, real plates, and cutlery.

2. Wash clothes in cool or cold water and hang to dry if possible.

3. Shop local for everything you can, especially produce. Add meatless days.

4. Switch to eco-friendly cleaning supplies, and try making your own. You can find many recipes at earth911.com.

5. Fix any leaks you notice including leaky windows and doors.

6. Pack lunches in reusable bags or boxes and look into reusable sandwich bags.

7. Use natural materials for home decor and avoid imported flowers.

8. Shop thrift stores or area flea markets (BHCC holds 2 a year!); always think quality, not quantity.

Outdoors

1. Go native with your flowers, and choose ones that are pollinator-friendly.

2. Skip pesticides; instead look for plants that repel pests, such as nasturtiums.

3. Use only natural herbicides and fertilizers.

3. Check out homegrownnationalpark.org and register your property.

4. Shrink the size of your lawn with garden beds and/or trees.

5. Leave your leaves- use your lawn mower to turn them into mulch.

6. Remove invasive plants, such as English ivy, tree of heaven, or privet.

7. Get a compost bin and use it!

Sustainability Efforts

at Bower Hill Community Church

1.  Use mugs, silverware, and china at church events  instead of paper and Styrofoam products

2.  Grow organic peppers in our church garden to    support SHIM’s food pantry; water the garden with the help of a rain barrel

3.  Began a pollinator garden

4.  Planted trees around the church grounds

5.  Hold biannual flea markets giving gently used items donated by the congregation a new home instead of being sent to a landfill

6.  Conducted a members home energy efficiency contest

7.  Became a member of Interfaith Power & Light

8.  Recycle paper and cardboard

9.  Replaced incandescents with LED’s throughout the church

10. Replaced old windows and doors with energy-efficient ones

11. Replaced our boilers with more efficient ones

12. Installed a split heat pump/AC system in our church offices