While checking out online reference materials for the Earth Day celebration, StarLife got linked to the site of an organization called The Nature Conservancy, which is committed “to the mission to preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The online site, among others, compiles science-based tips on greening life and we are reprinting two of the very practical greening suggestions shared by two “everyday environmentalists”.

Take the Stairs

Let’s be up front: Taking the stairs instead of an elevator doesn’t save much energy.

If you take two flights of stairs every day at work, you’re saving about 72 kilowatts of energy each of those days — which equals about 90 cents a year in energy costs.

So why do I always take the stairs?

First, it’s still a green thing to do. Any energy saved is good for the environment. And because elevators run on electricity, taking an elevator might require the mining of uranium or fossil fuel, the operation of a nuclear or fossil fuel plant, transmission to your elevator, and the emission of greenhouse gases.

And second…it’s a lot better for you. Your head as well as your body.

I’ve been taking the stairs since I was 14 years old, and I’ve seen a lot of interesting things in stairwells. Where they keep the toilet paper. Old furniture. Underwear. Secret smokers. Movers or construction guys taking some big thing up 22 flights of stairs because it won’t fit in the elevator.

When I lived in China, a couple in my apartment building that looked as if they were both 110 years old climbed eight flights of stairs to their place every day. That was inspiring. The main Nature Conservancy office there was on the 20th floor of a high-rise building in the middle of downtown Kunming, a city in Yunnan Province.

The stairwell was dark and grungy, and our staff wondered at the silliness of the Western woman (me) who labored up the stairs when there was a perfectly good (well, most of the time) elevator available.

But soon curiosity won out, and most had to try it. The guys especially didn’t like to be undone by a woman (especially not a Western one). So we started holding timed stair races. Even some of the senior staff got into it — and I’d find them trudging up the 20 flights before work. Triumph!

Before long, though, the novelty wore off and most folks had gone back to the elevator which was fine, because the real reason I take the stairs is a solitary one: It gives me time to think. To the sound of my footsteps, my breathing, my heart. Renee Mullen

Ask Where Your Food Comes From

One way I’ve made positive environmental changes in my life is to ask where my food comes from. And to keep asking.

What and how you consume has a barrage of effects on multiple environments:

· Buying local, organic food reduces your carbon footprint. It burns less carbon to transport food from a local farm/market to your table than it does from overseas.

· Organic foods reduce the amount of pollution runoff into the ecosystem.

So whether you’re in a restaurant or grocery story, just ask: “Where does this food come from?” If your server doesn’t know, have them ask the chef.

I have been doing this for the lastfive years, and I’ve never received a negative response; the worst outcome has been that they don’t know. And if they don’t know, I don’t order it.

In fact, there’s almost always an alternative food to choose that is more sustainable, local or organic: If you live on the coast, choose a local, wild fish.

· If you are inland, try hormone-free, free range or organic beef and poultry.

· Even buying dishes that use local ingredients can create change.

Here’s one great example: I discovered that many of the shrimp in the frozen-food aisle and at my favorite restaurants came from shrimp ponds created by tearing down mangrove forests — ponds often quickly polluted and abandoned. So now I only eat sustainably caught shrimp. If shrimp is imported, especially from developing nations, it’s often caught in an unsustainable method.

And if sustainably caught seafood isn’t available, have the chicken. Local, organic chicken, that is. Caitlyn Toropova