FOOD
Eat green, be green
There's more to eating green than buying organic. Read on to learn how to make your diet eco-friendly.

Skip the bottled water.
Good for the environment: The oil used to make plastic water bottles in this country is enough to fuel about 100,000 cars for one year. Plus, only one in six bottles was recycled in 2004.
Good for you: You'll save money. Also, a 2000 study compared bottled water with tap water and found that bottled water has much less fluoride (important for dental health), and many brands had more bacteria.

Fill the freezer.
Good for the environment: "A nearly full freezer means most everything is surrounded by ice-cold items," says Tom Natan, research director at National Environmental Trust. "When you open the door, they will be less affected by incoming warm air." And the freezer won't require as much power to keep itself cold.
Good for you: Lower energy bills.

Get your produce from a CSA farm.
Good for the environment: To bring in extra income, many small farms participate in CSA (community-supported agriculture), which means that you, as the customer, pay the farmer a designated fee in return for a share of what's ripe every week. The idea is thatyou get what the farmer has on hand (asparagus in the spring, for instance, and corn in the summertime). "There are so many reasons to support local agriculture," Pollan says. "You reduce your fossil-fuel use, keep local farms alive, preserve a certain kind of landscape and keep the water cleaner."
Good for you: A personal relationship with the people and places that grow your food.

Bring your own travel mug for that cup of joe.
Good for the environment: BYOM so you won't add to the more than 14 billion paper cups Americans throw out each year. If that's too much to remember, wherever you find Green Mountain Coffee (at many convenience stores and offices), you'll find the "ecotainer," a cup that has a lining made of corn instead of Earth-unfriendly petrochemicals.
Good for you: Many coffee purveyors offer a discount (10 cents at Starbucks) for filling up a reusable mug, even if you bought your mug somewhere else. You can purchase a good travel mug for about $10, so if you get a Caffe Americano every morning, you should recoup your investment in a little more than three months.

If your options are local or organic, choose local.
Good for the environment: Huge amounts of fuel are required to ship organic foods long distances. Luckily, many small local farms use little, if any, pesticides or chemical fertilizers, even if the farms aren't certified organic. Why don't they get certified? Many times it's either because of the cost or because the farmer objects to government intrusion.
Good for you: Often, food that is shipped is picked unripe; local food can stay on the vine longer because it is closer to market. "The riper a fruit or vegetable is when picked, the higher the levels of vitamins and micronutrients," says Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma."

Buy grass-fed, not grain-fed, beef.
Good for the environment: "Feeding cattle grain instead of grass consumes an enormous amount of energy," Pollan says. That's because grain has to be harvested and processed before it becomes feed, but cattle can eat grass straight from the field. Look for a label that says "grass-fed." The meat will taste different, but if you cook it properly, grass-fed can be tastier than grain-fed. (Visit americangrassfedbeef.com for preparation tips.)
Good for you: Grass-fed beef is lower in fat and calories and is higher in antioxidants and omega-3s.

Eat the right kind of fish.
Good for the environment: Some seafood (such as farmed oysters) is considered sustainable. But many fish populations are depleted; others are caught using methods that destroy aquatic life. Check oceansalive.org to make sure that the fish you choose isn't endangered and is caught in eco-friendly ways.
Good for you: The same site warns you about health concerns with particular fish, like orange roughy, which is high in mercury.