Those easy Green Tips for us Nomads/Yuppies, whatever u call us

Dody asked for Green Tips for us Nomad/Yuppie/Single international professionals, however you define us (hopefully not by single too much longer).

TIP 1: Think about your food packaging, and plan.
POLLUTION PROBLEM: Everywhere I have lived and worked so far (Beijing, New York, London, San Francisco) we often work late nights in the office, and get hungry! Ordering in food for lunch or dinner is a huge source of packaging waste. It's not easily recyclable. Or, in London, we buy EAT or Pret A Manager (at least some organics), in Beijing 7/11, and in NY I forget the delis names, but heavily packaged lunches,...and sometimes dinners from stores nearby. The packaging waste DOES NOT normally get recycled.
SOLUTIONS:
There ARE Solutions.....They just take us thinking and Caring.
1. Go out of the office and get a breather. In China, try to find places that don't give you disposable chopsticks everytime (cost you less now the new tax has come in too). For me, that has been our building canteen. Most of my colleagues don't like it, but 100's of other professionals in our building do. At least try to get out though. Try to find cheap local places near your office you like. Or set up lunches to network, sell, market!
2.Bring your lunch. Yes, I am not much good at this either,....get home & leave too late to cook, not a big sandwich or cold rice fan, but this is the most environmentally friendly solution. But I have developing some menus/plans that I can do that utilise whats available in supermarkets here & my packed schedules. For example I've discovered you can get a lunchbox to keep rice warm!

TIP 2:
This is an easy one.
TURN THE LIGHTS OFF when you are not using them/in the room 不在用灯的华清关登!
How many lights do I go around switching off all over the place in homes, offices, when there is noone there for the lights! This uses electricity, which is largely created by the coal power plants which create the disguisting air we breath in our cities,...especially Beijing and other Chinese cities. 有空气污染的结果。

TIP 3:
Same goes for Computers, TVs, any other equipment.
If you are Not using it, TURN it off!
On a PC, turn off the computer screen as soon as you step away from your desk. They use lots of energy. And close your computer write down at night and unplug them. Some devices use a small amount even when they are off. See here.Turn off TVs when you go out of the room.

TIP 4:
Save Water.
Turn off the tap/shower when you shave, clean teeth. Read about China water scarcity for example here. Wash plates/dishes with a cloth wet with some hot water and detergent with the tap off, then a quick rinse (this seems to vary in every country....how many different types of sinks can plumbers build!). Also...not a lot of detergent is needed to kill bugs.

TIP 5:
POLLUTION PROBLEM: Stop Emitting as much CO2 (carbon), NOX, dust particules by travelling as much.
Ok, so us internationals have to travel, we are inherently un-environmentally friendly by having so many friends and family in other countries that we have to fly to. Flying is the most environmentally destructive form of transport. A 747 Paris-New-York is the equivalent of 450 to 500 small subcompact cars that would travel the same distance.Air travel produces 19 times the greenhouse gas emissions of trains; and 190 times that of a ship.
SOLUTIONS:
1. Cut down on international/plane trips. Ok, so you want to see family sometimes,...but for those other personal holidays,...there are always plenty of beautiful great places to explore close to home, a few hours by train. Thailand WILL survive without us all keeping its tourism economy going. They'll invent other industries...teaching buddhism on the internet or something....who knows,...my point is,...those sorts of holidays have a big enviro-impact. I've even found just staying home to be really quite relaxing. Read all my books...have hot baths in winter...bicycle Beijing hutongs in summer or London Hyde or Richmond Parks....have meals with friends....
2. Business. Take less plane trips. Yes,...our companies send us on flights for meetings etc. But I did manage to do one of my trips on a train this year (much less emissions-see links above),...and have been balancing clients in other cities with other clients. Reducing biz travel saves us all stress and cost too. Wweb-conferencing services get better all the time.
3. In & around our own cities....Bike, walk, train, subway, bus. Less cars, taxis.
Buy a bike. Use as much as possible. Not easy in Beijing when they get stolen all the time :-( See my Q1 2006 blogs on this.
When not possible, take the subway, bus, walk, or walk a bit of the journey, or one way.
I'm a busy consultant working for MNCs. I dash around to meetings etc. So I still end up in quite a few taxis (Beijings 2 line subway system does not yet extend to where I live and work, although it should in 2007). But I did ride my bike to work at least 1/2 the time in 2005, have walked to or home from work about once a month (great exercise, really wakes me up in the morning,...chance to explore the community or make calls to friends, family), and (finally) discovered a (very packed) little bus I can use to get to work & home.
For non-work related....try to socialise locally. We don't need to explore the new restaurant halfway across the city. It will survive without us. Try to stay local. If you want to go out to meet friends and the only option is taxi/car...then at least try to share with a few other friends. Saves money too!
I've also enjoyed discovering local restaurants, markets,...all the local places I can walk to...or bike to when my bike hasn't been stolen again (5x in 2005!! and yes...I had BIG lock and there was a guard!).

TIP 6:
POLLUTION PROBLEM: We create emissions by buying imported/trucked things.
Anything we buy which has come from another country, state, place had to be trucked, shipped or flown there....for which all those carbon and other dirty emissions again are caused.
SOLUTION: Buy less,...buy local.
This gets harder and harder with globalisation,...but is still possible. At least try to buy things from your own country. In me...this means when I go to a supermarket, buying things made in China, and North China, not imported from other countries. I consciously shop this way. It's not so difficult. It means you are more in season, and I get to explore. When in Rome...! I believe most cultures historically thought it was healthier to eat in season local too?....
In London there are more and more fruit and veges labelled in supermarkets for where they come from. British or not. So you can buy local, and support people in developing countries in other ways. Honestly, international trade is actually Not neccesarily the answer to all human pain and suffering when you think about the MASSIVE environmental impact, let alone the impact on people of being turned into a worker competing with another on the other side of the world. Or...in the UK, US, NZ etc you can get organic delivery from companies that work hard to source as much locally as they can for you. Friends of the Nature in Beijing had apparently got one going here too,.. although is in south of Beijing somewhere.
Eating fruits and vegetables in season is better for you anyway.