Before hitting the print button on your e-mail, ask yourself why you are printing at all. By printing less you’ll save on paper and save ink, which is not only good for the environment, but good on your wallet.

Forward it. Instead of printing the page to give to someone to read, click the forward button. You can also include a line in your e-mail signature to remind others to not print, such as, "Consider the environment before printing this e-mail."

Archive it. Need it for your records? Consider saving the file as a pdf, that way you’ll have the information but won’t need to print the page.

Still need to print? Purchase paper with post-consumer recycled content, and set your printer to print on both sides. Or, if you’ve already printed something one sided, use the back side next time. Remember to recycle any printed e-mails you’re finished with.

More on computers and printing from GO:

Daily Tip: Don’t Press That Button

Daily Tip: Ask for a Refill

Daily Tip: Electronic Faxes Save the Day

Daily Tip: Change the Margins, Save a Forest

Throwing a party? Forget the paper invitations and tell your friends and family about your party electronically.

Whether it’s a weekend gathering or a big bash, invite your guests over e-mail or through e-invitation sites such as e-vite. You’ll be able to track guests responses and send auto reminders.

Still want to do it the old-fashioned way? Look for paper and envelopes with post consumer recycled content, and make a note on the invitation itself encouraging your guests to recycle the invite, or to save it as a keepsake reminder of the event.

More on planning your green party from GO:

Seven-Star: Giving a Whole New Meaning to "Green
Party"

Lighter Footstep: 5 Ways to Fire Up an Eco-Friendly Tailgate Party

How to Host Your Own Green Event or Party

Even if you’ve switched all your bulbs from incandescents to CFLs, it’s still good to practice turning off the lights when you don’t need them to save on energy.

Turning off the lights depends on the bulb. If you still have incandescent bulbs, it is always best to shut the light off when no one is in a room or if you aren’t using the light. Fluorescent lights are a little different, since constantly switching them on and off will make them less efficient. For CFLs and other fluorescent bulbs, if you know you won’t be using it within the next 15 minutes, shut it off.

Maximize the day light. Opening curtains to let in natural light is the best way to do this. However, since a lot of heat can escape through windows, especially older windows, close up the curtains after dark to avoid using more energy to heat your home.

Use directional lights. If you’re sitting at a desk or occupying only part of a room, you may not need to illuminate the whole space. Use smaller lamps to better utilize light in a room.

Install sensors. If you’re redoing a space or constructing a new home, consider installing light sensors that will automatically shut off when no one is in the room.

Department of Energy Home Lighting Information

More from Green Options:

Daily Tip: Lights Out

Better Daylighting

Whatever your destination, carpooling is a more efficient way to drive. It not only cuts emissions by taking cars off the road, but could also save you time and money.

Carpool to work. Even if it is just a couple of times a week, sharing a ride with a spouse, neighbor or coworker can cut down on gas costs, and may even make your ride faster if your route involves an interstate or freeway with an HOV lane. And keep in mind that you don’t have to work at the same building or live on the same street to carpool if you live or work in areas near those with similar commutes.

Carpool to school. If you take your kids to school every day, you probably pass other moms and dads who do the same thing. See if there are other families in your neighborhood that you can trade off days of taking the kids to school. (Just make sure everybody is ready on time.) You also might want to consider carpooling with other families for after school activities or weekend soccer games.

Carpool for fun. Instead of meeting your friends at an event, drive together. If you’re going to a concert or major sporting event for example, parking can be a nightmare. Meet up at someone’s house and drive together.

Carpool on vacation. You wouldn’t normally think about carpooling with people outside your family when taking a road trip, but you might be able to find someone going your way. ZipCar founder, Robin Chase, began GoLoco to help you create your own personal transportation network to find people in your area who want to share the ride.

More from Green Options:

Daily Tip: I HOV You

Avoid the preservatives and unpronounceable ingredients of store-bought sweets this Halloween by making your own.

When you make your own confections, you have control over what goes into it. You can choose organic or Fair Trade ingredients and how much or what kind of sugars you use. Alternatives to refined white sugar include honey, real maple syrup, raw sugar, and even apple sauce.

Substituting some ingredients may require a little experimenting and a few trial runs, but once you find the right combination you’ll have a better alternatve ready to go for next time.

Creating goodies at home is also great activity to involve the kids in, and they’ll be more likely to eat what they’ve had a hand in helping bake.

Amy says: Care 2 Living has some green candy recipes including Maple Candy, Pull Taffy and Pumpkin Seed Crackle. I’ve also found some great recipes at FoodNetwork.com and Epicurious.com. Right now they’re featuring a ton of fun and easy Halloween treats.

More October Fun from Green Options:

Seasonal Eating: Ode to the Local Fall Pumpkin

Five Super Simple Steps to Green Trick or Treating

The changing colors of the autumn leaves are beautiful - until they’re no longer on the trees and covering your yard. Here are a couple of ways to be green with the fall colors.

Skip the leaf blower and use a rake. While it’s a little more labor intensive, raking leaves is better for the environment than the leaf blower. Leaf blowers create a lot of noise pollution, and if they’re diesel powered will create a fair amount of air pollution as well (unless you’re running on bio-diesel.)

Don’t burn your leaves. Once you’ve got the leaves raked in nice piles, go ahead and jump in them, but don’t burn them. Burning creates a lot of smoke, especially when leaves are damp, and releases particulate matter and toxic compounds.

Do compost or mulch. Some areas offer yard waste pick up in addition to garbage collection and curbside recycling.
However, if you don’t have yard waste pick up mulch or composting are much better options.
Care 2 living has simple suggestions on composting and/or mulching your leaves.

If there’s a LEED rated building in your area, whoever built it probably wants you to know about it. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green building standard developed by the United States Green Building Council
(USGBC.)

LEED is essentially a checklist for architects and builders to determine how green a building is. Factors that make a building green include energy use and efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, access to public transportation, use of renewable or recycled building materials, and responsible waste management on site during construction.

LEED certification is becoming more common for schools and public buildings across the U.S. and around the world. School districts and parents want high perfomance buildings that lower operating costs over the buildings lifetime, increase teacher retention rates and improve student learning. Several states, cities and counties have passed regulations mandating all new public buildings or major renovation projects meet a minimum LEED requirements. Other LEED buildings are built by companies that want to maintain their green vision or experiment with green technologies.

There are different levels of LEED (from lowest to highest) Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. To find out if there is a LEED building near you do a search on the USGBC website, then see if you can take a tour to learn about its green features.

More on green buildings from Green Options:
Green Building Tour: Genzyme Center
Green Building Tour: Kelly-Woodford Home

Green Building Tour: Plaza Apartments

Disposable chopsticks are reserved mainly for Chinese take-out in America, but are an everyday staple for several Asian countries. Unfortunately, all of those chopsticks add up to a lot of deforestation.

China is the biggest consumer and exporter of disposable wooden chopsticks, producing 45 billion pairs each year, which uses up about 25 million trees. Last year the Chinese government imposed a 5% tax on disposable wooden chopsticks in an attempt to preserve forests, and Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture introduced a recycling program to turn one-use chopsticks into biofuel.

Instead of reaching for the paper wrapped disposable wooden chopsticks the next time you get take out, bring your own set of bamboo chopsticks or use a fork (just make sure it’s not plastic.)

Artisans are giving second life to used chopsticks. Check out their creations at Chopstickart.com

More articles from Green Options:

Daily Tip: Reduce Your Fast Food Waste

Eco-Effective Decisions: May I Have a Side of Food With my Plastic?

Do you know where your coffee comes from? Next time you reach for your cup of joe, consider these three things before you drink.

• Fair trade. The fair trade certification label ensures that the workers or farmers who produce a product receive a fair price for their goods and have improved labor conditions. The fair trade label also often includes a measure of environmental sustainability and responsibly managed farms. Fair trade standards are decided upon and enforced by third party certifiers under the umbrella organization Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International.

• Organic. Organic coffee is grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides, which means less environmental pollution and improved worker health.

• Shade grown. If your coffee says shade grown, chances are it is responsibly farmed. Shade grown coffee does not require as much land clearing, leaving original tree cover or other taller crops available for songbird (and other wildlife) habitats. This method of growing also helps to prevent soil erosion, increases the ability for natural pest control and reduces the need for weeding.

For a glimpse into the global coffee industry, check out the documentary Black Gold. The film literally follows the coffee bean from the farm to your cup, including everyone who comes into contact with it: the workers on the coffee plantations, those who set the prices and buy the coffee, and the consumers who have turned coffee into an artform.

Can’t find coffee with these labels? GO’s Brady Swenson has a few things you can do to plant the seed for fair trade in your community, such as simply asking for it at your local coffee shop or grocery store.

When you’re making your own: GO’s Patrick Donnelly has suggested a couple of tips for greening up your home brew, including using unbleached paper filters, or reusable gold or steel filters. You could also skip the filters and electricity by switching over to a french press (but, yes, it does require boiling water.) And instead of tossing out all those coffee grounds, compost them.

For coffee on the go bring your own mug. You’ll waste less paper, and if it’s a stainless steel mug it will stay warmer longer. Forgot your mug? Avoid the double cup by using a sleeve, and please, please, say no to the bag. If you’re carrying more than one cup, use a drink tray (and recycle it when you’re finished.)

More on coffee and fair trade from Green Options:

Black Gold: The Story Behind Your Morning Brew

Daily Tip: Bring Your Own Coffee Mug

Dean’s Beans and the Fairer Trade

Eco-Effective Decisions: Fair Trade, When Voting with your Dollars Counts

Fair Trade: Certification

Fair Trade: Fair Wages

Fair Trade: Environment

Fair Trade: Transparency

The Greenest Coffee on the Planet

How to Plant the Fair Trade Seed in Your Community

Kicking the Habit: Greening that Cup o’ Joe

Labor Day: Rights and Respect for the Worker

Organic Coffee Company Sponsors Guatemalan Radio Show to Promote Fair-Trade

Starbucks Backs Down, Allows Ethiopia Trademark Rights To Its Own Names

10 Simple Ways to "Fair Up" Your Friends and Family

When you get a new eyeglass prescription, even though your old pair of specs will no longer be useful to you they might be useful to someone else. Next time you get new frames, instead of throwing your glasses away donate them to an organization that will give the gift of sight to those who might not otherwise be able to afford it.

Several charity organizations accept your old prescription glasses to help people in the U.S. and in countries around the world see better. Eyeglasses donations provide children ability to do schoolwork, and give adults independence and the ability to read again or to find better work. When you donate your glasses they are sorted by volunteers, who then determine the prescription, clean and re-package the glasses for various organizations that offer free eye care services and dispense glasses to those who need them.

Where to donate:

• Lions Clubs across the U.S. accept donations of prescription eyeglasses. Lions Clubs also operate and have collection sites in Australia, Canada, France, South Africa, Spain and Italy.
• LensCrafters donates eyecare services and accepts prescription glasses which are then distributed through their charitable vision care programs under the Give the Gift of Sight foundation.
• New Jersey based New Eyes for the Needy also accepts glasses via mail.

Further information from Green Options:

Top 15 Charity Search Engines: Donate to Charity for Free

Daily Tip: Clothes Runneth Over

Daily Tip: Free Swap Party!

Donate to Charity When Buying or Selling Your House