If only eating green were as easy as going to a farmers' market, buying organic, and reusing that shopping tote at the grocery store.

While those things get you off to a good start, there are many other ways to shop, cook and dine out that can have a more meaningful impact on our environment.

These 15 tips will help cut down on landfill, pesticide use, overfishing, and the consumption of fossil fuels. They will also slow down the depletion of the ozone layer, encourage the humane treatment of livestock, improve the welfare of workers, reduce toxic chemicals in your home, and likely make you healthier along the way.

1. Boil Once, Cook Twice Use the residual heat from pasta water to poach shrimp. After you've removed the noodles, add shrimp, put the lid on, and turn off the flame. Toss the cooked shrimp and pasta in olive oil.
2. Fill Up Your Freezer A freezer full of food uses less energy than an empty one.
3. Don't Open That Door  Every time you peek in the oven, it loses 25 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Cook from Scratch More Often  You'll avoid much of the packaging and preservatives of processed foods.
5. Roast a Whole Chicken Less processing and less packaging mean less waste. Use the leftover bones to make your own stock (and save a can).
6. Eat Alaskan Wild Salmon  There's arguably only one place that takes care of its salmon stocks in a truly sustainable way: Alaska. And because it's all wild-caught, it's purer in flavor than farm-raised salmon (which is fed pigment and antibiotics). It's also higher in omega-3 fatty acids.
7. Get the Scoop  In the bulk bin section of the market, not only are the nuts, grains, and other dry items free of excessive packaging, they're also minimally processed (which also means less manipulated by fossil-fuel-consuming machines). With the freedom to scoop a little or a lot, you'll buy only what you need.
8. Plant an Heirloom Vegetable Garden  Heirloom seeds are non-hybrid traditional vegetables that have not been genetically modified. Web retailer heirloomseeds.com has more than 1,100 varieties
9. Be Your Own Barista  You've heard about how kicking the daily take-out coffee habit can have a big impact on your budget and contribution to landfill. To ensure that your coffee is as good as possible for you, the world, and your wallet, follow some basic rules to become your own barista—and get better coffee.  Buy fair-trade organic coffee. For a list of companies that import 100 percent fair-trade, sustainably grown coffee, go to globalexchange.org.  Take your coffee to go with a reusable, portable mug.
10. Treasure Your Trash Recycling your take-out containers is a given. Even better, wash and save the sturdier ones to store leftovers or transport your homemade lunch
11. Eat Locally produced foods and eat American. Take Cheese for Example  American-made cheese is some of the best in the world. It's produced by craftspeople who treat cheesemaking as an art and take care of the land as well as their livestock. To make sure this is the case, eat the kind that's categorized as either artisan or farmstead. Artisan means it's made in small batches, with special attention to the traditional art of cheesemaking. Farmsteadmeans the cheese is made with milk that comes from the farmer's own flock or herd.
12. Text Fishphone  When you're at the fish counter trying to decide what to buy for dinner, use your cell phone to text seafood conservation group Blue Ocean Institute's FishPhone service. Text 30644 and enter FISH, followed by the name of the fish you want to buy. You'll receive a text telling you if the variety is good for you and the world.
13. Take the Leftovers  Sure, the restaurant will probably wrap the leftovers up in paper or plastic, but more fossil fuels went into the production of your chicken piccatathan into the production of that doggie bag (some people go so far as to tote a freezer bag in their purse, but that's really a lifestyle choice that's up to you). Take the whole thing to work the next day for lunch, and all will be right with the world.
14. Pack Your Own Lunch  It's a simple way to greatly reduce your consumption of take-out and processed foods.
15. Support Your Local Winemaker With wineries in every state in the union, a local winemaker is never far away. You're already familiar with the major growing regions of Washington, California, and Oregon, but some of the wines produced in other parts of the country are worth checking out. Texas is home to some fabulous wines.

Vegetarian Diets:

Where Do I/You Fit In?

Some people follow a "vegetarian" diet, but there's no single vegetarian eating pattern.  Here are some descriptions of the different eating "styles" associated with vegetarian diets.  It is likely you could easily slide right in to one of these categories! 

 The vegan or total vegetarian diet includes only foods from plants: fruits, vegetables, legumes (dried beans and peas), grains, seeds and nuts.

The lactovegetarian diet includes plant foods plus cheese and other dairy products.

The ovo-lactovegetarian (or lacto-ovovegetarian) diet also includes eggs.

The pescatarian doesn't eat red meat but includes fish with plant foods, dairy products and eggs.

Semi-vegetarians don't eat red meat but may include free range and organic fed chicken and fish with plant foods, dairy products and eggs. 

While our family still falls short of these categories, we try to have meatless meals at least a few times a week and when we do consume meat, I try to follow these guidelines:

If you’re going to eat meat, fish, poultry  and dairy products, you should attempt to choose those that are grass-fed, organic, and pasture-raised. Eating these are less environmentally damaging, more ethical and likely healthier for you because you’re avoiding the antibiotics and toxics that end up in many conventionally-raised livestock.