While the leaves are changing colors, there are simple steps you can take to ensure your fall stays green. Check out these 10 easy tips for having a happy, green fall season.

1. Eat local food
 Right now, the local farmers' markets are overflowing with delicious, local, and in-season fruits and veggies. 
Check out your local co-op or farmers' markets now for beets, cauliflower, peppers, potatoes, watermelon, carrots, arugula, apples, raspberries, and more. Not only can you enjoy all this great produce raw, in pies, or can them for later, you can also make excellent stews perfect for chilly fall days. 
It's also a great time to visit local pick-your-own farms and get some super-fresh produce...

2. Compost your leaves and yard waste 
 Along with your food waste, you can compost your leaves, grass, twigs, plant trimmings, and more. Compost bins are easy to set up and require minimal effort to produce organic, rich soil by spring. Instead of dumping bags of leaves at the curb, add it to the compost bin, ensuring the matter gets recycled directly back into the earth. 

3. Plant bulbs
Planting perennials now will ensure beautiful flowers in spring. Flowers not only add to landscape beauty, they help to reduce storm water run off. Pesticides, petroleum, phosphorous, and asphalt increase pollutants and temperature of water run-off, resulting in damaged water bodies. But gardens with native plants help to reduce the constant water run-off into area lakes, rivers, and streams. 

4. Buy recycled clothing/Give away what you don't need
 Instead of buying a brand-new wardrobe every time the temperatures drop, rejuvenate your wardrobe with a few vintage or recycled finds instead. Clothing takes a serious toll on the environment--in production, shipping, and some of it later taking over the landfill. But there are plenty of great shops around town offering great used clothing and at affordable prices to boot. 

5. Check out the fall colors... on bike
 There's no better way to get an appreciation of nature than to see its power, its ability to transform and produce profound beauty. Check out the State by State Guide to Fall Foliage at fall color reports . The cool fall days also make it the perfect time to go on bike rides to discover its beauty.

6. Caulk the windows
 Cooler days are just around the corner, so ensure that your home is more energy-efficient by caulking around cracks in windows and doorways.  By caulking those spaces now, you'll cut down on energy use and save money this winter. 

7. Do annual furnace maintenance and replace the filter 
 Cleaning and adjusting your furnace annually will ensure its operating efficiently, cut back on fuel use, and save you money this winter. It's inexpensive to do (will run you anywhere from about $40 to $100, depending on if you get the ducts cleaned, too), but will end up saving you hundreds of dollars in the long run. 

8. Reduce Drafts, button up your home
Did you know that a 1/8″ space between a standard exterior door and its threshold is equivalent to a two square inch hole in the wall? Closing those gaps can save you up to 15% in heating and cooling costs. Fill gaps and reduce drafts coming from exterior walls. Seal around hoses and vents that are outside the house. And use insulation pads for outlets and switch covers that are on the outside walls.

9. Shop for all your fall favorites with reusable bags 
If you grocery shop once a week, in five years you’ll have kept about 250 to 1,000 grocery bags out of our landfills. When one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved! By bringing your own bag to the grocery store, you can save thousands of plastic bags from ending up in landfills, or even worse in ecosystems where they can harm living creatures. Use your old bags or find some new cool ones at June Fifteen bags

10. Let There Be Light
As the days get darker, we turn the lights on earlier and leave them on more each day. Lighting accounts for about a quarter of all electricity consumed in the U.S. Here are some ways to lighten the energy load while keeping your home bright:

Replacing light bulbs
Regular incandescent light bulbs are inefficient, with 90% of their energy going to generate heat not light. Replace standard lamps with compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs -- they cost more per bulb but are far more efficient and last up to ten times longer. Over the life of one CFL, you can avoid replacing up to 13 incandescent bulbs and use 75% less energy! Visit www.energystar.gov for more information. 

Calculate your carbon footprint and get your green home kit at Ecohatchery

Sources: Living Cities, Clinton Closson,  Earthshare