Not everyone can live in a house as cool as the ones on The Real World, but anyone can live as green (or greener) than they do in Real World: Hollywood’s eco-friendly house.  Here are some of the easiest ways that you can be friendlier to our environment in your daily life.   The best part?  All of these are simple, you can start them today, and in most cases won’t cost you a penny…in fact they will likely save you money!  As this is MTV, check out our music inspired tips on being green:

“I LIKE THE WAY YOU MOVE” -Outkast

The way you move is not only important on the dance floor, but it’s important to our planet.  At this point everyone knows driving pollutes our air.  So what can you do to help?  Walk, bike, skateboard, rollerblade, share a ride with someone, take a bus/train/subway, or just plan better so you can get all your errands done in one car ride instead of multiple trips back and forth.  These are all easy alternatives, and also allow you to save money on gas and in some cases get exercise while you do them.  If you are able to cut just 1 car trip out of your day (and this includes sharing a ride with someone else) then you are already doing a significant thing to help our planet.

“TURN YOUR LIGHTS DOWN LOW”-Bob Marley

This one is so simple I almost can’t stand it…TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!  Electricity uses energy.  We have to use our natural resources to produce energy.  Unfortunately, right now most of our energy comes from natural resources that pollute like coal or oil.  Therefore, the more electricity we use the more natural resources we use which is bad.  What can you do?  Use less electricity.  How you ask?  When you leave a room, turn off the lights.  If you have the TV on in the living room and you go in the kitchen to take a phone call, turn off the TV.   When you’re not charging your phone, camera, or toothbrush, unplug the charger.  FYI…you use the same amount of energy when your phone is plugged into the charger as when it isn’t, so don’t pay the electric man your hard earned money for no reason…unplug!

Wanna know something I did that made my life so much easier?  I have all the electronics in my apartment plugged into 2 power strips.  One in my room that has my computer, phone charger, camera charger and toothbrush charger in it, and another one in the living room that has my TV, DVD player, cable box, stereo, and PS3 plugged in it.  This way I don’t have to worry about unplugging all my chargers every time I'm done using them.  I just flick off the power strip and I save electricity and money on my utility bill.  So event if you’re lazy, you only have to worry about flicking 2 switches and you save electricity, money, and natural resources.

I’ll admit, for the first 2 weeks of doing this its going to seem like a bit of a pain, but after a while it becomes habit and you don’t even realize your doing it.

“DON’T GO CHASING WATERFALLS”-TLC

Let the waterfalls be!  Meaning, there isn’t an infinite amount of water on this planet…so don’t waste it or pollute it.

What are some simple things you can do to conserve water? Easy…when you are brushing your teeth turn the water off as you brush, then turn it back on when you rinse.  Anyone can do that.  Same goes for the fellas when you’re shaving.  Turn the water off as you shave.

One of the biggest things you can do is decrease the length of your shower. I know, this is tough.  If there is one area of “being green” that I tend to not live up to my own expectations at times its here.  Think about it though, even if you cut your shower by 2 minutes, you could save 10 gallons of water.  That is pretty significant.  Maybe next time you’re in the shower you should belt out the radio version of “November Rain” by Guns and Roses instead of the full 8 minute ballad? 

Also, what’s up with buying bottled water???  They didn’t start selling bottled water until about 10 years ago and you’d think that without them we would all whither up and die.  There is nothing wrong with tap water.  In fact, the bottled water you buy IS tap water, they just purify it a couple more times before they sell it to you.  If you really think your tap water is bad, which I'm sure it isn’t, then get one of the water filtration gadgets for your faucet, or one of the water purifying pitchers for your fridge.  Water quality aside, I have a lot better things to spend my money on than water, don’t you?  Maybe I should start bottling and selling air.  Air is far more polluted than our water but no one seems to be selling that yet…  

“GO AND DUST YOUR SHOULDERS OFF”-Jay-Z

I think our biggest problems as Americans is simply we over consume.  We buy too much crap!  Even when we are acting shrewd we still consume more than everyone else around the world.  Instead of consuming so much, look around your house, dust some things off, and re-use them.  The good thing is we are living in a time where vintage is cool.  I pass shops in NYC that sell shirts from the 80’s for $150.  That’s definitely ridiculous, but it certifies that vintage is in.  So instead of buying all sorts of new stuff, look to see how you can reuse what you already have.

From grabbing stuff from your grandparents attic to decorate your room, to shopping at vintage or second hand stores, to being creative with your own stuff and turning old wine bottles into candle holders for example…let your creativity run free!  It helps the planet by not using resources to make new products, and once again it saves you money.