Green your Apartment: Grow Community

If you rent your little space in the world, many of the commonest green-living tips don’t apply: You can’t keep a garden (much less a compost pile), weatherize your home, or install solar panels. Even remodeling and keeping pets could be off limits. So, when you don’t own the deed, what can you do to go green? This week’s tips tell you what.

Tip #3: Get good with your neighbors.

Maybe the best benefit of living in an apartment (besides not having to make exorbitant mortgage payments) is that you are literally closer to your neighbors, and you probably have more of them. Take advantage of that tight-knit sitch by planning some building-wide green events. The sky’s the limit (OK, your creativity is), but some ideas include planning a no-waste vegan potluck; heading downstairs together to do some community gardening; or coordinating a public-transit-fueled field trip to the nearest beach or riverbank for a cleanup. Evites are the greenest way to get people together, but if you don’t have the email addresses of everyone in your apartment complex, paste a flyer (on reused or recycled paper, of course) in the mailroom, in the elevator, in the stairwell, or in any other communal space.

Tell us: How do you cultivate community among your neighbors?