Green tips

-Take Navy showers. Wet body, turn off water, soap up, rinse off.

- Use the dishwasher - it's better than hand washing. But full loads only.

- Tip Water plants in the mornings and evenings, not during the heat of the day

- Select plants adapted to drier climates. Cacti are pretty, too.

- Recycle your cell phone. Americans throw away 130 million a year.

- Walk, don't drive, to your errands.

- Green tip Turn off power strips to televisions, computers, appliances when not using them.

This article appeared on page W - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle