Filed under: reduce
I’ve put an end to useless crap. That’s right, I’ve freed myself from the burdens of JUNK MAIL. (Or at least I hope). Searching the Net, you come across a lot of useful stuff. The Green Options Blog had an amazing and quite informative post or two all about ridding your life junk mail (helping the environment, in turn, by reducing the paper usage output). I’ve proud to say I went through the steps to get rid of credit card offers, “current resident” mailers and random catalogs. Yippee! Although I’m noticing a lot of local stuff arriving at my doorstep that I may need to request individually. Otherwise a good step toward reduction.
I had a bridal shower to go to today that was a good 30 minutes southeast of me. I thought, what can I do to help Mamma Earth today since I have to go so far on tollways and all? Carpool with my co-worker. Genius! I probably would’ve done this no matter what, but it helped knowing I was striving toward reduced carbon emissions and other pollution as well. It was a one-timer, but a good effort.
I had several errands to run today. A few fabric stores for a project, Target for a bridal shower gift and Trader Joe’s for some odds and ends. It turned out I didn’t find anything at the fabric stores and I only got the bridal shower gift and a mug for a friend’s graduation gift from Target. Once I got in line and the cashier started bagging my items, I remember about the reusable Whole Foods bags in my trunk. Shoot! I should’ve brought it in. But I tried my hardest in a pinch to reduce by asking that only the mug was bagged (the other gift was boxy and clunky and I probably would’ve dropped the mug). So two plastic bags down to one. I’ll count that a half reduce point.
Then I ventured over to Trader Joe’s and I remembered to grab my reusable, 100% recyclable bag and throw it at the bottom of my basket. That worked out great. As I was checking out, the cashier was able to grab it and throw everything in. Yay for reusing! one green thing accomplished. Now I just have to remember to grab the bag more often.
Filed under: green living
So one green thing is underway. It’s been a week and I have made a few small changes that hopefully in the end will make a bigger impact. But I started to think, what do I want to do to help with a sustainable, eco-friendly, green world? What can one person do to really make a difference?
I realized that everyone needs an eco-wishlist—a collection of small steps one can strive to make toward a Mamma Earth sustaining existence. Here are a few of mine that I want to cross off my list during the course of this project.
- Purge/recycle old bills.
- Use reusable cup when buying Starbucks beverages.
- Use less toilet paper per use.
- Start a compost pile.
- Switch to a biodegradable litter.
- Reduce my total plastic consumption.
- Recycle prescription bottles.
- Urge my office to change from disposable plastic utensils to donated reusable silverware.
- Download music and programs whenever possible, thus reducing packaging and shipping resources used.
- Turn off the computer when not in use.
- Use the dishwasher.
- Donate old and unwanted clothes.
- Buy organic food.
- Switch from paper bags to a reusable insulated lunch bag.
- Use my PDA for all lists; scrap the paper”to do” lists.
- Recycle old gym shoes with the Nike program.
- Reduce accumulated waste each week by half.
- Switch to eco-friendly house cleaning products and soaps.
- Choose a all-natural variety lip balm instead of petroleum-based.
- Replace liquid shampoo with a shampoo bar.
- Buy eco-friendly, biodegradable garbage bags.
- Find a pump hairspray alternative over aerosol.
- Purchase more recycled products.
- Reduce my total junk mail intake.
- Choose ethanol over pure gasoline options.
- Reduce the number of plastic bags consumed in my household.
I do have some areas of concern that I’m not quite sure about eco-friendly options as of yet. Research will be conducted on the following:
- Makeup
- Dishsoap
- Toiletries plastic waste: toothpaste tubes, hair care products, deodorant
Update: Check out my progress by viewing my eco-wishlist.
Filed under: energy-saving
I have long been a computer junkie. An addict of the connectivity highway. Technology instantly at my fingertips. I know it, I acknowledge, I accept it. But all this talk of energy-saving got me rethinking my perspective.
With a little help from my favorite IT guy, I set my work computer to adhere to some energy saving features for the Mac, including sleep mode when I’m away from my desk. What was especially cool was the start up/shut down scheduling feature as I do not like waiting for a computer to boot up.
At home, I have a PC. Slightly different energy saving features going on over here but I applied what I coul. I’m also going to make more of an effort to turn off some of my computer peripherals, such as my external hard drive, speakers and USB port. This will be a little harder to do since I often stay up late and get too tired to think consciously by the time I head to bed. But I will try.
Check out Apple’s Energy Usage Calculator to see the impact of making a few system settings changes. For a few more tips on making your PC more green, check out Lighter Footstep’s 5 Ways To Put Your PC On An Energy Diet article.
Filed under: reduce
Today the household decided to follow the phrase, “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.” Now, I know. Adapting this habit is difficult. You really have to get everyone in the house on board. It also has a sense of being taboo. No one wants to talk about it. However, since typical toilets use 3.5-7 gallons of water per flush, this isn’t something you can keep silent about. Well, at least not me. The water savings was a pretty good argument. The only thing that I thought about was how many flush passes can you go before you really need to flush. Obviously, toilet paper will build up. Clogs wouldn’t be fun. If anyone has any feedback on this, I’d appreciate it. What have you done?
Update: I had no idea how much this would impact but boy, I counted the other day, and I am a VERY frequent bathroom goer. Since I come from the family of little bladders, this means lots of trips and lots of flushes adding up to lots of gallons of water. So I’m glad this initiative has been good. Unfortunately during the work week, I can’t follow this motto (unless I want to make a lot of unhappy employees glare at me).
Filed under: reduce
My act was simple today. I went to paperless statements. I have, for a long time, done almost all of my banking online. Mainly because I’m sometimes absentminded and don’t have time for snail mail, I’m running low on checks and don’t want to buy new ones and it’s the quickest thing since a garlic press. But I’d held onto those paper statements. Maybe it was the paranoid nitwit in me or the tactile fulfillment of having some permanent record to file away, but I didn’t want to let go. Today, however, I let it all go. Most institutions now have long-term histories they can provide with a quick download or by mail if unavailable online. So that put my worrying mind at ease.
And the amount of paper I’ll be saving! Wow! According to EcoGeek, “Over 800,000 tons of waste and 2.1 million tons of greenhouse gases are created because of hard copy bills.” Not only do you save trees, energy, water, etc. but with more comprehensive history searches, it’s frankly easier. This weekend I plan to purge my file cabinet of old records that I can access online instead. Don’t worry, I’ll recycle.
My company recently moved to a large corporate office building with multiple suites and buildings, and a variety of amenities. What was quite surprisingly and shocking to discover is that the complex does not have a comprehensive recycling program for anything but paper. (Pretty amazing considering we’re in the City of Chicago).
Today I decided to collect my recyclables and transport them home every garbage day. Right now I have a spare Starbucks bag that I had in my cube to use but I hope to come across a more reusable canvas bag once I get the chance to take a look around the house. I hope to do this soon.
I also swung by Whole Foods and picked up one of their handy paper bags (they have handles unlike Jewel or Dominicks). I’m hoping I can collect enough page with handles from the Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s of the world so I can take those with me to bag my groceries (when I don’t shop there of course). I also tossed a few reusable Whole Foods canvas bags in my trunk for smaller shopping trips.
It’s Earth Day and what a beautiful day it is! The weather really showed up today as it is by far the nicest spring day this season. Today Home Depot was handing out a free compact fluorescent light bulb in honor of the glorious occasion. I, of course, ran over to get one while I was out taking care of some errands. (That makes two free bulbs in one weekend including yesterday’s!) I also took an inventory of all the bulbs in the house and what the most used wattage was so I could start replacing them. There are 28 60-Watt bulbs in this house alone! Not including the various other wattage light bulbs, as well as all of the decorative chandeliers and halogen varieties. Wow! I bought three packages of four to start. So today I replaced a total of 14 incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving and carbon-dioxide reducing CFLs. I replaced bulbs in high-traffic, most-frequently used areas to start (ie. the kitchen, bathroom and automated-timer lamps).
To learn more about the differences between incandescents and CFLs, check out some info from Home Depot. With a quick click of a button, I found out that I’ll save $47 per year, that it’ll only take 10 months for the energy savings to pay for the CFLs, that over the lifetime of the bulb I’ll save$634 which could buy me 229 days of electricity. Most importantly, I’ve reduced the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by 1,300 pounds over the lifetime of the bulb.
You can also estimate your household carbon footprint using BP’s Carbon Footprint Calculator.
I went to the here in Chicago today. I partly went as a function of work (I’m an editor for two concrete trade publications), as well as personal interest. Unfortunately, the show didn’t have much that fit my industry but was so much fun to walk around as a citizen and consumer. All kinds of industries were represented—food, skin care, clothing, home building, activism, energy-savings and much more.
I was seduced by the To-Go Ware—a utensil set made of sustainable bamboo in a handwoven carrying case. The purchase goes to a great cause. The cases are made by the Karen refugees on the Thai-Burma border. It also reduces the number of plastic cutlery thrown away. I’ve taken to sporting my set everywhere I go.
I also discovered some wonderful organic tea from a local vendor, Light of Day Organics. Let me tell you, this stuff was seductive. Of course, almost all of the flavors I wanted to try they weren’t able to bring with them but I did snag some Hummingbird Nectar that I brewed and iced and tasted delicious. I also snagged two organic cotton t-shirts, which have now become my most comfy shirts.
The show featured an all-vegan menu with recyclable cutlery and folk singers to serenade you during lunch. Mayer Daley was there talking about his various citywide initiatives to make us greener. At the end of the show, you received a free compact fluorescent light bulb to help reduce our carbon footprint. I look forward to next year’s show, which I’m hoping will be a little larger and include more home building aspects.
