Green How-to

This is a really great website with every kind of project imaginable. You kind find every kind of green home project imaginable - and those you never even considered.

I really love this modular water jug shelving. (Not that I recommend buying all that plastic for water.)



Happy browsing!

www.instructables.com

Better shower curtains

Dilemna:  My shower curtain liner needs to be replaced, but I'm so tired of buying new vinyl liners.  I have tried washing the liner but it still has little spots  and its now ripped. Plus, these vinyl liners, however monetarily inexpensive they seem at the time, we do end up paying for them in the long run.  And not just by buying many throughout our lifetime, but paying for the time it takes them to decompose in the landfill...and since they are typically PVC, well, they don't really decompose, at least not in our lifetime.

Solution:  a hemp shower curtain

These don't even need a liner!  From what I have read (I am saving up to buy one now) they will get wet like any fabric but Hemp is naturally antimicrobial, durable and machine washable.  It also is PVC and VOC free (vinyl liners off gas so much!  Not good for you, and the manufacturing process is not good for the ozone.)  

When you are in the market for replacing your vinyl liner, think hemp!

There are many products out there...try to get something organic and made in the USA.

 

Sustainable Chocolate

Chocolate makes you feel good, yes?

The chocolate industry's back of house operation may not make you feel so cozy. Chocolate, like coffee, is grown in more exotic climates. With population, thus demand (of everything) constantly increasing, so does the amount of space it takes to grow things and effort it takes to produce them.

Growing cocoa, if done irresponsibly, can encourage rainforest deforestation, child labor, unfair wages, and heavy use of pesticides. This is a sad that chocolate can't help go away!

We can help choose better chocolate practices by choosing organic and fairtrade chocolate. So look for these symbols:

USDA Organic: help ensure your cocoa isn't grown with herbicides, pesticides, and other nasty things that can pollute water ways, the air and your body. It promotes more sustainable farming practices.

Fair Trade Certified: Ensures that fair labor practices are used, and that the farmer gets compensated an honest and livable wage. Also supports good labor practices (no child labor)

The Rainforest Alliance: helps promote saving the rainforest, and not cutting it down irresponsibly to grow crops. Its very hard to get what we cut down back!

These organizations can't change things on their own though! It will take consumer awareness to ensure that these organizations are making the difference. They have helped us with the first step, which is identifying good practices! Now we have to take their cue, and support these practices. Consumers unite! YOUR DOLLAR CAN EQUAL THE DIFFERENCE!

Lets turn on Disposable Culture

We are a disposable culture. Can you find room to disagree?

While it can be a pain to bring with you everything you might need in one day, its our responsibility to at least try to be aware of the things we are throwing away, that really we don't need to be using or tossing in the first place.

Eating out is a large instigator of this culture: aluminum foil, plastic/styrofoam containers, wax paper, plastic sporks, paper/plastic bags all for one meal? Well, lets turn our daily coffee and lunch into a saving grace.

Things like To-Go Ware can make this choice easier; as this cute as a button flatware set, simply rolls right up and slips into your bag. The cutlery is made from bamboo, and the pocket is made from post consumer recycled plastic bags. This company has other things to reduce the impact of our to-go culture as well, like stainless steel containers and cotton carriers.

What else can we do to be plastic free? I had a list of my own, but I found another blogger who agrees.

Remember, reducing our impact on the earth can certainly be a feat. If you take little steps every so often, you can begin changing our collective not-so-awesome way of doing things and make it a better place. Drop by bit, everyone, drop by bit.

Mini Greywater

I ran across these kits the other day when I got distracted in my job hunting.



You can attach them to your existing plumbing and divert the water to flush your toilet. The great thing about these is that they are so simple. You don't have to go through some massive ordeal to reconfigure your plumbing - it just installs in your bathroom.

The downside - these kits run over $400, and the estimated savings is only about $25 annually. The other potentially fatal flaw; they're hideous. I don't know how many people will install them under their Kohler pedestal sink. Maybe in an enclosed vanity . . .

check it out here:www.watersavertech.com

Tata Nano, the $2500 micromobile

Its teeny, its cheap, it gets 50mpg, its $2500, its the Tata Nano.

Yes, it still takes fossil fuels to make this baby go. But for everyone buying gas guzzling, fume emitting cars, this is a great option...Right now its only available in India, so stay tuned.

Its small scale relates to our massive auto population, bigger is bye bye and smaller gives the roadways a chance to breath and for the auto scape to not be (so) imposing (if that is possible). So for anyone that is going to buy a cheap beater that won't get good mileage and will off gas a ton, this is your option!

Its just what the doctor ordered in the name of personal transportation.

Sidenote: I am also seeing an emergence of 100% electric cars (think Tesla). Even though this is a fossil fuel source too, you can purchase alternative energy to charge your vehicle. This is the way I hope to go in the future, if I ever buy a car. As a whole, we need to keep telling the government we want more alternative energy sources, like wind power, for our homes.

But lets not forget about the beautiful bicycle and public transportation. They should be our first go-to modes of transportation. The more we support them, the more their networks will grow and the easier they will be to use for everyone.

Resolutions

This year I sat and pondered a whole list of things that I wanted to change about my life and improve. The list turned into a long, meandering one that ranged from petty hopes like “improve my body shape” and “make more money” to more altruistic things like “save the planet” and “achieve world peace”. Of course there is no one, best, course of action. So, I took a look at it big picture and came up with this one: Live Moderately.

Simple, right? At least it seems so on the surface. But applying this concept, across the board, to my life, and the attitudes of this country as a whole, we could begin a wave of change. Think about it. Here’s the first citation for moderate at m-w.com:

1 a: avoiding extremes of behavior or expression: observing reasonable limits b: calm , temperate

So, think, what would happen if, as a culture, we all started behaving moderately? What if we were moderate spenders? Moderate drivers? Moderate meat eaters? Where would we be if everyone drove the most fuel efficient vehicle possible, only spent the money they earned, and only ate beef once a week?

I’m going to try it. Our house is increasing the number of vegetarian meals on the menu, eliminating expenses on electronic entertainment and sticking to our one-teeny-car that doesn’t hold the car seat and a passenger at the same time (this doesn’t sound like much of a feat when you live in Chicago, but in the California Exurbs it’s near impossible). We will also work on the little things like; checking out books from the library instead of buying disposable paperbacks, not picking up printed literature that we will just dispose of later, checking the thrift store first when we’re looking for clothes, and shopping on Craigslist instead of at IKEA.

How about you?