Wednesday, December 31, 2008

I have never really believed in New Years resolutions but I guess I've already made some resolutions and since I made them so close to the new years I may as well call them new years resolutions.  Some of the changes I want to make in my life to try to be greener are: 1.Attempting to grow my own veggies.  So far as to date I've pretty much killed any plant I've ever tried to grow (even cactus's :() but I'm hoping maybe if I just study up on plant growing maybe I'll find some wisdom on how to keep my plants alive.  I want to start planting stuff now but I'll probably be moving in about two months and don't know what kind of land/space I'll have so I may have to wait until then to start growing :(
2.I want to learn to make my own bread.  Not only would it eliminate pollutions made from the factories that make bread but would also eliminate all the terrible plastic packaging. Like growing plants, cooking and baking is also another thing I'm really bad at but I've always believed in the saying "practice makes perfect" so I'm hoping to perfect the art of bread making :)
3. Buying the fruits and veggies I can't grow at local farmers markets 
4. Track down wormies for my worm composting bin
5. Reduce the amount of meat and dairy I consume.  I'm a very picky eater :/ and will probably never be able to cut them out of my diet 100% but hopefully cutting them out most of the time will have at least a little bit of good impact on the environment
6. Try to learn something new every day about how to live sustainably and help protect the environment
7. Try to start shopping at local markets and buy things in bulk or without packaging (when I can afford it :/)
8. Reduce the amount of plastic I purchase and dispose of

These are just a few things I've been thinking about this past month or so.  Hopefully the more I learn the more I'll be able to add to this list :)  Happy New Years and Live Green :)
I have never really believed in New Years resolutions but I guess I've already made some resolutions and since I made them so close to the new years I may as well call them new years resolutions.  Some of the changes I want to make in my life to try to be greener are: 1.Attempting to grow my own veggies.  So far as to date I've pretty much killed any plant I've ever tried to grow (even cactus's :() but I'm hoping maybe if I just study up on plant growing maybe I'll find some wisdom on how to keep my plants alive.  I want to start planting stuff now but I'll probably be moving in about two months and don't know what kind of land/space I'll have so I may have to wait until then to start growing :(
2.I want to learn to make my own bread.  Not only would it eliminate pollutions made from the factories that make bread but would also eliminate all the terrible plastic packaging. Like growing plants, cooking and baking is also another thing I'm really bad at but I've always believed in the saying "practice makes perfect" so I'm hoping to perfect the art of bread making :)
3. Buying the fruits and veggies I can't grow at local farmers markets 
4. Track down wormies for my worm composting bin
5. Reduce the amount of meat and dairy I consume.  I'm a very picky eater :/ and will probably never be able to cut them out of my diet 100% but hopefully cutting them out most of the time will have at least a little bit of good impact on the environment
6. Try to learn something new every day about how to live sustainably and help protect the environment
7. Try to start shopping at local markets and buy things in bulk or without packaging (when I can afford it :/)
8. Reduce the amount of plastic I purchase and dispose of

These are just a few things I've been thinking about this past month or so.  Hopefully the more I learn the more I'll be able to add to this list :)  Happy New Years and Live Green :)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Moooo :(

I just finished watching an episode of Ecopolis.  It is such a cool show and I encourage anyone who is interested in environmental stuff or technology to check it out! One of the issues the episode I just watched mentioned is farming and meat consumption.  This is something I've been thinking about a lot these past weeks.  Listening to them list all the bad impacts cow farming has on this planet makes me want to give up all meat and diary right this second.  Unfortunately I don't think I could ever cut it out of my diet 100%.  I can try to make an effort to reduce the amount of dairy and meat I consume though.  I'm really bad at dieting and cutting things out of my diet :( But hopefully maybe because this reason is much larger then the reasons I've cut stuff out of my diet in the past, it will last longer.  

-Land used to house cows make up 1/3 of the earths land :(
-Cows produce methane when they go the bathroom which is a lot worse for the ozone then even Carbon Dioxide :(
-It is estimated that for each pound of beef produced, 200 square feet of rainforest is destroyed
-Tropical forests are being cut down at a rate of 35.2 million acres-an area the size of New York State-every year.

On the topic of farming and food miles... Most of the food we consume has traveled hundreds, if not thousands, of miles by the time we eat it.  With as much carbon dioxide is released into the air during that process and how fast food goes bad by the time we get it, it just doesn't make sense!  I get that company turned to that measure in order to reduce cost/prices because you have some super farmer who grows large quantities faster and cheaper but is saving a few bucks worth all the damage it's doing?  I am surprised more companies/people aren't supporting local farmers?!? Once I can afford to go shopping again I am going to go check out some of the local farmers market! And I can't wait to get on the band wagon of growing my own food!  Which is a little daunting seeing as every plant I've tried to grow so far has died.  But I'm willing to try and try again until it starts working!!! It's kinda sucks because I will be moving in a few months and I'm not sure how much space I'll have to grow stuff so I'm a little hesitant to start trying to grow stuff now.  When ever I am finally able to grow my own veggies I'll be super excited!!!



Tuesday, December 9, 2008

pesky ol' yellow pages!

If you hate getting all those yellow and white pages, don't even use them and get sad thinking of all the trees waisted to make them, well now you can opt out.  Go to the yellowpages green website and submit your information and they will take you off their delivery list!

http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/

Great artical

Here is a great artical of a man who has mastered the art of sustainability and lives off of $5,000 a year!

http://www.alternet.org/environment/108461/?page=entire

(sorry for not having clickable links.  For some reason the html I've used to make links clickable and to post pictures hasn't worked on this site :( That makes me sad.  Anyone have any pointers?)

Gray water

So for about a week now I've been saving the gray water I use at work (Gray water is water that is left over after you wash your hands or rinse dishes, etc).  I've saved about 60 gallons of water this week (and this is just the gray water produced at work, which is about 7-8 hours a day for 5 days).  If I continue doing this that would be about 240 gallons in one month. If just 100 people in L.A. did this for a month that would be 24,000 gallons of water saved in a month. Now imagine if 100 people saved ALL their gray water for a month!  Thats a lot of water saved!  Try it out for a day!  Its not hard to do and doesn't really take that much time out of your day!

Edit: I've been doing research on grey water an, well, I should have known it was too good to be true :/ well, in my case anyways :( I guess you are not suppose to use grey water for flushing toilets unless 1. Its been treated by a whole big process which would require purchasing a huge system.  I can't do that at work or at home since I live in an apartment :( 2. you put the water directly into the toilet bowl which also I think requires special devices :/.  I'm bummed.  It seems like such a great idea! (not sure where I read about it originally) but I've now learned that some times if the pressure is off water from your toilet tank can flow back into the fresh water supply and if you've put grey water in there, there could be bacteria and such.  Bummer! :( Well, that at least gives me something to look forward to once I buy/rent my own house!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

to go fake or not fake, that is the question!

Since its xmas time I've been thinking about xmas trees and wondering which is better for the environment, real xmas tress or fake ones.  My guess was real ones but I wanted proof.  Here is a good artical that states that real is the way to go. (Or like Sustainable Dave says, plant and grow your own and use it every year :))


http://earth911.com/blog/2008/12/05/an-expert-answers-real-christmas-tree-or-fake/


what about tooth brushes?

I asked my room mate if he had any old tooth brushes he was going to throw away so I could recycle them but he said no because he buys his tooth brushes from www.recycline.com/index.html Its a website that sells products that are 100% recycled!  You can get tooth brushes, razors, kitchen wear and more!  When you buy a tooth brush (or anything else from them) you know that its made with 100% recycled materials and that you can send it back to them to be recycled again! Its a great website!  

And what about those pesky yogurt containers?  I always get mad when I have to throw my togurt containers in the trash!  Well now both you and I don't have to any more! Send them to
http://www.recycline.com/gimme5/  And they will turn those yogurt containers (and any #5 plastic) into all those great products I just mentioned!

Home made laundry detergent

Store bought laundry detergent can be really harmful for the environment!  Making your own laundry detergent is easy!, better for the environment and is actually cheaper then buying store bought laundry detergent!  Add your choice of essential oils to create a scent thats perfect for you!  I use to have a link of a really good receipe and the woman had a great tutorial video but unfortunately I lost the link and can't find it :( But here are a couple other good links for making your own laundry detergent!

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/04/09/making-your-own-laundry-detergent-a-detailed-visual-guide/

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm

http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/detergent.shtml

Ok, I'm off to go make some more laundry detergent! Enjoy the links!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

here are a few great links!

First off...I am shocked at myself for not mentioning Sustainable Dave yet!  He is partially what helped me kick start my attempts at green living!  For those of you who don't know who Sustainable Dave is, he is a man who made a new years resolution not to throw away any trash for a whole year.  (Sadly his journey is almost over) but I am sure he will continue to have lots of wisdom to share with us!  Yes, he hasn't thrown any thing away for a year but part of the whole thing is to reduce the amount of trash he makes in the first place.  I am sometimes bad at explaining things so its best to just go check him out your self! :)
www.sustainabledave.org and 365daysoftrash.blogspot.com

And since its xmas time and time to pull out the ol' xmas lights here's a great link for those of you who are finding yourselves with sets of xmas lights that don't work any more.  Recycle them and get 15% off a purchase of new LED xmas lights.
http://www.holidayleds.com/holidayledscom_christmas_light_recycling_program

Another random thing that can be recycled is blue jeans!  Been stashing old jeans in the closet that are falling apart but you just can't seem to get rid of?  Get rid of the clutter and recycle your jeans!  This website takes blue jeans and recycles them into insulation for homes!
http://greenjeansinsulation.com/donate/

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

For those of you who have kitties...

Clay litter does such a number on our environment!  Its great to learn that there are now corn and wheat based kitty litters!  Some of the benefits of wheat/corn litter over clay is that they are grown naturally and aren't causing our land to get torn up by people digging for clay.  It has less of a carbon foot print while being "produced" and they can help cut down on the use of plastic bags.  A lot of people scoop their dirty kitty litter into plastic bags, which we all know is terrible for the environment.  It takes 100 years for a plastic bag to decompose.  But the corn and wheat based litters can be flushed down the toilet!  I have 5 kitties and have always been very picky about my litter because with having 5 kitties its hard to keep the litter boxes smelling fresh.  I've tried dozens of litters and only found 2 brands that I felt actually work on keeping the boxes from reeking.  I was originally going to try Swheat Scoop litter (which I still want to try) but the pet store was out of stock so I tried a corn litter.  I was afraid that my bathroom was going to start smelling back but surprisingly it hasn't!  I love that I'm not wasting plastic bags and I actually scoop the litter boxes more frequently because I just scoop them every time I go the bathroom, that way I'm not wasting extra water!  I give corn litter 2 thumbs up!

reducing my debt, my clutter and helping the environment

I've always been some what of a shopaholic.  I think I was using shopping and buying new things as a way to keep myself happy.  My room is FILLED with junk, half of it I never use.  My debt is out of control now, mostly due to not being able to control my spending habit.  But now that I'm becoming more aware of the impact everything has on this planet my shopping habits are changing.  By buying less I'm helping myself get out of debt and helping the environment.  I've gotten to the point where going to stores actually makes me mad.  It makes me think of all the consumer whores out there (people like me) who shop, shop, shop and buy things they don't really need.  Buying things just to buy things.  Now adays when I go to a store and I see something that looks pretty or I think I want, I stop and tell myself that its just one more thing that'll end up in the land fill eventually, and its one more thing the store will have to replace which means more smog from factories flowing into our air and more resources being consumed. (sorry for the long run on sentence).  I'm probably not making my point very clear. People need to be more aware that buying needless stuff is bad for the environment.  Especially now at Christmas time when everyone is buying stuff to give to others as presents.  Half the stuff will probably end up in the trash anyways.  

For xmas this year partially because I'm broke and partially because I don't want to be apart of the problem by buying junk my family doesn't even need I'm taking old shirts that were probably going to end up in the garbage and making them into produce bags.  Bags everyone in my family can take to the grocery store and put their fruits and veggies in, instead of using the nasty plastic bags the grocery stores provide.  I'm very excited.   

I need energy

Well, my body does anyways.  I've been so drained of energy lately I haven't done anything I've needed to do :/ And its hard to be completely environmentally conscious(sp?) when you can't barely think straight at all. :( Its disappointing.

I did try one thing yesterday though.  I read about gray water so yesterday while I was at work, every time I washed my hands I saved the water and used that water to refill the tank on the toilet whenever I used it.  I saved several gallons of water! Yay!  Its a little harder to do that at my apartment because not only are the sinks too small to really fit buckets in them but I have a heavy shelf on top of my toilet so I can't take the top off :/

My worm farm is almost ready to go but I'm having trouble tracking down worms.  Every store near me that carries worms are out of them :/

RANDOM FACTS:
Around the world 1 million plastic bags are used every 60 seconds

In America 2.5 million plastic bottles are used in an hour :(

Invest in a reusable water bottle and switch to cloth sacks instead of using plastic bags at the grocery store

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Do you know what's in your bathroom products?

I found this blog today http://www.thegreenestdollar.com/ . This is a really good blog all about living green and being environmental.  Part of me thinks why should I blog about this stuff when other people are already doing it and are doing it better?  I forget that I started it for my own growth as a greenie and track the progress of my going greenness :)

I'd seen this link years ago but forgot about it.  Its a site where you can enter various personal products like shampoo, deoderant, etc and they tell you how toxic it is, whether its been tested on animals and anything else you'd like to know about it on a level of environmental concerns.  You should check this link out!
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/index.php?nothanks=1

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Caculator

Here is a fun little link you can follow to see exactly how much Carbon Dioxide you produce.  And what's awesome is at the bottom there is a link where you can sponsor planting of trees for a little under $3 to help off set you carbon dioxide emission!

http://www.carbonify.com/carbon-calculator.htm

Monday, November 24, 2008

Random Facts of the day!

-On average, each American uses/produces about 4.5 pounds a trash a day!
-Most food you each has traveled about 1500 miles before it goes in your mouth!
-It takes 150 years for a plastic bag to decompose! :(

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Vermicomposting and worm farms!

So one thing I've been learning about this week is vermicomposting and worm farms!  Hopefully by the end of the week I will have mine set up.  Eventually I'd like to buy the Worm Factory but until I can save up for that I am hand making one.  Ideally I would have liked to make one out of wood but I've been looking for old pieces of wood to make one out of but haven't found any so for right now I'm making one out of a plastic bin (plastic is evil :().  Its kind of cool because, well, watching one of Sustainable Dave's video I saw that he has some rats so he feeds them scraps that would have otherwise be thrown away and whatever they don't eat he gives to the worms.  I had already decided to have a worm farm and just yesterday a rat fell in my lap! Well, not literally of course but I got to work yesterday and my co-worker brought a rat to work and gave it to me!  (it was suppose to be snake food :/) so not only was a little life saved, but she in turn will help save the planet by eating stuff that would have been going to the land fill! Anyways...got off the topic of worm farms!   I'm hoping to go pick up my wormies within the next day or so.  I had been shredding some paper at my boyfriend's place and he told me he throws the stuff away!  Isn't it recyclable? He said it isn't (not sure thats true) but either way I have my own way of recycling it now! Yay! Not only can I use it for bedding for my rat (instead of buys stuff from the store which uses up un-needed materials and plastic, etc) but my wormies will need it to live in as well!  They will live in the shredded paper and eat it!  How cool is that!?!  I will post some pictures once I get my worm compost all set up.  In the mean time read this awesome article so you, too can have your very own vermicompost!  

http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/41/1/Worm-farms-and-vermicomposting.html

Yay for new beginnings!

I'm starting this blog in hopes to continue on the path of green living.  I've always been a tree hugger at heart but got lost along the way but I'm finding my way home! And hopefully this blog will help me stay on that path!  Cable has been a big help with getting me back in the saddle again :P I just got cable for the first time in over 8 years (well, basically, I got cable for the first time since I moved out of my parents house).  And now we have awesome channels like the Green Channel, the Science Channel, and all The Discovery Channel.  I think its amazing that we have the Green Channel allowing all the wonderful environmental information reaching the general public that before hand may have never been exposed to.  One show that has become a favorite is "Stuff Happens" starring Bill Nye <3 Another inspiration has been Sustainable dave!  (you can check him out at sustainabledave.org)  So here's to Green living! :)