Posted in Environmental Consciousness, Good Eats, Your Daily Greens on November 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Hey pals!
These guys make sponges and other dishwashing equipment from bamboo (a very fast growing, and therefore, incredibly eco-friendly wood) and plant based cellulose (so they decompose much faster than sponges made from plastic which will take about 1,000 years just to start breaking down)! They get a great review from The Kitchn, look pretty sitting next the sink, and are reasonably priced, so really — what’s your excuse for using a regular sponge? Get with the program!
Posted in Environmental Consciousness, Your Daily Greens on April 15, 2010 | 2 Comments »
This green tip is probably the most well known, but I’ve decided to post about it anyway as I sometimes still need reminding myself. Plastics! They are terrible for our environment, yet so many stores still give plastic bags out like they’re candy. It’s our job as the consumer to tackle this problem head on, & it’s way simpler than I used to think!
Carry with you a reusable bag (which some stores are coincidentally also giving out like candy!) & make it a habit to put the bag on the conveyor belt/counter even before you put up your goods. This makes it easy! You don’t even have to be the awkward person that says, “Oh, actually, I don’t need a bag!” after the cashier has already packed it all away for you. And, a lot of grocery stores will give you a discount for each reusable bag that you bring with you!
Then, when you inevitably leave your reusable bags in the trunk of your car (this happens to me often), if you really can’t stuff all of your purchases in your purse/pockets, ask the cashier if they have a paper bag that they could offer you instead of plastic. Every little bit helps!
Posted in Environmental Consciousness, The Holidays, Your Daily Greens on December 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I know that when you were little you most likely picked on your Grandmother for saving all of the wrapping paper at Christmas, but she really did have a point. We can learn a lot of things about green living from the Great Depression/World War II era children. Although they saved, reduced, reused & recycled for different reasons, they’re often way ahead of the rest of us when it comes to taking care of our planet. It’s becoming more & more important to find ways to keep “stuff” out of the landfills by redirecting its purpose in our lives. I plan on saving as much of the wrapping paper from the gifts I open this Christmas not only so I don’t have to throw it away, or burn it & release chemicals into the atmosphere, but also so I can save money on buying more next year. Doesn’t it seem so wasteful, this whole tradition of gift wrap?
But I can certainly understand if you enjoy ripping apart the wrapping so much that it is far past any rescue, & in that case you could consider doing your own wrapping in gift bags (you know, for other people to open & reuse). Gift bags are so practical because they can be used again & again for years to come, & even after that they’ll still be in great condition. Even the tissue paper that goes inside the bags, that can be saved & reused as well since it’s supposed to have a crumpled already-been-used look!
I hope that no matter where you are in your holiday gift giving process or how you’re going about doing it, that you are having a lovely time partaking in this fantastic tradition. & if you’re in New England with me, enjoy the snow!
Posted in Kitties, Social Consciousness, Your Daily Greens, tagged dryer, energy consumption, green living, laundry on October 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Energy consumption is probably our biggest offense on an environmental scale. Sure, we produce a lot of waste for the landfills, but we also use up a huge amount of energy just to keep ourselves comfortable. One easy way to decrease our impact is to stop using the dryer when we can. In the summer, or all year round if you live in a warm climate, string up a laundry line outside, or buy a foldable clothes horse to transport out into the sunshine on laundry days. During the winter, turn your living space into laundry land. Take your clothes directly from the dryer to hang up inside, or (if you’re having a hard time parting with tradition) dry for 10 minutes before hanging. This will get the process started without leaving as big a footprint as we normally would. And, by using this hanging method your entire apartment (or house) will be left smelling as fresh & clean as your laundry.
Cat duty.
Funny enough, they both jumped in here on their own!
Posted in Crafting, Social Consciousness, Your Daily Greens on October 23, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I’ve gotta say, I’m pretty impressed by the TWIST brand sponges. At first I was attracted to them because they’re 100% biodegradable, with no dyes or anything that would compromise the health of the Earth during decomposition. When we unwrapped our new sponges today we were excited to find that on the inside of the simple packaging were silhouettes of birds in flight accompanied by directions to make a little mobile — how cute! So thoughtful of them to provide us (sometimes unimaginative) consumers with a creative way to reuse our packaging. The only thing left for them to do is be rid of that plastic wrapper & cut down to just the cardboard sleeve!
Adjusting little things in your life, like your sponges, has a huge impact over time. Think about how many sponges you use per year. We probably go through one sponge every couple of months in the kitchen (we’ve been known to chop them in half, thus turning two sponges into four), & one sponge every six months or so in the bathroom. That’s eight sponges a year. It doesn’t seem like that much, but when you multiply eight sponges for every year of your life, that’s a lot of sponges. Even such a little thing as this can contain a lot of chemicals & dyes that, once put into a landfill, contaminate the soil. Most people don’t even think about the consequences for dirtying the planet, & a lot of those who realize still choose to ignore it because it’s really hard work to change our habits. It’s impossible for humans to keep our environment completely clean, but it’s still important that we try when we can. This is a simple change to make & can have a hugely positive impact.
The next time you’re cleaning, I suggest you do the twist (seriously, play the song & dance around. Feel free to do this in pairs)! Not only will the cleaning go faster because you’re having fun, but it’s also Earth conscious!
The inside of the sleeve.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Mar | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
