I know, “greenify” is not really a word, but I liked the sound of it so I decided to use it today. Anyhow, how often do you do your laundry? If you have children, the chances are that you do tons of laundry. Even single people and couples do tend to accumulate a considerable amount of dirty clothes. I sometimes surprise myself when laundry time comes around!
Have you every considered the impact of your clothes washing on the environment? The electrical power that you consume, the water that you use, and the chemicals found in your laundry detergent and fabric softener have negative effects on the earth! There are ways by which you can soften this impact though.
Let’s start with the laundry detergent and the fabric softener. What should you look for? Go beyond the tags “natural,” “environment-friendly,” and the like. They are convenient labels but sometimes, they are mere interpretations of the manufacturer – they may not be a guarantee that the product is indeed environment-friendly. Instead, look for ingredients – or the lack thereof – such as phosphate. Go for products without phosphate as they stimulate algal growth and mess with the biology of aquatic life.
Now on to the machines. Unless you have the time and patience to do your laundry manually, you will have to rely on electric washing machines. The key is in making sure your machine is efficient, both in terms of electricity and water. If you bought your machine before 1994, you might want to get a new one – it will save you more in the long run. Another tip: if you can do away with using the dryer for certain articles of clothing, then do so. Next to refrigerators, dryers consumer the most power.
The year is almost over, and it is time to make your travel plans for the holidays yet again. At this time of the year, a lot of people pack their bags and hit the road (or the skies) to visit friends and family or to simply discover new places. If you are traveling in the next month or so, why not take the time to re-think your plans and see if you are contributing towards the welfare of the environment? Here are some things that you can consider.
Fly economy instead of first class. The latter may be more comfortable but since there are fewer people in first class (more space is given per person), it technically uses up more fuel. More than this, however, you should also consider taking the most direct route. It is common sense, as it will get you to your destination faster, but flying directly also lessens your carbon emissions contribution.
Better yet, take the bus. Yeah I know, the bus is not your first choice. If you have time to spare, however, and you do not have that much luggage on you, why not take the bus instead of driving or flying? You will save a LOT on fares and your carbon footprint will benefit from it as well.
Avoid holiday traffic jams. We all want this, but probably for a different reason – who likes getting stuck in traffic anyway? Another reason for avoiding traffic jams, however, is the fact that your car uses up much more fuel when sitting idly. This means higher emissions. As such, plan your trip so that you won’t have to battle it out on the roads with other travelers.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Every year, all of America goes crazy to celebrate what is arguably the biggest holiday of the year; and on the day after, people go even crazier with all the sales associated Black Friday. With the scale of activities involved, we cannot but ignore the impact on the environment as well. If every single shopper were to make an effort to make things greener, the negative impact will be much less. How to do this?
Bring your own bag
Reusable shopping bags are the rave these days, and I think they are one of those trends that should just never end. Instead of relying on plastic or paper bags that shops give out with your purchases, why don’t you lug along a reusable bag or two?
Share transportation
Carpooling is such an old idea, but it has never been more relevant than it is today. Plan your shopping activities so that you can share a ride with family members and friends instead of everyone taking separate cars. Use the money you save on gas to buy more stuff!
Don’t go too far
Yeah, some deals might better in places farther from your home, but do you really have to go that far? For sure, you will also find great Black Friday deals closer to home. More so, you might even have a grand time shopping online. This will save on time and fuel consumption!
Skip shopping!
Sure, Black Friday is fun. Shopping is fun. However, no one is obliged to actually go out and do Black Friday. If you can, why not choose other ways to spend your Black Friday? It doesn’t have to be shopping, doesn’t it?
How often do you use your iPhone? The chances are that you are rarely seen without it, and you really can’t be blamed for that. With the plethora of things that you can do with the iPhone, users can play around with the device all day and still have other apps left untouched.
If you want to have something more meaningful aside from Angry Birds on your iPhone though, I suggest checking out these three iPhone apps. Yes, they are free, and even better, they are dubbed “green.”
This app will be your guide to businesses that are green and sustainable. You can find more than 56,000 establishments via this app. In order to help the green movement become even bigger, support these businesses!
Don’t laugh it off just yet. Tissue paper is something that we all take for granted, and yet, we cannot live without it. The impact of tissue paper consumption on the environment is pretty serious, though, and with this app, you can determine which products have a lesser negative impact. With more than 100 brands to choose from, this guide will point the way to saving trees.
How sure are you that the labels on products live up to their claims? You can either spend time scouring the labels thoroughly or you can download this iPhone app. It can tell you all the pertinent details about products – how green and how safe they are and so on. Just point the camera at the barcode, and the app will scan it. You will then have access to the information stored in the database!
Don’t fill your phone up with mere exciting games. Put it to good use as well!
You might already have gone to a couple of Halloween parties, but today is THE day. If you’re still scrambling about thinking of what to wear tonight, and wanting to tear your hair out because the only things you have in your closet are costumes that you’ve already worn in the past, here’s a quick tip for you: go raid your friend’s closet. For that matter, go raid your siblings’, parents’, or partner’s Halloween costume stash.
For sure, you will be able to find a get up that will suit you, and you do not have to spend a single dime. Swapping costumes for Halloween may not be the first thing that comes to mind, especially if you are all gung ho about coming as the most unique, most stunning creature to a party. Then again, costume swapping brings another benefit on top of saving money: you get to conserve other resources (read: raw materials being used to create those costumes!).
There is actually a “holiday” dubbed Costume Swap Day, which is celebrated on the 9th of October every year. This gives you pretty much a whole month to figure out who/what you are going to go as for so and so number of Halloween parties. Take a look at this video for more information.
The Day might be over now, but it doesn’t mean you can’t do your own swap several hours before that last Halloween party you are going to attend. And, if you are tearing your hair out and beating yourself up for leaving things to the last minute – remember to start your swap early next year!
Do you create lists when you go to the grocery store? That’s one of the tips that we should all follow. Not only does it help you become more organized, it also helps you make some savings. But, have you ever heard of an “unshopping list”?
I came across this idea at Green America, where listed down things that one should NOT buy again. Ever. You can see the full list by clicking on that link, but here’s a quick rundown.
Styrofoam cups. That includes other things made of styrofoam.
Paper towels. It might be difficult to adjust without paper towels in the kitchen, but you’ll get used to rags after a while.
Bleached coffee filters. White may seem nicer, but you don’t really need coffee filters to be bleached anyway.
Teak and mahogany. Furniture made from these trees are highly prized, but the impact on the world’s rainforests is horrific. Do not encourage these practices, buy wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Conventional household cleansers. It may be easier to just grab whatever you can at the supermarket, but do try to look for vegetable-based cleansers and other similar products that are biodegrable.
Gas with too high an octane rating. You don’t really need a high octane rating for you car. Not only does this kind of gasoline emit more pollutants, but your car may even suffer for it.
Plastic eating utensils. It is tempting, especially if you are going on a picnic or you have tons of people coming to your house. But then again, it you can avoid using these non-biodegradable items, you will be doing your share in helping the environment.
Think of something else that should be in your unshopping list?
My hat goes off to Organicgal though, who has taken the time to do her research and show her findings. Here are some facts which we should all know:
* Body care is not a regulated industry.
* The USDA Organic regulations/laws only extend to food items or body care items that are food grade.
* Because of lax regulations a body care company can use the word “Natural” any way they want, regardless of if they threw in chemicals and synthetics to the final product.
* A company can only use the word Organic (as in the product name, etc) on the front of their packaging if the product contains at least 70% organic ingredients
* For a company to display a label that reads “Made with Organic ingredients” the product must carry 70% or more organics with no restrictions on the other ingredients.
* For a company to display the USDA organic label, it must have 95% or higher organic ingredients with the other 5% being from an approved list.
* To carry the new Natural Products Association Label the natural product must only contain pre-approved naturally derived ingredients.
* The Eco-Cert label has fallen under scrutiny lately, for allowing synthetics in products (which is against it’s own rules) with many interest groups now not trusting the integrity of the EcoCert logo
Real natural/organics include Natures Baby Organics and Dr.Bronners ( Hurrah! I use their lovely lavender soap). And lastly, there are the “hit and miss guys”, whose products have both the good stuff, and the bad stuff. Included here is Burts Bees, who Organicgal says is at least honest about their ingredients, good or otherwise.
I don’t know if it is just me, but I seem to have this fixation about toilet paper. I cannot live without my stash of toilet paper – I always have to have extra in case I run out. Same thing with paper towels for the kitchen. More than quantity, however, I place such a high importance on the quality of the product. Toilet paper has to be three ply, and so on.
But did you know that forests are being affected negatively because of the tissue paper industry? (Of course you cannot discount other paper products.) I just read a report by the National Resources Defense Council and this is what it contained.
If every household in the United States replaced just one box of virgin fiber facial tissues (175 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 163,000 trees.
That’s a LOT of trees. It’s hard to imagine using “bad” facial tissues not made of virgin fiber, though. How about toilet paper?
If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 423,900 trees.
Okay, that’s a much higher figure! I guess I can deal with non-virgin fiber toilet paper much easier. And how about kitchen paper towels?
If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 544,000 trees.
Here is my suggestion: more than using kitchen towels made of recycled paper, maybe we can start using cloth rags every now and then?
Ever heard of green furniture? This is actually the trend in interior decoration these days. People who are conscious of the environment and how their lifestyles affect it are looking into more ways to do their part in its conservation. In decorating the house, you can actually find green furniture that will bring beauty as well as function, and by green, I definitely do not mean the color.
So what is green furniture? This kind of furniture has at least one of the following characteristics.
Sustainable – green furniture should be made from raw materials that come sustainable sources. These include man-made forests that are reforested regularly so as not to strip the natural resources.
Recycled – some furniture can be made from recycled materials such as plastics and metals. Instead of using newly made materials, recycled materials will lessen the strain on the environment and usually come cheaply as well.
Low toxicity – you might not know it but some products have high levels of toxic materials. Green furniture, on the other hand, is made of materials that have low levels of toxic elements.
Durable – green furniture should last you a long time. This implies that you will be using your furniture for at least a year (or even more!). Naturally, this means that you will not be buying new furniture as often. Another point is that repair should always be an option.
Local – green furniture is produced locally. Shipping over long distances increases the carbon footprint of products. If your furniture is produced or obtained locally, the carbon footprint is decreased.
The next time you buy furniture, you might want to consider these things.
I am sure you’ve heard about the people who do not believe that global warming is real. The fact is that there are a lot of people who are not convinced enough that going green is a good idea. These people usually have arguments that keep them from “crossing over.” Let’s do some green myth-busting, shall we?
More energy is wasted (as opposed to being saved) by recycling.
This argument is usually backed up by other ideas such as the gas and manpower that the trucks will use to run around town will offset any benefits of recycling plastic bottles and aluminum cans. The truth is, however, the energy needed to create new aluminum cans is so much more than what it takes to recycle. The bottom line is that recycling is still more beneficial.
“Natural” cleansers are not disinfectants.
Have you heard people say that natural cleansers are not effective against bacteria. According to experts, though, hydrogen peroxide mixed with apple cider or undiluted white vinegar is strong enough to kill bacteria such E. coli. What you can do is put the two liquids into separate containers and then spray one liquid first, with the other next. You can use this to clean your kitchen counters and even to clean fruits and vegetables.
It’s better to keep your heating settings at one temperature than to turn it up and down.
The rationale is that it will take more energy to heat up the room if you totally turn it off. That’s why some people think it’s better to keep the room heated at all times. Ask the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) – you will still save more by adjusting the temperature as needed.
I know, “greenify” is not really a word, but I liked the sound of it so I decided to use it today. Anyhow, how often do you do your laundry? If you have children, the chances are that you do tons of laundry. Even single people and couples do tend to accumulate a considerable amount of dirty clothes. I sometimes surprise myself when laundry time comes around!
The year is almost over, and it is time to make your travel plans for the holidays yet again. At this time of the year, a lot of people pack their bags and hit the road (or the skies) to visit friends and family or to simply discover new places. If you are traveling in the next month or so, why not take the time to re-think your plans and see if you are contributing towards the welfare of the environment? Here are some things that you can consider.
I don’t know if it is just me, but I seem to have this fixation about toilet paper. I cannot live without my stash of toilet paper – I always have to have extra in case I run out. Same thing with paper towels for the kitchen. More than quantity, however, I place such a high importance on the quality of the product. Toilet paper has to be three ply, and so on.
Ever heard of green furniture? This is actually the trend in interior decoration these days. People who are conscious of the environment and how their lifestyles affect it are looking into more ways to do their part in its conservation. In decorating the house, you can actually find green furniture that will bring beauty as well as function, and by green, I definitely do not mean the color.
I am sure you’ve heard about the people who do not believe that global warming is real. The fact is that there are a lot of people who are not convinced enough that going green is a good idea. These people usually have arguments that keep them from “crossing over.” Let’s do some green myth-busting, shall we?
