LIVING GREEN!

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[Icy]

A thread for Mudflats Forum members to share "Living Green" ideas....

[Icy]

Are you using the Freecycle Network yet?

Freecycle is an international group with a focus on trading/recycling versus dumping:

Welcome! The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,614 groups with 5,941,000 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun!

http://www.freecycle.org/

I've used Freecycle to give away clothes, un-needed furniture, etc., and have had a good experience with it.  Everyone's been gracious and grateful...and it's a nice way to meet new people in your town.  You can also find some great deals (it's free!)....we had a floor lamp that broke (new puppy...), and found a brand new one, still in the box, offered on Freecycle!

One of the real benefits of Freecycle, especially for someone with a small (tiny carbon footprint) car, is that if someone wants something you're offering, they have to come and pick it up!

[Icy]

After posting about "Freecycle", I remembered a story from NPR a few months ago.  It was about a wealthy East Coast suburb where the residents had taken to "dumpster diving".  Apparently, things thrown away at the local dumpsite were so good, that residents were taking weekend trips to look for treasures.  Unfortunately, the story also reported that people from not so wealthy areas were driving in to take part in the treasure hunt.  The town decided to restrict dumpster diving to locals only.

Couldn't find the link to the story, but here's a couple of others on dumpster diving:

Dumpster Diving for Fun & Holiday gifts!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16816206

A blog where the author share photos of her dumpster diving treasure finds:
http://sueannsnwprblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/robin-rilettes-dumpster-diving.html

[TRConnie]

I am an ethical hedonist (that's not a contradiction) and I veer more towards excess than I do minimalism.  Even I have found simple things I can do to reduce my carbon footprint and save the planet.  Warning:  link takes you to a Youtube video of George Carlin - George is never politically correct and has a potty mouth.  (I miss him, may he rest in peace.)

Freecycle is fabulous.  My SO uses it and he's gotten rid of everything from rotten deck wood to old technology.  I don't use it because I live alone in a remote location. 

Once I decided that my house was filled with too much crap, I decided to set as a goal getting the house to the point where everything in it was there because I loved it or needed it.  From there on in, stopping at Goodwill to drop stuff off has been become part of the Monday routine.  I don't bring anything new into the house unless I love it or need it. 

One by one, I'm switching to the fluorescent lightbulbs.  They've greatly improved them.  I've not yet found ones that will work with a dimmer switch, but give them time.

I discovered that vinegar will clean and disinfect lots of things.  Vinegar and baking soda is excellent for unclogging slightly-clogged sinks.  If you spray vinegar on a spider, it will die.

Every spring and again in the fall,  I plant a mesclun lettuce mix in a large pot that stays on my patio table.  For weeks, I have fresh lettuce that hasn't been sprayed, trucked, washed, bagged, trucked and left sitting for weeks in the grocery store.

I don't rake leaves - I mow them.  I've got (no exaggeration) a 100 oak trees in my yard.  If I can mow the leaves, leave them where they fall, and the grass is fine - you can too. You don't need a special mower.  In fact, my favorite mower to use is the circa 1982 thing I bought at the flea market for $10.   PLUS I don't have to rake leaves.  Plus it conditions the soil.  Plus it fertilizers the grass.  Plus you don't have to rake leaves.  (Yay!  no raking leaves.)

Coffee grounds are an excellent plant fertilizer.

I keep a coffee can under the sink for egg shells, veggie debris, etc. (no meat, no dairy).  I dump it in the "compost garbage can" once a week.  My son is appalled that I call this compost.  I don't turn it.  I don't layer it.  I don't do anything to it.  I have two of them.  When one gets full (about a year), I start using the other one.  By the time that one is full - the second one is "composted" and off to the garden it goes.  No, neither one smells. 

I use a fabric shopping bag. 

I filter my own water. 

I keep my tires inflated and I drive between 55 & 60 (the speed limit here is 70).  My mpg has gone up dramatically. 

Not because I wanted to, but because the heat pump died - I have been without central AC for two summers now.  There have only been a combined period of about 4 weeks where I felt inconvenienced by such.  The new unit will go in later this fall or next summer, but AC as a norm is over with in my life.  I loved having open windows and fresh breezes. 

Houseplants are great air purifiers.  Spider plants are some of the best and ANYBODY can grow a spider plant.  These things can't be killed (connie sets the timer to see how long before someone posts his or her How I Killed My Spider Plant story).

Connie

[mimi]

I got rid of all of the plastic in my kitchen and home.  If I inherit a zip lock bag I wash it and reuse it until the little zipper doesn't work any more and then I fold it over and fasten it with a paper clip.  Everything else is metal or glass.  I bring my canvas bags to the grocery store and take everything out of their plastic wrap (makes me crazy when they package up grapes in huge bunches so they rot before I could ever eat them all) but try mostly to buy from the whole foods grocery. I grow my vegetables and can or freeze (using heritage seeds and paper freezer wrap).  We hunt out here so have a steady supply of venison, wild turkey and pheasant.  The motto is if your gonna kill it your gonna clean it an eat it.  Fish too.
I have never had an air conditioner, got rid of the microwave and the electric coffee pot (too much plastic).  I heat with wood taken from my own woods - the down fall and dead fall only.  Helps to clean up the woods and leaves nice little brush piles for the critters.
I have never used a chemical in my yard or on my property and pull noxious plants.  The yard is green.  It matters not if it is grass or a weed - I mow it and let it be.  Also mow with a mulcher so never rake.
I have a septic system so it is important to use cleaning products with no phosphorus or chemicals that would harm the little microbes in the system.  Same with toilet paper.
I only wear wood, silk or cotton - those other fabrics smell funny.
I finished the panelling in my house with no VOC products and insulation is all formaldehyde free. The next step is to get rid of the toxic formeldehyde laced sofa (that foam rubber is a killer)
I have hardwood and tile floors - one part of the house is carpeted and that will leave soon.  I see that if a bug comes in the house it remains on the carpet for 20 minutes max before it dies.
I don't like the light that comes from the energy efficient bulbs (sorry) so I use candles or my oil lamps or my solar lights. When the sun goes down, so do I.
I detest shopping!  I make all of my christmas gifts - last year it was goat's milk soap, some homemade fudge and a deerskin bag. And a photo album for each person with photos of each individual I have collected over the years - big hit!!
I do drive 50 miles and hour - it's a good speed to go.
Remember to dispose of your used batterys and used oil at a recycling center.
For a crock pot alternative I use a cast iron pot with a lid on top of the woodstove in the winter.  Good source of iron with the meal.
Live simply so that others can simply live - that is the bumper sticker on my car.  I try to do my part. :smiley:
What I like best about it is that this is how my kids grew up and that is how they remain.  Art supplies and musical instruments are the most cherished of items.

[Jaime from Wasilla]

I was doing laundry this morning, and pulled a sock out of the dryer that had a big hole in the heel. I was about to throw it away - it was just a cheap cotton tube sock, and stopped to remember watching my grandmother darning socks. I could repair this sock, and get another six months of wear out of it. It would probably take me an hour, and $0.50 worth of cotton yard. I am not sure how to value my time, but I rarely work for less than $20/hour any more.  I can buy a package of six pairs of socks for about $5. I am conflicted whether it is greener to repair the sock, or just buy a new one.

[schnauzer]

I was doing laundry this morning, and pulled a sock out of the dryer that had a big hole in the heel. I was about to throw it away - it was just a cheap cotton tube sock, and stopped to remember watching my grandmother darning socks. I could repair this sock, and get another six months of wear out of it. It would probably take me an hour, and $0.50 worth of cotton yard. I am not sure how to value my time, but I rarely work for less than $20/hour any more.  I can buy a package of six pairs of socks for about $5. I am conflicted whether it is greener to repair the sock, or just buy a new one.

Weeell, I wouldn't mend the sock.  Mended socks are painful, at least with my level of sewing skill.  I wouldn't throw it away tho.  Dust rag, dog toy, sock monkey, (sans obama logo) etc.  Besides, your time is better spent, making calls for Obama, playing with your pets, walking in the sunshine...

MHO

[mimi]

I was doing laundry this morning, and pulled a sock out of the dryer that had a big hole in the heel. I was about to throw it away - it was just a cheap cotton tube sock, and stopped to remember watching my grandmother darning socks. I could repair this sock, and get another six months of wear out of it. It would probably take me an hour, and $0.50 worth of cotton yard. I am not sure how to value my time, but I rarely work for less than $20/hour any more.  I can buy a package of six pairs of socks for about $5. I am conflicted whether it is greener to repair the sock, or just buy a new one.

I remember my grandma darning socks but that is because she had knit them in the first place - the great prize present at Christmas for me were the hand knit wool socks and mittens from grandma - she used a very very fine grade wood for them and they were toasty as all get out.

I too use the old socks as rags and undies as well - just cut off the waistband and there you have a nice cotton rag for washing windows and such.

Also - unplug the electrical whatevers from the outlets when not in use.  I know    I was skeptical too but gave it a try and darn it if my electric bill didn't go down 10.00 a month - surprise surprise what is flowing

[The Mad Hatter]

Read George Monbiot!

His articles range from UK politics (well, yeah...) to US Corpocracy, and occasionally he does nice things like tell you how to grow your own vegetable garden.

One of the best writers on the subject of climate change (even if his writing style can at times seem a little arrogant. That's a consequence of writing for The Guardian...).

[Charcoal Sniper P.]

a friend of mine from childhood writes this blog for the discovery channel:
Sustainable
Super Duper Sustainable Tech Stuff That is Lean Clean and Green

She has found some really interesting stuff out there.
my favorites are: plastic eating bacteria (there are 2 posts on this I think), Solar bricks, and Solar concentrators (there are 2 posts on this as well).

[Icy]

Several people here have mentioned that they filter their own water....which is good, because a study was released today regarding bottled water:

The study's lab tests on 10 brands of bottled water detected 38 chemicals including bacteria, caffeine, the pain reliever acetaminophen, fertilizer, solvents, plastic-making chemicals and the radioactive element strontium. Though some probably came from tap water that some companies use for their bottled water, other contaminants probably leached from plastic bottles, the researchers said.

"In some cases, it appears bottled water is no less polluted than tap water and, at 1,900 times the cost, consumers should expect better," said Jane Houlihan, an environmental engineer who co-authored the study.

The two-year study was done by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, an organization founded by scientists that advocates stricter regulation. It found the contaminants in bottled water purchased in nine states and Washington, D.C.

Researchers tested one batch for each of 10 brands. Eight did not have contaminants high enough to warrant further testing. But two brands did, so more tests were done and those revealed chlorine byproducts above California's standard, the group reported. The researchers identified those two brands as Sam's Choice sold by Wal-Mart and Acadia of Giant Food supermarkets.

More on the report:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081015/ap_on_sc/impure_bottled_water

...and then there's the question of what to do with all the empties....

[The Mad Hatter]

Several people here have mentioned that they filter their own water....which is good, because a study was released today regarding bottled water:

<snip>

Good grief! I'm swearing off bottled water...

[Icy]

@The Mad Hatter:  Smile. 

btw: Love Cleese on Hannity...

@Jaime:  Keep your holey socks to wear over your un-holey ones (that is, if you don't mind wearing something un-holy next to your skin) on those cold Alaskan days....

[judi]

Love this post

I too am trying to go more green...we too turn off the electric...(I got power strips for the tv, computer, microwave.) makes it easy...

Jaime I had to laugh at darning the socks...I remember my grandma doing it too in fact I think I have that wooden thing she used to put in the sock to hold it while she darned it..I DONT do that...but the old socks are great for cleaning with

I bought most of the grandkids toys for christmas at yard sales...saved tons of money as well as saving the earth

we participate in earth day...had things at my church and in the park here...it was great fun and much learning

I have friends who goes dumpster looking all the time...they have gotten a nice chair, wagon, bikes, and a TUBA from one of their dives...this friend is an artist who makes most of her things out of recycled things...dont laugh but one time she went to the governor's mansion for some art thing (she is from arkansas) and she wore a dress she had made out of old inner tubes! that she had found on the shores of lake erie ha ha...oh she looked great!!

I have made sour dough and now am using it weekly rather than buying yeast...it is great tasting too

I have far to go...but am trying to make changes in our life style

love the bumper sticker...live simply so others can simply live!  great!!!

[TRConnie]

Back in May, Wired Magazine ran a series of articles that detailed some "inconvenient truths" about what constitute "green" living.  Be forewarned, you are not going to like some of what they have to say. The online version of the article is broken up into biits and pieces.  You have to click all over the place to read what was in a pretty straight format in the print edition.  Here's the link:  http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/16-06/ff_heresies_intro

My SO synopsized all the pieces as follows (I have his permission to post this):

There is a very interesting toe-to-toe article in Wired Magazine this [May edition] on Global Climate Change and whether "environmentalists" are really taking the right approach to the problem. Environmentalists are also provided a forum in this article.

Basically the article primarily supports the notion that what really matters with respect to global climate change is cutting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. That means rethinking everything we've learned about being green. Here is the focus of the article:

1. LIVE IN CITIES - Commuting from suburbs is the culprit here. Manhattan's carbon footprint is 30 percent smaller than the average American's footprint alone. Rate of car ownership is among lowest in country; 65per cent of the population walks, bikes or takes mass transit. Large apartment buildings are the most efficient dwellings to heat and cool; the high-speed elevator emits less atmospheric carbon than trains, planes, and automobiles and has made vertical density possible from Dubai to Taipei.

2. A/C is OK - According to the green cant the air conditioner may rank second only to the car. Energy-sucking AC props up an unsustainable lifestyle in scorching desert cities like Phoenix, while the cheerful Alaskan splitting wood and tending his wood stove is the epitome of ecological harmony...But this is wrong, when it is 0 degrees outside, you've got to raise the indoor thermometer to 70 degrees. In 110 degree weather, you need to change the temperature by only 40 degrees to achieve the same comfort level. Since AC is inherently more efficient than heating (i.e. it takes less energy to cool a given space by 1 degree than to heat by the same amount), the difference here has huge implications for greenhouse gases.

3. Organics are NOT the Answer. When it comes to greenhouse gases, organics are part of the problem.  Using the example of milk production, dairy cows raised on organic feed aren't pumped full of hormones. That means they produce less milk per Holstein--about 8% less than conventially raised cattle. So it takes 25 organic cows to make as much milk as 23 industrial ones. More cows, more cow emissions. But that is just the beginning. A single organically raised cow puts out 16 percent more green house gasses than its counterpart. That double whammy- more cows and more emissions per cow--makes organic dairies a cog in the global warming machine. This section also goes on and on regarding organically grown produce through BigAgs.
Carbon emissions shoot through roof because of the refrigerator trucks needed to cart this stuff thousands of miles to a grocer. Organic produce only works effectively if it is grown locally and consumed locally.

4. FARM the Forests...This one really got to me. When it comes to fighting climate change, it is apparently more effective to treat forests like crops than like majestic monuments to nature.. Over its lifetime, a tree shifts from being a vacuum cleaner for atmospheric carbon to an emitter. A tree absorbs 1500 pounds of CO2 in its first 55 years. After that it's growth slows, and it takes in less carbon. Ultimately the tree rots or burns and all the CO2 gets released. A well managed tree-farm acts like a factory for sucking CO2 out of the atmosphere so that the most climate friendly policy is to continually cut down trees and plant new ones...lots of them.

5. China is the SOLUTION not the problem. Basically the argument here is that with its manufacturing capacity, China has tripled its photovoltaic production in the last year, making it the number one producer of PVs in the world. Inexpensive wind turbines are being produced in mass quantities.
China will soon rule the world of lithium ion batteries, critical for superefficient cars. How much of this production is staying WITHIN China for its own use...nearly 40%. The rest is being sold on world markets. It is expected that in 30 years, China will have a carbon footprint half the size of the U.S. at its current adoptions of these technologies. It has taken the U.S. 30 years to increase the fuel efficiency of standards of the automobile. Imagine what it will take to adopt all these other technologies.
Not so in China

6. Accept Genetic Engineering. We aren't going to be able to keep 6Billion and more people fed without it. We already have genes available for nitrogen-efficient rice that will dramatically recu e dependence on nitrogen-based fertilizers which make up one-third of agriculture's contribution to global warming. And what about genetically engineering crops to yield more efficient fuels sources in the manufacture of biofuels if we go that rate. Genetically engineer the corn so that it tastes like shit, but is the most fuel efficient biofuel available.

7. Carbon Trading Doesn't Work. I still don't understand carbon trading except that it has hit Wall Street in a big way. According to this article, carbon offsets--and emissions-trading schemes, their industrial-scale siblings--are the environmental version of subprime mortgages. They both started from some administrative premises. China and India, for instance, need to be recruited into the fight against greenhouse gases. And markets are a better mechanism for change than command and control. But when those big ideas collide with the real world, the result is handwaving at best, outright cams at worst. Moreover, they give the illusion that something constructive is being done. It's not.

8. EMBRACE Nuclear Power. Every analysis on carbon accounting reaches the same conclusion. Nukes win. Wind power comes in a close second...when the wind is blowing. A UK government white paper last year factored in everything from uranium mining to plant decommissioning and determined that nuclear power emits 2 to 6 percent of the carbon per kilowatt-hour as natural gas, the cleanest of the fossil fuels. This technology probably needs to be seriously reexamined in light of this and the fact that there are now technologies available to reduce the number of fuel rods needed to produce three-times the energy of earlier technologies. Since nearly all of the major accidents associated with nuclear power plants were the result of human error. New plants are on the drawing boards that don't involve human operators.

9. Drive USED cars, not new hybrids. In 2008, an Oregon market research firm rleased an incendiary 500-page report. Its claim: A Humvee (13 miles per gallon city, 16 highway) uses less energy that a Prius (48 city, 45 highway). Scientists quickly debunked the report, but the Hummer lovers got one thing right. Pound for pound, making a Prius contributes more carbon to the atmosphere than making a Hummer, largely due to the environmental cost of the 30 pounds of nickel in the hybrid's battery. If a new Prius were placed head-to-head with a used car, would the Prius win? Probably not.
Making a Prius consumes 113M BTUs according to sustainability engineers. A single gallon of gass contains about 113,000BTUs, so the Prius guzzles the equivalent of 1000 gals before it clocks its first mile. A used car on the other hand, starts with a significant advantage: the first owner has already paoid off its carbon debt. Buy a decade-old Toyota Tercel, which gets a respectable 35mpg, and the Prius will have to drive 100K miles to catch up.
Better yet, buy a three-cylinder, 49-horsepower 1994 Geo Metro XFi (hi Connie), one of the most fuel efficient cars ever built. It gets the same average mileage as a 2008 Prius, so a new hybrid would never close the carbon gap. Sure the XFi has no AC or airbags--but no one said daving the planet would be comfortable, or even safe. Hmmmmm...I guess we are doing Cuba and other countries a favor by shipping them our old cars. Maybe we oughta start keeping some of them.

10. PREPARE for the worst. Basically the argument here is that no matter what we do, global climate change is inevitable and we need to prepare for it as best we can, i.e. learn to live in a warmer climate. One of the great green taboos is that climate change is a specter to be fought, not accommodated. Still, our ability to cope with global warming is far greater than our chances of stopping it entirely.

The green guys basically argue that it is not JUST all about carbon. A cut-carbon-at-all-costs approach blinds us to more-sustainable, and ultimately more promising solutions. We don't need a War on Carbon, we need a new properity that can be shared by all while still respecting a multitude of real ecological limits--not just atmospheric gas concentrations, but topsoil depth, water supplies, toxic chemical concentrations, and the health of ecosystems, including the diversity of life they depend upon. We need to face the problem of global climate change in all its myriad complexities rather just focusing on carbon.

Excuse all the paraphrasing, etc. It was a very long article.

---------------------------

Connie (just posting, not necessarily agreeing)

[4change]

What kind of non stick pans are you using ? that are not teflon , of course

[TRConnie]

I'm using well-seasoned cast-iron.

Connie

[Icy]

I'm using well-seasoned cast-iron.

Connie

That's what I use too.  My cast iron pans are my treasures in the kitchen....nobody's allowed to clean them except for me!  (Not to say anyone in the family's complained about that....)

Years ago, I lived in a teepee while we were building our house up in Northern Calif.  I had an outdoors kitchen, and did all my cooking in a huge (and very heavy) restaurant sized cast iron wok.  I'd build a fire under it....then just whisk it clean with water and a bamboo brush after cooking.  Never had to move it.....it was great! 

[TRConnie]

Indeed.  I bought mine at an antique store at a ridiculous (expensive) price.  The newly manufactured ones, in my experience, are near impossible to get seasoned well-enough to be nonstick. 

While I'm not eagerly anticipating the event, I expect to inherit my dad's when he goes.  He inherited his grandmother's.

Connie

[futurexpat?]

I own one and a quarter acres of wooded property. We never planted a lawn, so we never have to fertilize or mow, not for the last 30 years. When the leaves fall, they stay where they fall. We only sweep them off the driveway and decks. Our soil is wonderful. We have never needed to fertilize anything we plant. We never get water in the basement. Those trees suck it all up.

I use fabric shopping bags; as many flourescent bulbs as I can; I try to plan my driving carefully so that I make good use of the gasoline. My water tastes fine to me, so I use my own water in bottles or special bottles. When I can in season, I shop at the farmers' markets and my local farm market. I hibernate the computer every night. I'm using environmentally friendly cleaners, and, yes, vinegar is great.

I'm sure I do more; I'm also sure I could do more.