Dryers Are Energy Vampires- Clotheslines Are Better

Hang dry your wet laundry. By doing so, you’re saving energy and preserving the fit and color of your clothes!

Just Say No to GMO

Buy organic heritage seedlings whenever you can. Most fruits and vegetables have an incredibly diverse range of varieties, but we typically only see one or two different kinds in the grocery store. By choosing to grow heritage plants we can preserve that diversity and give a big green thumbs down to monoculture.

Saving the Planet One Paper Towel at a Time

    Do you really need to use so many paper towels? One roll will last me at least one month at home. I have a whole shelf of well-used dish rags that started out their life as a nicely embroidered fabric and now are much more useful to me and the planet! Ditch the paper towels and facial tissues. Tea towels and dishcloths work pretty much everywhere you’d use a paper towel, and you can employ newspaper for the truly gnarly messes. As for facial tissue, toilet tissue works just as well at a fraction of the cost and without separate packaging. Why buy something twice?

Recycling Saves the Rainforest

Here are some other things you can do to save the rainforest:

    *Don’t keep tropical birds or reptiles as pets. Let them live in nature.

    *Buy items made of sustainable wood. Hardwood teak and rosewood encourage logging and deforestation.

    *Recycle all your cans. Bauxite is mined from the ground in tropical countries and is the source for aluminum.

    *Buy local, organic food whenever possible. Conventional agriculture is exhausting our forest’s resources.

    *Support any organization that is legitimately working to protect the environment in developing countries and in precious rainforests.

More Beef = Fewer Trees

    The next time you consider grabbing a burger at a fast food place, remember this: over the past few decades, the rainforests have been disappearing to satisfy our hunger for cheap beef. Rainforests are home to over a thousand indigenous tribal groups, thousands of species of birds and butterflies and exotic animals-all of which are now endangered. Rainforests also affect rainfall and wind all around the world by absorbing solar energy for the circulation of our atmosphere. The trees provide buffers against wind damage and soil erosion, which then help prevent flooding along our coastlines. They are a precious part of our ecosystem. Let’s all do something to protect them. 

    Over five million acres of South and Central American rainforests are cleared each year for cattle to graze on. The local people don’t eat this much meat-it is exported to make the one dollar hamburger and a cheap barbecue meal.

Take Care of the Planet

    Each year, the National Environmental Education Foundation coordinates hundreds of events around the country on Public Lands Day. Volunteers are recruited to improve public parks and wildlife refuges by removing trash, planting trees, and doing other earth-friendly activities. Visit their website to find a service day near you: publiclandsday.org.

Every Drop of Water Counts

    We take water so for granted. We leave the faucet running when we brush our teeth, over-water our gardens, wash the car too often, take baths every evening rather than a quick shower, or don’t mend that dripping tap. Become water-wise. At this writing, my landlord has not responded to my messages about the kitchen faucet dripping. So I have a bucket capturing it all in the sink and I use that to water my backyard. I always have a bucket in the bathtub to capture shower water and haul it out to water my front and backyard. I used to get really strange looks from neighbors but they are used to me now. A couple down the block started doing the same after we met at an afternoon block party!

Lighten the Load on Our Environment

    Laundry can be a costly business, both financially and environmentally. Expensive conventional detergents and laundry aids are mostly derived from petroleum and often contain chemical fragrances and phosphates, which are known to deplete water of oxygen. This has devastating effects on fish-they basically starve and die. Eco-alternatives are much cheaper, just as effective, and so much better for our world. 

    At the store, look for phosphate-free, eco-friendly laundry detergent powder. The green brands use a soap base instead of petroleum, which works just as well without the deadly chemicals. You may even find that strange allergies and discomfort goes away as you eschew heavily chemical-laden soaps.

360 Degrees of Giving

     My favorite kinds of gifts are the ones that keep on giving. The FEED Project has many cool options that are made in America and crafted with love and pride. A beautifully carved cutting board for your best friend's birthday from FeedProjects.com will not only impress them but help feed the hungry. I love their FEED bags, which are a handy way to ditch the plastic and the paper, too.

Terrific for Terra

    If you are anything like me, this is the time of year you suddenly realize you don't have enough flutes and glasses to properly toast in the New Year. Why add to the already burgeoning mounds of recycling or, God forbid, landfill? The cool company Refresh Glass (refreshglass.com) creates pretty and eco-efficient drinking glasses from rescued wine bottles. Cheers!

Save Rare Earth

Cell phones and batteries are some of the largest contributors to toxic substances in our landfills. More than 13 million cell phones become obsolete in California every year, and historically only seven percent have been recycled. Over 80% of reusable batteries are composed of the hazardous heavy metals nickel, and cadmium. Mobile phones contain hazardous levels of lead, nickel-cadmium, and other toxic materials. While these and other rechargeable batteries have been banned from disposal in California for several years, recycling opportunities have lagged. According to Californians Against Waste, for every million cell phones we recycle, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered. Go to epa.gov for information on how to recycle your cell phone.   

Some of Our Best Friends Have 4 Legs

Meet your friends at the farm and support kindness to animals:
Gene and Lorri Bauston found a living sheep abandoned on a stockyard “dead pile in 1986. Once they recovered from the shock, they rescued the sheep, named her Hilda, and went to work created Farm Sanctuary. Within ten years, Farm Sanctuary became the nation’s largest farm animal rescue and protection organization. They now have a New York shelter and one in California, 100 miles north of Sacramento. Their Website is www.farmsanctuary.org. Not only does their organization rescue thousands of farm animals each year, but also they are also involved in groundbreaking campaigns to help animals. Another way you can support this effort is to visit a sanctuary with your kids as they are often quaint petting zoos with critters you can actually pet!

Happy Recycling Day! #EcoActsofKindness

Did you know this is America Recycles Day? We think EVERY day should be, don't you?

 

Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn’t recycled it can take a million years to decompose… Twenty recycled aluminum cans can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one. Every ton of glass recycled saves the equivalent of nine gallons of fuel oil needed to make glass from virgin materials.” (www.50waystohelp.com)

Skip the Burger and Save the Rainforest

Did you know there is a direct connection between burgers and deforestation? Indeed there is. 

 

The next time you consider grabbing a burger at a fast-food place, remember this: over the past few decades, the rainforests have been disappearing to satisfy our “hunger” for cheap beef. Rainforests are home to over a thousand indigenous tribal groups, thousands of species of birds and butterflies and exotic animals-all of which are now endangered. Rainforests also affect rainfall and wind all around the world by absorbing solar energy for the circulation of our atmosphere: the trees provide buffers against wind damage and soil erosion, which then helps prevent flooding along our coastlines. They are a precious part of our ecosystem. Let’s all do something to protect them.

Over five million acres of South and Central American rainforests are cleared each year for cattle to graze on. The local people don’t eat this much meat-it is exported to make the $1 hamburger and a cheap barbeque meal. More beef=fewer trees