the final installation for greening your home one room at a time.

- change all light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs. they use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs.
- turn off the lights and appliances when you leave a room!
- switch to rechargeable batteries. one rechargeable battery can replace 300 single-use batteries
- stop smoking. as if the health benefits/warnings weren’t enough, over 11.6 million kilograms of pesticides are used each year to keep tobacco pest-free. cigarette butts have also been found in the stomachs of birds, fish, and other marine creatures who mistake them for food.
- and the ultimate: switch to green power! bullfrog power is one of many canadian companies offering 100% carbon free electricity

green cleaning:

- use old t-shirts as rags. our increasing dependence on disposable wipes, dusters, and mops is clogging our landfills
- “clean” doesn’t have to smell like pine, lemon, or orange chemicals. there are a host of companies making environmentally friendly products, like seventh generation and nature clean
- mix one part vinegar with one part warm water and you’ve got yourself a green, all-purpose cleaner.

here’re some facts, good and bad ones:

- 1% of australia’s untapped geothermal power potential could provide enough energy to last 26000 years
- the human pop has grown more in the last 50 years than it did in the previous 4 million
- at least 50 million acres of rainforest are lost every year, totalling an area the size of england, wales and scotland combined
- recycling one ton of paper save 17 trees, 2 barrels of oil, 4100 kilowatts of energy, 3.2 cubic yards of landfill, and 60 pounds of air polution
- only 1% of china’s 560 million residents breathe air that is considered safe by the european union
- oxygen-starved dead zones that cannot sustain life now cover an area roughly the size of the state of oregon
- 1 in 4 mammals is at risk of extinction
- the iraq war has cost somewhere in the nighbourhood of 3 TRILLION dollars, and that’s a conservative estimate.

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it’s been drilled into me since i was 3 feet tall; reduce, reuse, recycle. they’ve become a comfort blanket, something we (i) go to nuzzle in conversations of being green, look at what we know, look how we live more responsibly. they’re simple rules, they’ve been through life changes with you, but they remain the same, they’ve been that nice little constant. they’re plastered on recycle bin, book marks, posters on fridges, but now…now a book borrowed from a co-worker (Generation Green by Linda Sivertsen and Tosh Sivertsen, 2008 Simon & Schuster, Inc.) has the 3 Rs, things in 3s are always easier to remember, and made them 5. 5!

“Reduce: Take a pause and ask yourself, “Could I make do with less of this?” Less water in my shower? Less shampoo on my head? Then turn the question sideways. Of course some packaging can be important to protect a certain product. But do I want to support a company that dresses up its product with a ton of flashy extra packaging when I could give my money to a company that packages an equally great product in a much more efficient way, perhaps even from recycled materials?

Reuse: Before you throw anything away, could you use it again, or use it for a different purpose? If you’re going to buy a beverage in a plastic bottle, could you minimize its impact by refilling that bottle a few times?

Recycle: We know all about recycling paper, plastic, and glass, bu can you also consider recycling…books? Clothes? Old CDs? How can you look at what you have and igure out how to re-purpose it? How can you find someone who needs your old bike, Mac laptop, video game?”

Now…for the sh*t disturbers, the addition 2 Rs:

“Rethink: Advertisers spend billions telling you their latest gizmo will make you happy. If we don’t stop to think it through, we might find ourselves automatically buying things we don’t really want or need. Start by asking yourself if you really need to upgrade your phone just yet. Do you really want to buy the latest iPod when you two-year-old version still works? Or the flattest screen TC that requires special DVDs? You certainly don’t need to lead a life of total self-denial, but it can help to think before every purchase to make sure you’re buying it for reasons you feel good about.

Refuse: When you decide not to buy something and decide to find a new, different way to use what you’ve got, you might find that you stretch your mind in all sorts of creative ways. Necessity is the mother of invention, right? What happens when you decide not to buy the latest DVD or video game or Abercrombie shirt or UGG boots or…or…or…? It’s really interesting to see the different ways you can define yourself when you don’t let your possessions define you. What can your life become when you stop depending so much on stuff?”

so, think about our 2 new Rs from now on, if you aren’t already.

let’s start this off with some stats (courtesy of here):

• Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year.
• According to the EPA, over 380 billion plastic bags, sacks and wraps are consumed in the U.S. each year.
• According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. (Estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion.)
• Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade-breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest.

for a bunch more on evil plastic bags follow the above link.

i recently bought a brand new, envirosax, animal planet, reusable shopping bag. i lost my other fold up-able bag, and find those grocery store bags a bit of a nuisance to carry around. here she is:

i dig the bird. you can find a whole bunch here. mine was about $8 cdn.

so, i was trotting around with my new bag, which was holding some brand new glass tupperware, feeling pretty enviro conscious right then, but i started thinking. my nice new polyester envirosax bag felt…new…it didn’t feel recycled, didn’t seem like they’d reused anything in the making. so, just HOW good was my new reusable shopping bag if it was made from new, man-made materials?

and in comes the FAQ page for envirosax. there they explain why they use virgin polyester: the recycling process for polyester is extremely harmful for the environment, and recycling polyester actually diminishes the quality, leading to reusable bags that don’t last very long, adding to the bag problem. that the ink used in printing is all eco-friendly and recycled where it can be. that the paper used in backing the printing is recycled and turned into cardboard for the shipping of the bags. oh, how i could go on.

recycled post-consumer waste bags would be ideal, i think. but envirosax goes on to explain that the availability for this product is insufficient for the demand. there are companies  (in china, they name) who turn to creating water bottles for the soul purpose of recycling them (having never been used).

i’m beginning to ramble, so i’ll reel myself in. envirosax are a fantastic alternative to plastic bags and fold up to the size of a bar of soap. i’ve been using mine since i bought it, and am very satisified by the answers the FAQ section of their website provided to my questions. though, ideally, i’d be buying a recycled bag, this is nearly as good. since toronto has just passed a bylaw making plastic bags 5 cents each, i’ll be using this baby until it falls apart in my hands.

make sure you remember YOUR reusable bag the next time you go out. let me know what other brands you’ve bought bags from.

installment 2 will take us to the garage, the bedroom, and the laundry room. here we go:

in the bedroom:

-use beeswax rather than paraffin candles. paraffin is made from petroleum, and though they smell just lovely, they emit pollutants. beeswax burn longer and are believed to acutally clean the air by releasing ions that cling to dust that’s one sexy maid

-close vents in infrequently used rooms. this way heat and a/c are dispersed througout the well-used rooms

-switch to bamboo sheets; much more sustainable than cotton, and just as cozy

-if you use the radio or tv to fall asleep, make sure you set the timer. it doesn’t need to be on all night.

in the laundry room:

-wash clothes in cold water

-use eco-friendly detergent. those heavily scented detergetns we all love are just chemicals getting all over our clothes, then absorbed by our skin.

-hang-dry as much as you can. i barely put a thing in the dryer anymore.

in the garage:

-got paint? we all do. rather than dump it, try to recylce it to someone you know. otherwise it just sits there, never decomposing.

-ged rid of your old beer fridge. it’s only adding to your energy bill

-try not to spill and wash away. use drop sheets, or clean up with a rag. that oil or paint you’re spraying off with the hose is just leeching into your lawn and garden.

next week: tips for the whole house! isn’t this fun? i like installments.

let me know your ideas!

i’m grabbing this info from a great canadian magazine-now, don’t you laugh-Chill, from the beer store. yes. the beer store magazine has some simple and helpful tips on taking care of our little globe. there are a whole 4 pages worth so i’m going to post in installments so as not to overwhelm. here’re today’s room:

in the bathroom:

-limit shower time to less than 10 mins. for kids, make it a game. who can shower faster? my sister and i used to do this. i think we could do 1 1/2 minutes. that’s w/ a 2in1 shampoo.

-turn off water when shaving or brushing your teeth. duh.

-use un-bleached, recycled toilet paper. “if every canadian household made the switch, we’d save 48,000 trees every year.” while the recycled paper is a rougher in use, i find, it’s softer on the conscience. and besides, i don’t think your bottom notices too much. we’re not talking note paper rough.

-this is not simple, but i’ll include it: install low-flow shower heads and toilets.

-try to start upgrading your products to more natural ones. i use kissmyface shaving cream, and my boyfriend LOVES it too. so guys, gals, check it out. it’s a fabulous product, more of a cream that lathers and i find it’s really fantastic for my finicky skin. you can probably find it in any natural food store.

in the kitchen:

- use the green bin! compost AND recycle as much as possible (paper towel can go in the green bin ladies and gents).

-try to buy only (or as much as you can) locally grown, organic produce. “Not only will you be eating fewer pesticides and chemicals, the less travelling your food does to get to your dinner plat means it’s fresher and less carbon will be emitted during transportation.” and remember your reusable grocery bags. toronto’s just passed a bylaw that plastic bags are 5 cents! i’m definitely on board with that.

-”unplug small appliances when they are not in use. up to 40% of your energy bill is wasted on powering plugged in appliances, even when they’re not in use.” so that means you, toaster.

-buy food that comes in  minimal and recyclable packaging.

-go veggie at least once a week. “the UN discovered the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the cars, SUVs, planes, trucks, and boats in the world combined. if every canadian could go meatless just once a week, it would be the equivalent of taking 500,000 cars off the road!” woooooweee. that’s not so tough.i think this could be made fun too, mind you, i suck at cooking meat so i tend to have a primarily veggie diet anyways.

-stop buying bottled water. there are so many alternatives, tap water filter, if you MUST you can buy one of this huge water cooler bottles, or just drink tap water (toronto has some of the best tap water in n. America i believe). there are SO many reasons not to use these disposable bottles. 1 of which is that something like 88% end up in landfill sites rather than the recycling plant. read about the other here, an article i wrote last month about the topic.

well, that’s all for this installment. more rooms to come, so keep your eye balls peeled, and let me know how you progess. and any ideas, things you do, other simple green shtuff. i’m all ears.

have a lovely week

what i want to know is, how organic are you? i’ve been enjoying a local organic micro-brew, mill street, recently. but when asked by my younger sister, “what makes it organic?” i began thinking…well…i’m not sure. i’d think the hops were grown without exposure to toxins. but, where does your malt come from?! is it free of toxins? so with mind reeling, i googled mill street brewery.

under original organic, mill street boasts, “ontario’s first CERTIFIED organic lager was born in 2002 from a sense of purpose and a passion for craft beer. we adhere to rules that guarantee both the raw materials and brewing process are pesticide- and herbicide-free. brewed with imported malt and hops, this 4.2% german pilsner offers a light, crisp and refreshing flavour with a clean finish.”

well that cleared my conscience, and has given me an answer to my kid sister’s question.

we’re bombarded every day by “organic” this and “natural” that. you have to watch out, for very few of these “organic” products actually adhere to the aforementioned rules. there are organic certifications, and i’d say, that only those products bearing the seal or sticker, can be trusted. make sure you’re questioning always–but, that’s sort of my advice on life.

my alcoholic recommendation for the week/end is the mill street organic. i believe it’s only on tap, so have a night out at your local pub and just think, you’re sort of being a localvore (that is if you’re drinking it in toronto)!

i did a little research today and found the following

for dry skin:
avocado, mushed up and lathered on as a mask, will help to moisturize yo dry skin (just think about all the good fats in avocado).
Egg yolk, for those with eczema. Use egg yolk in place of soap. Sure it doesn’t smell great, but it will heal your damaged skin.

for oily skin:
tomato juice, or just rub some tomato on your face. that’s right. make sure you rinse immediately and thoroughly. i think, because i haven’t tried this yet, it can really dry out your skin (tomatoes are acidic).
a mask of grape, lemon, and egg white. add as much or as little as you want, just make sure the consistency remains mask-like so you can slop it on. you don’t want it running right off your face.

for the body:
try exfoliating on the cheap with coarse sugar, or baking soda if you have more sensitive skin. also, baking soda is good for the face whereas sugar is far too coarse for some.
equal parts water and vinegar sprayed on those stinky summer pits, or feet, to stop the sweat stank. that’s not to say you’ll be totally scent free. but i guess vinegar is the lesser of two evils here.

oh, and honey works as a great mask. it has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. i read it works well for minor blemishes, or skin irritations - have to try this out too. i just feel like i need to commit a good hour to putting that sticky stuff on my face then going through the process of trying not to touch anything for 2-20 minutes and THEN try to wash it thoroughly from my face. i’m sure to make it a production.

well, enjoy your super cheap summer skincare tips. i’m committed to recipe-free kitchen skin care right now.

hey mamas, and maybe mamas out there. here’s a little food for thought: the average baby goes through 6000 diaper changes…that is so much shat! i wonder what the stats look like for reusable diapers (water usage, effects of detergent). gotta do some research.

who went disposable and who went reusable? i know my mama did the poop and wash. i’d also like to see info on hygiene when it comes to reusable diapers.

i’ve seen reusable pads (yes, lady napkin kinda pads) and i can’t imagine those being very sanitary. and i figure it’s similar to the diaper. since, a pad is essentially a diaper. but if you are the kinda lady who’s attentive to this kind of waste check here for some literature on why cotton reusable pads might be better. and you curious babes can check it out too.

well that’s what’s on my mind today, universe help me. diapers and pads. oy.

in this, the maiden voyage of my little blog on green living, i’d like to say, “bonjour, allo, oy. welcome to my world.”

i’m going to try and share my trying with the world wide web. i’m trying to live with a big “GREEN” stamped on my forehead, or wrist at least. i try to be conscious of what i buy, what it’s packaged in, what i clean with, what i wipe my butt with, where my clothes are made…i try.

half the world has gone green crazy. we are guilted by newspapers (you’re printed on paper, how can you guilt ME!?), magazines (ditto!), the tv (i’m not even starting on you!), every day, constantly, on the horrible effects we’re having on our planet. on how we should eat locally, how we shouldn’t drive cars. how can we buy foreign! are you reusing your washing machine water to flush your toilet? bails of hay for insulation? you’re not?! well, shame, shame on you.

it’s all valid. they’re right. we’re doing this, and we should, and we should all try. it’s hard.

that’s the next thing i’d like to touch on. it’s hard to try. it’s hard to buy clothing that isn’t made hundreds of thousands of miles from home. it’s also expensive. it costs 99 cents for regular sunlight dish soap, 1.99+ for an enviro-friendly soap. it’s hard, and expensive to try. usually.

i’m trying to find the cheaper, simpler, ways to try. that’s why i’m here. i want to share the easy things i do to lessen my impact on this little ball of blue and green. i’m not perfect, far from it, but that only makes me more conscious of myself. those off-the-grid, organic-cotton-wearing, locavore’s out there, you’re hardcore, and i admire you. you inspire me to take the little steps i take every day to be just a little more green.

right now i’m a teal green. not quite green, but well on it’s way. i hope to achieve kelly greenness one day. or olive, even. forest green?

how GREEN are you? let’s all try together, mmk? i won’t judge you, long’s you don’t run the water while you brush your teeth.