Green Tuesday: 19

Hanging your laundry on the clothesline = free energy

*picture found here

Green Tuesday: 18

I soon will be turning my leased car in for new so cars must be on my mind...

Ask your mechanic about switching to synthetic motor oil.

Conventional motor oils are derived from petroleum and need to be changed every 3,000 miles. Synthetic motor oil lasts eight times longer, which means there is less oil to dispose of. It also improves engine performance and gives you better gas mileage.

Wow~did you know this? I had no idea.

Green Tuesday: 17

Toss lemon peals in the garden to keep cats from using your soil as a litter box. Citrus scents make cats cower and sneeze, so toss a few lemon or orange peels in the garden and your cat problem will be solved. Aphids are also repelled by citrus. Mix the rind from a lemon with water and spray it on any plants that are being attacked by the little bugs.

Green Tuesday: 16

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful."

-E.E. Cummings

*sorry late: I left the house at 5am today for Harrisburg and just got home - you know, because I haven't traveled enough lately!

Green Tuesday: 15

Instead of buying heavily packaged herbs at the grocery store (which often travel thousands of miles before reaching the supermarket shelves), try growing your own at home. It's pretty easy to grow some of the common household herbs. An added bonus is enjoying the smell of fresh herbs in your house. **This can save some major money too - have you priced fresh herbs lately?

Green Tuesday: 14

Put your dryer lint in the backyard: The soft lint is ideal for birds to feather their nests and is a much more eco-friendly alternative than throwing it in the garbage. Simply place the dryer lint in a pile on the ground and wait for nesting birds to retrieve it.

How easy. And cozy.

Green Tuesday: 13

I leave Wednesday for Ft. Lauderdale and while booking my plane ticket on Expedia I made the coolest discovery. You can purchase carbon offsets for every flight you take. In fact, you can purchase carbon offsets for just about everything you do! I actually purchased two flights; one to Florida and one to Kentucky later this month. The carbon offsets for each flight were $6.99 - not bad. Had I flown cross country it would be $10 more - travel transcontinental and it would be $20 more - still very reasonable I think to erase the carbon footprint of your flight. The offsets I purchased do not reduce the CO2 emissions directly from my flight (obviously) but rather it supports emission reduction projects elsewhere. Here are a couple websites where you can purchase carbon offsets:

nativeenergy.com

terrapass.com

This might be something you want to consider if you're planning a summer vacation. You can easily buy carbon offsets based on the amount of miles you plan to drive (like to the beach). If you're curious about what your (or your family's) carbon footprint is you can go to carbonfootprint.com and use their easy calculator.

Happy travels!

Green Tuesday: 12

This week I'd like to offer something more like "food for thought". It's not really a tip per se. I was reading an article in O magazine titled Green IQ. The article is actually an interview with the author and psychologist Daniel Goleman. In it he asks us in his new book Ecological Intelligence to think beyond things like organic, recycled and fair trade and "pursue a deeper, more critical understanding of how the products we use, buy and discard affect the environment". Without copying the article word for word I will give you my simple translation. Turning down the thermostat and replacing a few light bulbs is just the tiny tip of a really big iceberg. Every single thing we buy has an impact on the earth. The article used a glass jar for example and everything it goes through JUST to become glass. Just to make the glass you have to burn a gas furnace 24 hours at 2,000 degrees. He talks about a method called life-cycle assessment that looks at the entire range of a product's impact on the earth. You can go to GoodGuide.com to get more information. Long story short after reading the article I was both frustrated and energized. Frustrated because the hill just seems to big to climb. I turn down the thermostat, I use the eco friendly grocery bags...but I use way too many Ziplocs and my online shopping is anything but green. But energized because I was becoming more educated. Daniel Goleman seems to believe that knowledge is the key and I'd have to agree. I'm learning and that is a start. So on your next trip to the grocery store or the mall or eBay think...what did it take to get this product to me? And what will happen to this product when I am done with it? I think if we can do even just this one little thing - THINK - we will be helping.

PS. Richard...they weren't weeds (see above).

Green Tuesday: 11

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water...Its substance reaches everywhere; it touches the past and prepares the future; it moves under the poles and wanders thinly in the heights of air. It can assume forms of exquisite perfection in the form of a snowflake, or strip the living to a single shining bone cast up by the sea." -Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey

Green Tuesday:10

Start a garden: plant even one thing. One plant. And you will have made a difference. $1.88 for some organic seeds, some dirt and a pot - (or just come over to my house and steal some of mine).

Green Tuesday: 9

Okay. So for today I am going to copy word for word "Monday March 2nd" from my green page a day calendar. Why? I found the comparisons astonishing! And there is one more reason. It's March, my least favorite month of the year. But the birth month of my dear best friend Bryn...who I think may find this tip helpful. Hint: I think her mouse is magnetically drawn to the Print button.

Wipe your prints: Wanton printing at the office doesn't just waste paper. It also wastes toner, which is rough on the environment, and the highly packaged cartridges it comes in. And it's expensive - a 2006 cost comparison found that printer ink costs $66 per ounce, compared to $44 an ounce for Chanel #5 and a mere $5 an ounce for Dom Perignon! To get the most out of your cartridges, set your default print settings to "draft". When printer cartridges run low, give them a shake to get the last bits of ink. Finally, always ask yourself (Bryn) if you really need that document printed; store your files electronically instead.

(Boy, wouldn't it be nice if I could write Dom Perignon off as a business expense!!)

Green Tuesday: 8

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has" -Anthropologist Margaret Mead