Auld Lang Syne is on my mind today, not only because it’s what is traditionally sung at midnight, but because of what it means. Auld Lang Syne is sung at this time because it symbolizes endings and new beginnings. The noise and bustle of the holidays is over and we are entering a hopeful new year. As you look back over the previous year and prepare to ring in the new, think about how you can make your year, your community, and your world better.
You can start by composting live Christmas trees and wreaths instead of sending them to the landfill. Many cities offer this service, so check with your waste collector or contact City Hall to find out more. There’s even a National Christmas Tree Association that has more information.
The most important thing for you to know going into the new year is that you are empowered - your actions matter, what you do makes a difference! So do something. Barry Lopez said, “One of the great dreams of man must be to find some place between the extremes of nature and civilization where it is possible to live without regret.” Howard Zinn said, “We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” Carry this idea into the new year with you!
1. Live as locally as possible and live smaller. Get to know what is available from your community and utilize those resources.
2. Start recycling and composting if you don’t already - break that cradle to grave, ‘disposable’ mentality and look for ways to reuse things.
3. Grow something edible, even if it’s in a pot. If you have room, plant a tree (properly!), preferably one with edible fruits or one that provides food and/or habitat for local wildlife. It should be native or adapted to your area.
4. Eat one vegetarian meal a day, vegan if possible. This is a healthier option for you and food animals are a tremendous tax on our resources and environment. Think you can’t? Sure you can! Care2 has some great recipes.
5. Consider those less fortunate than you, for there always are those who are less fortunate. Play a game to donate rice and click every day at The Hunger Site and Care2.
6. Seek out like-minded people. Care2 (link just above) and The Compact link are good places to start.
7. Learn. One of the best gifts you can give yourself that also benefits those around you is knowledge. Don’t be one of the ’sheeple.’ Take the time to learn more than you know right now and be more than you are right now. The world is so much bigger and there is so much more going on than we can see when we operate in our limited piece of it. Take a step outside of your little world and look around. This is the first step toward thinking in the way that is going to become absolutely necessary in the near future.
Well, it’s almost that time, friends. Reward yourself for a year of living green and toast link the new year with a glass link or two of organic or biodynamic bubbly link (bonus points if it’s locally made). Here’s hoping for a year without regret, between the extremes, and full of small actions. Cheers! Should auld acquaintance be forgot…
Continuing this mini blog series about everyday actions regular people can take to help create sustainable environments, here are five more tips!
1. Are you still using that old leaf blower? Raking is much better for the planet, not to mention your health! The same is true for a push mower instead of a gas-powered or electric mowers (electricity comes mostly from coal-powered plants, and there is no such thing as ‘clean coal’). The greenest approach is to divest yourself of all mechanical lawn tools, consulting with a local recycling authority to ensure that all the parts go to good use.
2. If you bought a Halloween pumpkin that you didn’t carve, bake pumpkin pie, bread, or cookies. Save the seeds from the pumpkin to roast - they’re a great source of minerals, including magnesium, iron, and zinc, and high in protein (go easy on the salt). After you use everything you can, compost the leftovers instead of sending them to the landfill in the trash (organic materials don’t break down in a landfill if they’re in a plastic bag).
3. For necessities, luxuries, and gifts, why buy what you can make? Go homemade! You control the ingredients and the means of production, and get the satisfaction of doing something yourself. Plus, homemade gifts always seem a little more special. Check out these links:
4. As cold weather approaches, remember that there’s no benefit - to your vehicle OR to the environment - to letting your car ‘warm up’ before you drive it. Just hop in and go! One exception: climates where the temperature regularly dips below zero degrees Fahrenheit. In this case, you may want to invest in a block heater, an inexpensive device that warms a vehicle’s engine block, allowing an easier start and improving the vehicle’s fuel efficiency by up to ten percent. Check out an article on block heaters.
5. Use solar energy! You don’t have to install solar panels on your house. Just remember to open your blinds and curtains on sunny days (west- and south-facing windows are best) to let in natural light that can warm your home. If you have houseplants, they’ll love it too!
There you go…five more simple, everyday things you can do to green your lifestyle and help reduce your ecological footprint. Spread the green word!
Here are five more easy actions to live more sustainably!
photo credit to adlogiconline.com
1. Stop phone book delivery. YellowPagesGoesGreen.org is a movement against unsolicited phone book delivery. Sign up to remove your home or office from receiving telephone directories (beware phony sites; you should see a photo of a mountain at the top of the correct page) . If you need a book, simply call to request one. This will prevent unnecessary waste and save you the trouble of recycling unwanted phone books.
2. If you’re looking for a new creative outlet, consider starting a constructive hobby, like knitting, sewing, quilting, weaving, or making personal care products, such as soap and bath oils. Hand-crafting useful objects for yourself and your family leads to fewer purchases (and the packaging they usually come in) and more control over the materials you bring into your life and others’. Simply learning to cook is inherently green, because it means you’ll rely less on takeout and dining out in restaurants.
3. Has your office been freezing cold this summer? This is a very common complaint. Don’t be stoic and just bring a sweater! Speak to your facilities director to see what the source of the problem may be and whether it can be corrected.
4. China produces and discards over 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year, cutting down as many as 25 million trees in the process. Another 15 billion pairs are exported to Japan, South Korea, and other countries, including the US. Invest in a pair of reusable chopsticks that you can take when you dine out and use at home. Just remember to say, “No chopsticks, please,” when you order and pick up.
5. If you still aren’t on the xeriscape bandwagon and are watering a glossy green lawn, water in the early morning, around 5 a.m. The lower temperatures at that time guarantee less evaporation, lower winds mean the turf is less likely to be blown dry, and higher humidity and morning dew contribute to what’s coming out of the sprinklers or hose. Bonus: Early morning watering helps prevent lawn diseases since your lawn will be dry by nightfall.
Everyone’s talking green. It’s on the news, in magazines, in newspapers, and on countless websites. There’s a lot to know and a lot to be considered, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist, have a green thumb, or let your hair grow and start giving everyone the peace sign. It’s very easy to make your everyday life greener and here are five ways you can start right away.
1. According to Consumer Reports, prerinsing your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher wastes up to 20 gallons of water per load and doesn’t get them any cleaner. So stop prerinsing, make sure to wash only full loads, and if possible, invest in an energy efficient dishwasher. (Same goes for laundry - wash only full loads or adjust the water level for the size load you’re washing, and invest in an energy efficient model when possible.)
2. The fasting and prayer of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, August 21 - September 19 this year, provides opportunities for reflection, self-purification, renewed spirituality, and compassion for people in need. Muslim or not, fasting or skipping a meal from time to time can help put you in touch with the virtues of consuming less. If fasting isn’t your thing, you can still make a big difference by having more vegetarian meals. Try alternating between all vegetarian lunches one week and all vegetarian dinners the next. Ethnic foods offer tasty meatless options, so this is a good opportunity to investigate different cuisines, but there are also great-tasting meat substitutes out there, like Boca, Morningstar Farms, and Quorn (my favorite). Bonus: Meatless meals can be much healthier than meals with a meat entree.
3. We’re pretty much at the end of a growing season, so consider preserving some of the bounty of the harvest, whether you grew it or someone else did. Pickling, preserving, canning, and drying are great ways to ensure that you can still eat local during the cooler months. Check out Shawna Coronado’s post about preserving veggies or look at this guide about freezing.
4. If you take vitamins, think about switching to the liquid variety. You’ll get more servings in less packaging, and may get a better value also.
5. Cigarettes aren’t just bad for you, they’re bad for the planet. The US Geological Survey (USGS) estimates that at least 25.6 million pounds of pesticides are used on domestic tobacco crops each year. So just butt out - or, if you must, roll your own with certified organic tobacco. Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company offers cigarettes made with organically grown tobacco without additives. You can even try them for free by clicking here or calling 1.800.872.6460 ext. 79272.
So there you go - easy peasy, lemon squeezy! If you’re in the mood for more instruction, visit Mr. Miyagi’s Guide to Going Green, or just browse around GreenRoost some more!
It has been reported that Aramark Higher Education is instituting a program at college campuses this school year that will divert more than 2 million disposable food containers from landfills. In the same spirit, here are a few suggestions on how to green your kid - or yourself - on the way back to the classroom.
- One of the simplest ways to ‘go green’ is to take a sack lunch. According to buygreen.com, the average school-age child eating a disposable lunch generates 67 lbs. of waste per school year, which equals 18,760 lbs. of lunch waste for only one average-size elementary school!Use BPA-free reusable containers instead of sandwich baggies and prepackaged food – you can save about $250 per school year per child, your kids will eat healthier foods, and you’ll make a dent in the mountain of plastic that gets sent to the landfill every day.Shop for a whole lunch kit, or opt for separate water bottles, cutlery packs, and reusable sandwich wraps that double as placemats. Remember to pack in reusable bags, not paper or plastic! Parents, don’t forget reusable hemp coffee filters and tea bags for those early mornings.
- Most traditional school supplies consume large amounts of virgin materials, especially paper.Look for school supplies made with recycled materials, preferably post-consumer, or alternative materials like bagasse.Also keep an eye out for papers printed with vegetable- and water-based inks.
- Search for back-to-school clothing and shoes made from alternative materials like hemp and bamboo, or ones that contain recycled material, made with water-based adhesives.
- Children need fun that’s educational, too.Green your kids’ playtime with eco-friendly Xeco Mission games.
- Save 15% at buygreen.com when you type ’school’ at the point of purchase.
These suggestions will get you well on your way to an eco-friendly school year and this is a great way to teach your kids responsibility and a less wasteful mindset. Make your efforts go farther by passing the word along to friends, coworkers, club members, etc. Happy green back to school!
photo credit to Cornell University Insect Conservation Biology
Last week I got to see an eye-opening program on PBS about the disappearance of bees worldwide.It was a very informative show about a situation that everyone who’s gotten used to eating more than just a few kinds of grain should know about.
At the time of the production of this program, Silence of the Bees, a condition called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) had emptied beehives in 35 states and from Europe to South America.Bees were disappearing and no one knew why.An estimated 600,000 of America’s 2.6 million colonies had disappeared (that’s almost a quarter); in some areas of the US, up to eighty percent of honeybees vanished in as little as six months.Gene Robinson, PhD, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign says that bees are “the most important pollinator on the planet.”They account for one-third of the food produced in the US, pollinating nearly 100 of the most important crops, including nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, fiber crops, and even forage crops for livestock.According to the video, the value of the bees’ services is more than $15 billion dollars.Not to mention, America feeds the world; the ramifications are staggering.
Scientists are researching various causes:toxic pesticides, parasites, malnutrition, and an AIDS-like virus.They still do not know whether the cause is biotic or abiotic, but many scientists seem to believe that the cause of depopulation is multifaceted, a combination of factors.Certainly the strain we put on these little workhorses might be a contributing element.We rely on bees to do their natural work on a very unnatural scale.Farmers continue to require larger crop yields and farms continue to consume more land, which leaves less habitat for wild pollinators.This has created a large market for beekeepers that are able to transport their hives all over the country to pollinate crops.This niche market is a sign of damage to ecosystems and is not sustainable in the long run.
In the Southern Sichuan Province in China, the bees are gone due to pesticide use in the early 1980s.There, people have to hand-pollinate their pear trees.This is a very expensive and time-consuming process.One hive of bees can pollinate up to three million flowers in one day; in contrast, one human can only pollinate up to thirty trees.Farmers have been able to survive, but these are largely family operations, and more and more youth are moving to the cities.The numbers available to carry on this bee-replacement legacy are dwindling.
After the initial reports from about a quarter of participating beekeepers, the number of apiaries reporting CCD increased to 36 percent from 2007 to 2008.However, the 2008-2009 survey found the number reduced to only a quarter, so there was a modest drop in losses.While this is encouraging, the crisis is far from over.The Agricultural Research Service has launched a five-year program to improve the health of honeybees.
In the meantime, there are things that common citizens can do to help honeybees.It’s as simple as choosing to buy pesticide-free foods at the market.Or add your signature to the Soil Association’s petition to ban neonicotinoids, pesticides that contain neurotoxins to which bees are very sensitive.Go a step further and plant native and adapted species in your garden that bees love, like coreopsis and germander.Planting flowers in large patches that bloom in succession over the summer will offer a welcome supply of nectar and pollen for honeybees whose foraging habitat is ever more limited by urbanization.Ask at a local garden center if you’re not sure what to plant, but try to mix annuals and perennials.Also, keep part of your garden ‘wild’ as opposed to manicured because bees prefer that, and remember that bees don’t distinguish between weeds and cultivated plants, so leave your dandelions alone!And please, keep your garden pesticide-free.Something else you can do is write to your senators and representatives in Congress to garner their support.Finally, if you really want to jump on the bee bandwagon, read up and find a local beekeepers’ association to learn about becoming a backyard beekeeper.This can strengthen the bee gene pool by increasing the healthy local bee population. A local couple has created almost more business than they can handle from their beekeeping hobby.
While Bees are still in danger, there are things that can be done. As long as there is still something we can do that is in harmony with nature, there is still hope.
Check out the timeline of tasks from the August/September issue of Mother Earth News.Look up the date of your first killing frost (FKF), if you don’t already know it, and you’re ready to go!
12 – 14 weeks before FKF:
Direct-sow last plantings of fast-maturing, warm-season vegetables such as snap beans, cucumbers, and summer squash.Also sow parsnips and rutabagas, and begin planting cilantro, lettuce, and radishes.Start cabbage family seedlings indoors, and set out the seedlings as promptly as possible.In climates with long autumns, plant celery, bulb fennel, and parsley.
10 – 12 weeks before FKF:
Set out broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, and cauliflower seedlings, along with celery, bulb fennel, and parsley.Direct-sow beets, carrots, collards, leeks, and scallions, along with more lettuce and radishes.In some areas, even fast-maturing peas and potatoes will do well in the fall garden.
8 – 10 weeks before FKF:
Direct-sow arugula, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, turnips, spinach, mustard, pac choi, tatsoi, and other Asian greens.Sow more lettuce and radishes, including daikons.
6 – 8 weeks before FKF:
Make a final sowing of spinach along with mache (lamb’s lettuce), which matches spinach for super winter-hardiness.(In most regions, you can expect to enjoy these crops in your Christmas salads!)Make a final sowing of lettuce beneath a protective tunnel or frame.
On or around your FKF date:
Every fall garden should include garlic and shallots.If you love onions, be sure to try multiplying onions and perennial “nest” onions.
Read the whole article by Barbara Pleasant here for six steps to a successful fall garden.
I have quite a bit of of stuff in my house which used to serve a purpose but is now useless. Giving some of these items a second life requires some creative thinking. For instance - what to do with shampoos or hair conditioners that didn’t quite match my hair type?
I could leave them in the guest bathroom, yet I already have enough fancy bath goodies there. And I don’t have that many guests staying over anyway.
Here are a few ideas:
Add old shampoo to the basket of water instead of soap when washing your kitchen floor.
Use shampoo for washing clothes that require manual washing. Shampoo is naturally softer than soap or laundry detergent, and works wonders when washing cashmere sweaters or fancy underwear by hand. I noticed that using shampoo on these fabrics really makes a difference, and clothes last a lot longer. And you save yourself some money on dry-cleaning as well.
How about recycling unused hair-conditioner?
Following advice from a fashion magazine I started using mine in place of shaving gel, and loved it - it makes the skin feel soft and smooth. In fact, I quit buying shaving gel altogether, and use my newly found two-in-one solution - a natural hair conditioner.
And of course, don’t forget to recycle the bottles afterwards.
Cell phones are ubiquitous accessories these days, almost appendages for some of us.Have you ever considered the impact your constant connectedness could have?For instance does your provider do any of the following:
- Donate regularly to Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife, Doctors Without Borders, and Natural Resources Defense Council?
- Oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, one of the last pristine wildernesses?
- Work to stop new coal-fired power plants?
- Donate to plant trees for each ton of paper used?
- Support legislation to drastically cut CO2 emissions?
If you’re visiting GreenRoost.com, you’re probably a forward-thinking, conservation-minded person.So if the answer to any of the above questions is no, you should check out CREDO Mobile.They offer a great variety of competitively priced plans with lots of different options, even business plans.You can get reasonably priced phones (some are even FREE!), and you can make your decision even more eco-friendly by choosing a refurbished phone and solar charger.They offer free 2-day shipping and no activation fee.CREDO operates on a nationwide, all-digital network, so you’ll get great coverage and ‘world-class customer service.’
If you are trying to incorporate ‘green’ choices into your everyday life, this is a great place to start.Your purchases are your votes, in effect; you’re probably going to have a cell phone anyway, so why not cast your vote for a pro-environment company who’s proud to be different?!
About a month ago I’ve purchased a rain barrel from clean air gardening, and here is the installation video - installing a rain barrel is really easy!
This 55 gallon rain barrel has been in use for about a month now, and has worked really well so far.. as long as there is rain : ). Unfortunately this is an exceptionally hot summer here in TX, and we didn’t have any rain in the last 10 days, so the barrel has been sitting empty, and I am back to using the spigot to water my garden.
If you are thinking of installing a rain barrel, there are a few things to consider:
1. The higher the barrel stands, the better the water pressure is. If your rain barrel is sitting on the ground, the water pressure would be too low to sprinkle your veggies or lawn with a hose (you would need to lay the hose down on the ground and move it around, which is time consuming). We’ve lifted our rain barrel up by about 3 feet, and that made a big difference.
It has been reported that 
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