Go Green on Little Things: School
Go Green on the Little Things is a 7 part series, providing various tidbits and advice about green living and choices for the following: home living, office spaces, school, shopping, health and beauty, money and finance, and buildings.
Today, let's discuss Go Green on the Little Things: School. US college and universities are said to create more than 3.5 million tons of waste year, 2% of our nation's total waste problems. These statistics don't even include high schools, junior high or elementary schools! A majority of the waste, as you might imagine is paper (art, copy, tests, exams, study guides, research and more) and food (cafeteria food and vending machines). So let's look at how schools can join the rest of us to green the earth, simply through better decisions:
- Getting There: Bicycle, carpool, walk, skip, run, or scooter your way to class.
- Food: Donate your cafeteria food to people in need (tons of good food are literally thrown away and the hungry continue to go without).
- Markers: Use water based markers as they have nontoxic ink with refillable heads.
- Pencils: Use pencils made from recycled material in lightweight or reusable packages.
- School Supplies: Always buy recycled products for binders, folders, paper, etc. Remember to reuse rubber bands but don't buy them as they are made of crude oil.
- Textbooks: Buy used and sell back at the end of the year.
- Vending Machines: Bypass the temptation and save calories and the landfills. If you do drink a soda, recycle the can.
- Whiteboards: Use whiteboards over chalkboards as chalk is horrible for asthma sufferers and other respiratory illnesses.
Naturally, there are many more ways you can help to green your way in schools. Keep your eyes open and always remember the 3R's: reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Happy learning (don't neglect your studies!) and greening the earth!
Go Green on Little Things: Office Spaces
Go Green on the Little Things is a 7 part series, providing various tidbits and advice about green living and choices for the following: home living, office spaces, school, shopping, health and beauty, money and finance, and buildings.
Today we'll look at Go Green on the Little Things: Office Spaces. Water, electricity, paper, print cartridges, e-waste, disposable packaging, office supply waste, toxins and more all have an impact upon the environment. Let's look at some easy ways you and your colleagues can make the planet greener:
- Coffee or Tea Break: Buy fair trade coffee, pour cream and then coffee into your own mug first so you don't need the plastic or wooden stirrer, and bring your own mug instead of wasting a paper or styrofoam cup.
- Electricity: Turn off lights, printers, computers and all other electronic products when not in use.
- Getting to Work: Consider carpooling, public transportation, bicycling or walking to work (let's not give oil companies more money than necessary).
- Meals: Bring your own lunch to work in glass containers and use silverware and not plastic utensils (good for your waistline and for the environment!).
- Paper and Envelopes: Use recycled paper products so more trees can stay here on earth.
- Pens: Buy refillable as disposables are not recyclable nor biodegradable.
- Printers: Print on recycled paper, double-sided, for tree's sake.
- Rubber Bands: Recycle rubber bands but try to avoid buying them as they are made out of crude oil.
- Stamps: Buy e-stamps and forget the machine, ink and maintenance fees.
This list is clearly not exhaustive. Simply apply common sense and always have the 3 R's in your mind, even at work: reduce, recycle, and reuse. When in need, use Co-op America's Business Network Directory to find green business suppliers and products.
Feel free to let us know another go green at work idea.
Go Green on Little Things: Home Living
Go Green on the Little Things is a 7 part series, providing various tidbits and advice about green living and choices for the following: home living, office spaces, school, shopping, health and beauty, money and finance, and buildings.
Today, we begin our 7 part series with Go Green on the Little Things: Home Living. Did you know that on average, you create 4.5 pounds of trash every day?! In addition, Americans use more than twice the amount of water and energy per person as anyone else in this small world. In order to be better stewards of our limited resources, below are some recommendations to begin living a more eco-friendly lifestyle, right in the comfort of your home environment:
- Compost: Add your scraps of fruit, vegetables and coffee grounds to your garden to help your garden thrive and create a deeper topsoil.
- Food Storage: Store your food in glass or porcelain containers, instead of using plastic. It will be healthy for the planet and for your body, as chemicals from plastic transfer to food.
- Junk Mail: Stop the insanity of unwanted junk mail by going to www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailinglist.com and registering your information. Recycle your remaining mail.
- Dry Cleaning: Tell the cleaners to hold the plastic and when you pick up your clothes, bring your own hangers.
- Grow Your Own Garden: Fruits, vegetables and herbs are so much better fresh and you can save money and gas! If you can't grow your own garden, consider buying your produce at a Farmer's Market.
- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: From paper to aluminum cans to clothing, do the right thing and reduce, reuse, recycle.
Happy planting & eating from your fresh and luscious garden!
Go Green with Eco-Friendly Diapers!
When one thinks of babies, a common image is a baby swaddled in disposable diapers, a $5.7 billion dollar industry. Recently, however, cloth diapers are taking the market by storm amongst eco-friendly, socially conscious consumers. The new cotton diapers hitting the market have velcro, buttons, and snaps instead of the old pins that would invariably pierce you every now and again. They also come with elastic around the openings (so you don't need to worry about messy spillage), as well as water-resistant covers made of soft merino wool, nylon or polyurethane laminate. Cost: $6-18.
The Real Diaper Association estimates that 27.4 billion disposable diapers are used in the US every year. According to research done by the Environmental Protection Agency (1998), this translates into over 3.4 million tons of waste filling our dumps. Such waste is problematic for our environment in the US, and even more so in the developing world as human waste often pollutes rivers and drinking water. As if these were not enough reasons to use eco-friendly diapers, the production of disposable diapers requires a significant amount of petroleum, chlorine, wood pulp and water (and we wonder why babies get rashes!).
So what are the most eco-friendly diapers out there? We recommend gDiapers found at Wholefoods or online. They are fashionable, washable and made with disposable inserts. See a nifty video here and buy gDiapers here.
(Click here to see the ecological breakdown differences between eco-friendly diapers and disposable diapers.)
Happy swaddling!
Green, Eco-Friendly Shopping Bags: Ethical Shopping!
As a result of San Francisco finally enacting a ban against plastic shopping bags and California requiring large supermarkets to sell reusable shopping bags, green entrepreneurs are creating reusable shopping bags. Traders Joes, Wholefoods, and Costco are my frequent shopping destinations and I have reusable shopping bags for each. When I forget my reusable bags I feel guilty about it; it takes the joy of being a planet friendly shopper to an ignorant consumer using more trees or causing pollution in the ocean! This brings up another planet unfriendly practice in need of eco-friendly alternatives: plastic and styrofoam packaging. Awhile ago, I saw this show on the Home Garden TV Network, where an artist recycled styrofoam plates by cutting them into various shapes to be used as cut out stencils. Naturally, I thought this to be a brilliant idea. But I am not a painter and so my plates collected and just took up space. So eventually they found their way to the garbage bin and into the California garbage dump. Now that I think about it, I'll start donating these styrofoam plates to a local school!
Become an ethical shopper by beginning with green, eco-friendly shopping bags. Buy them at one of the following online stores: Chicobag.com, MyOwnBag.com, Olive Smart Bags, or Reusable Bags.
Shop green, buy fair and be globally minded all the time.
Eco-Friendly Homes: Green Living
Although the US is going through a traumatic mortgage crunch, eco-friendly homes are on the rise for globally minded, socially conscious builders and buyers. By building and buying green homes, you'll make two profitable investments: financial and sowing into the next generation. Indeed, I am a strong believer that humankind is called to steward the earth and have dominion over all creation. Taking care of the earth is something we should've been doing all along.
So what makes a green home green? In addition to being environmentally sensitive, green homes and communities are:
- Natural resource efficient
- Energy efficient
- Clean air friendly, and
- Water efficient
If you can't afford to buy a green home, consider the following simple ways you can green your home today:
Decrease Your Utility Bill
- Use energy efficient compact florescent light (CFL) bulbs. Merely changing 5 of your most frequently used lights keeps $100+/year in your pocket.
- Program your thermostat 78 degrees plus in the summer and less than 62 degrees in the winter. This could save you $100+/year.
- Weatherstrip your doors and windows from any air pockets, saving $100+/year on your utility bill.
- Replace your heating and cooling filters and you'll save another $100+/year.
And remember, you can easily save money by going to bed early (no lights), wearing warmer clothing in the winter and cooler clothing in the summer (so you don't have to adjust the temp) as you lounge around your house.
Use Green Products
- Think globally and buy locally, while reducing fuel consumption, packaging and plastics.
- Buy energy efficient appliances and cut your energy bill $50/year per appliance.
- Reduce water usage by using low flow toilets and water heads, installing aerators, fixing drips, and incorporating native plants in landscape.
- Improve your indoor air quality with natural cleaning products like baking soda or vinegar.
- Use wood alternatives, specifically rapidly renewable products: bamboo, linoleum, recycled content tile or non-volatile organic compounds carpet and wood products from sustainable managed forests, such as those certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
- Use rapidly renewing floor materials like cork, eucalyptus, or bamboo.
Globally Minded: Co-op America Green Business Network
It's official! Globally Minded is now a member of Co-op America's Green Business Network! We received our approval letter yesterday: "Your application to the Co-op America Business Network (CABN) has been approved. You are among CABN’s year 2008 progressive business leaders who are solving today’s tough social and environmental problems."
Thanks for joining us to make life better for all. Remember, the holidays are around the corner, so please remember to be globally minded and buy fair trade and socially responsible gifts for your loved ones!
If you are interested in joining Co-op America as an individual, you can do so here.