Dec 02 2008

Day 136- Testing, Testing, 1, 2……3

December 2, 2008 – 6:58 am
By Greg Anderson | Posted in $1- $99, Cost, Electronics, Reduce, Reuse, Technology | Comments (0)

It seems that we put up our Holiday decorations earlier each year. About five B.C. (before kids), I was just happy to get a small potted Norfolk Pine tree with a couple of ribbons. My wife kindly reminded me that it looked like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but what would a 22 year old have in terms of lights and decorations anyway? Definitely not all the stuff that we put out this year.

We also have a lot of those things that when you squeeze their hand, they do a little dance or song. It is pretty annoying when the girls go around and set them all off at the same time, but they genuinely love it and dance around. I can put up with it for a couple of months.

After sitting in the attic for 10 months, we often times need to change the batteries in the toy. I am still in the process of changing everything to rechargeable batteries and still have some of the non rechargeable ones that need to be used. Instead of replacing all the batteries, I use a battery tester to see how much energy is left in each one.

I am pretty shocked to see that two batteries may be dead or very low, but usually one of them is still pretty much full. When they are completely dead, I put them in a small shoe box to be brought up to the local recycling center. But, if they still have some power left, I classify my used batteries by percentage that they are full. It is not too sophisticated, I just classify them in small boxes of “full”, “about half” and “dead”. That is one less wasted battery that goes in the singing snowman.

It is a good idea to use batteries that have approximately the same power left. You don’t want to mix a new battery in with old ones. It is not dangerous, but it can impact the performance of your electronic equipment.

By Greg Anderson | Posted in $1- $99, Cost, Electronics, Reduce, Reuse, Technology | Comments (0)
Nov 27 2008

Day 135- Thank You

November 27, 2008 – 9:14 am
By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Commentary, Holidays | Comments (0)

It is Thanksgiving here in the United States today. It is one of the last holidays out there that you virtually can’t commercialize. As I get older, I appreciate all the things that I have in life and I am even thankful for all the ups and downs of my life. Without them, I would not be the person that I am today.

Don’t let Thanksgiving be the only time of year that you say thank you to someone. All too often we focus on the things that go wrong or things that are bad in our society. If you see someone doing a good job, thank them. It may seem a bit weird at first, but after a while you will get the hang of it.

Although my main focus here is to promote and learn about simple steps to a greener lifestyle, don’t just limit your thanks to green topics. Thank a veteran or current member of the military. Thank your neighbor for recycling. Thank the lady that brought her own bags to the store.

You get the idea.

A simple thank you goes a long way and is very contagious. I would love to know who you would like to thank and why. Please feel free to leave a comment or go to the main page here and send me a message directly.

Let me start the ball rolling with a big thank you to you, my readers for taking the time to visit my site. I hope that you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy sharing my life with you.

By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Commentary, Holidays | Comments (0)
Nov 26 2008

Day 134- How to Really Green Your Thanksgiving Part Two

November 26, 2008 – 8:52 am
By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Food, Holidays, Home, Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Travel | Comments (0)

The turkey is ready, the Detroit Lions are on their way to another resounding loss, most of your guests have arrived and amazingly there have been no family arguments yet. So far so good.

As the house heats up with the oven and stove, crack a window or two to let in some fresh air rather than kicking down the air conditioner a few degrees. Not only will you save electricity, the smells of your famous pumpkin pie can fill the air outside tempting passers by and the family playing a hard fought game of touch football.

If you are one of those families that deep fry the turkey (we don’t do it that way, but it is very tasty), consider placing a free ad on your local free pages or similar site to give your oil away for free. This time of year people who collect oil for their alternative fuel cars love this oil. It is only used once and is relatively clean as opposed to the restaurant stuff they usually pick up.

Decorating your dinner table can be fun for the entire family. Give the kids something to do by providing materials to create their own art project. Depending on where you live, you can still have some pretty leaves to use. Stay away from the store bought decorations unless you plan on using them again.

Locally grown and organic food from the local farmers market is always preferable to chain store bought food. You don’t have to make everything locally grown or organic. Just one or two things on your menu can get the ball rolling on you possibly incorporating it on your regular menu. If you have friends driving in from out of town, ask them to bring something grown locally from their home town to share. This may not be advisable if they are flying though.

Now that we are cursing that we ate too much, loosen your belt, take another nap and come back tomorrow for dessert. I make an awesome pumpkin pie.

By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Food, Holidays, Home, Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, Travel | Comments (0)
Nov 25 2008

Day 133- How to Really Green Your Thanksgiving

November 25, 2008 – 4:09 pm
By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Food, Holidays, Home, Recycle, Reduce | Comments (0)

I have been doing a lot of research on how others are instructing the masses on how to green up your Thanksgiving. Although I do agree with their many points, I feel that they are truly missing the mark on a number of topics. Don’t get me wrong, I think that many ideas look good on paper, but the truth of the matter is that many of us can just barely make it somewhat bearable as it is.

I will split this up into small portions so we can digest this properly. Today lets focus in on the appetizer; which will be talking turkey and what I think really greens your Thanksgiving.

The first thing that many blogs and websites focus on is the turkey. Although this is traditionally what many of us serve as our main meal, there are many others that enjoy other main courses. They suggest to get a free range organic turkey, provide a meatless main course or even a soy turkey product. Oh come on. Really?

Unless you know your farmer and have seen the living conditions of your bird, then I say go for it. But for the rest of us it makes sense to buy a bird that fits your budget and the appropriate amount of people that you are expecting for dinner. Most of the time you have to brine it yourself. Heck, my first year I didn’t know that you had to take the bag of stuff out of the cavity and I am still trying to get it to come out just right.

To be classified as a free range turkey, they must have the opportunity to leave the coop for a specific amount of time. Most of the time they do not leave their coop regardless if the little door is open or not. This also does not mean that they all live on a picture perfect pasture somewhere waiting to dress your dinner table. We eat three times (or more) turkey throughout the year that is not free range, organic or otherwise picture perfect green–so if you don’t do it the rest of the year, one turkey won’t make a dent in your turkey consumption. It’s like recycling only on Earth Day.

If you were to focus in on one main part to really green up your Thanksgiving, I would focus in on the planning stage. Assign certain people to do and bring certain things. One person or family can’t do or bring it all, it helps spread out the responsibility and it gets more people involved. Running to the store a half dozen times per day really ups the carbon footprint of your meal.

A well planned meal goes a long way. Even though it may not go as well as planned, at least you have some plan of attack. If you are hosting, reduce or eliminate the amount of disposable items (plates, napkins, silverware, etc) and have a clear and simple way to dispose of any waste. Nothing bugs me more than to have a bunch of people over and to have to constantly pick recyclables out of the trash. I would suggest to “hide” your trash can and keep your recycle bin out.

Come on, break out the good dinnerware. This is the reason that you got it in the first place.

The main course is in the oven. Sit back, watch the first half of the game, take a quick nap and come back tomorrow for part two.

By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Food, Holidays, Home, Recycle, Reduce | Comments (0)
Nov 23 2008

Day 132- Turn Back Friday Into a Green Friday

November 23, 2008 – 11:05 am
By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Commentary, Gifts, Recycle, Reduce, Restaurant, Reuse, Shopping | Comments (0)

It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner with Black Friday right on its heels. For those of you in different countries, here in the United States the Friday after Thanksgiving is typically known as Black Friday. The term has different meanings to different people and has evolved over the years. It is known for being the busiest shopping day of the year, marking the official start of the holiday shopping season, marking the turning point where businesses start going into the black-or turning a profit, and being the day where people get up way too early and go shopping for good deals.

For me it means typically avoiding all shopping centers and people in general, but this year I want to help evolve Black Friday into something new–Green Friday. I know that there will always be people out there that are die hard Black Friday early shoppers who have been making this a family holiday in and of itself since they were little children, there are people that despise the commercialism that it represents and that there are people in the middle who can take it or leave it and don’t see that it is a big deal.

Wherever you stand, this is a perfect opportunity and time in our history to incorporate green ideas to this frenzy that is Black Friday. I know that this is a tall order. You don’t have to incorporate all of these ideas all at once, but if we can get a lot of people to do one or two per year—who knows?

I will list a few ideas below that I will be trying to do this year as well as a few others to get the ball rolling. What have you done in the past or what are you trying to do this year to make it a Green Friday?

Bringing my own bags to the shopping mall can help, but they were designed for groceries. I would suggest when you get a large bag at your first store, maybe try to add more stuff in that bag instead of getting more bags. I would also suggest you bring a large box to store in your trunk so you can go back to your car and drop things off and reuse that free bag you got at the first store. Always remember and practice safe shopping techniques.

When you take a break from your shopping, if you normally eat out, take a break at a local slow food restaurant. Not only will you get a good meal, you are supporting local merchants as well. Packing a quick lunch can help. You might as well get a start on knocking out some of that leftover turkey.

Head to the craft show or try to buy more handmade local gifts. Make sure to practice the rule of quality over quantity. I would rather fewer quality items that I need rather than more plastic stuff made from a far away country that I will rarely use.

Think of others by picking a child or less fortunate individual from an Angel Tree or similar program where you can make a difference. I would rather know that someone has a coat or toy to play with on Christmas rather than have that extra gadget.

Happy Holidays

By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Commentary, Gifts, Recycle, Reduce, Restaurant, Reuse, Shopping | Comments (0)
Nov 20 2008

Day 131- Share the Art

November 20, 2008 – 11:53 am
By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Education, Paper, Recycle, Reduce | Comments (0)

My oldest daughter, who just started Kindergarten this year, brings home more paper artwork than we can handle. It’s pretty tough to pick out the things that we want to keep out of the bunch every week. I have a bankers box for the things that we want to keep, but I feel bad about putting some of it in the paper recycle box– which is actually an old diaper box that I keep under my desk.

My wife went to the student art show the other night where the kids get a chance to show off their art framed in a gallery setting (cafeteria). Unfortunately I could not make it that evening, but she said my daughter loved spotting her artwork and showing it off. All the artwork was for “sale” and the school got a percentage. I put sale in quotations because obviously you can’t go to the art show and not buy the painting. I would feel like such a bad parent.

My daughters school is relatively large, so multiply all that paper by all those kids and you have a lot of paper coming and going. Other than framing a few choice pieces of art and saving some pieces for the memory box, what can you do with extra art other than putting it in the recycle box?

Well, my wife ran into a lady at the art show the other night that gets extra artwork and brings it to the local retirement home for the residents to enjoy. If you have grand parents or great grandparents that are local, you can give it to them. But, if they live far away, mailing it would increase the ecological footprint of the piece.

Don’t get me wrong on this idea. You should most definitely give that artwork to relatives to enjoy that live far away, but this is a supplement to that idea that brings joy to the residents locally. Obviously you would need to go through the proper channels to get this idea off of the ground. You can’t just drop off the colored hand tracing made into a turkey to just anyone.

Make it fun and maybe start a joint venture with a retirement home and your local elementary school. A certain percentage of the residents may not have local family members. Even if they do, they may enjoy a breath of fresh air every now and then with the little ones. Who knows, maybe some of that youthful energy in the form of a smile or artwork can brighten up a persons day.

By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Education, Paper, Recycle, Reduce | Comments (0)
Nov 17 2008

Day 130- Non-Point Source Pollution

November 17, 2008 – 8:35 am
By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Garden, Home, Water | Comments (0)

Consider the leaf for a moment. Depending on where you live, you may have a few left on your trees or your trees are completely bare. Either way, I was thinking about leaves and their environmental impact a lot this past weekend as a windy cold front and steady rain ran through the majority of the United States.

We all have heard that we should not dump oil, leaves, grass clippings and other waste directly in storm drains. But, if you do not rake or clean your yard on a regular basis, then that is what you are doing. I was guilty of it this past weekend, but now I know better.

My front yard (and pretty much our entire neighborhood) was covered in leaves. I put off raking up my leaves this week because my yard waste bin was already full and I really don’t like using the plastic yard bags. I will also have to admit that it was part laziness as well.

My office looks out over the front yard and I can see about five or six houses up the street. As I was watching the rain fall the other day, I noticed that a lot of leaves were also draining off our yards and driveways as well. I was also thinking of all the other nasty stuff that was draining off of our yards and directly into our storm drains–animal waste, yard chemicals, soil, dirt from our cars, oil from the road, litter, cigarette butts and a lot more undesirable materials.

So, neglecting to clean your yard or by using harsh chemicals on your lawn can have a great impact on your local waterways. Everything that goes down the storm drain goes directly into your local rivers and streams. This water is not treated. Leaves and debris can also jam up the system leading to flooding.

Much of the organic matter breaks down and releases carbon and nitrogen into the water which can cause undesirable algae blooms that eat up the oxygen in the water that contribute to killing all sorts of aquatic animals. Much of the other junk and trash that pollute our waterways come from our own front yards, so take care of your trash and recycle bin on windy and rainy days especially. I can’t tell you how much trash and recyclables I see blowing down the road on trash day.

Even by doing nothing, you could be directly contributing to the pollution of your local rivers and streams. To learn more about non-point source pollution, click here for the office of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Here you can learn more about the topic and more on what you can do to help.

By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Garden, Home, Water | Comments (0)
Nov 12 2008

Day 129- Shoe Recycling

November 12, 2008 – 9:26 am
By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Clothing, Play, Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, School | Comments (3)

I never knew that there were so many ways that you can recycle shoes. I’m not really a shoe person to begin with, so maybe that’s why I never looked into it before now.

A lot of people are writing about the new program that Nike has launched called Nike ReUSE A SHOE, where they take used athletic shoes and turn them into surfaces for new running tracks and playgrounds. This is the first time that I’ve seen used shoes turned into things other than more shoes. Visit their official site here.

Love them or hate them, per their web site here, the Crocs SolesUnited program is “the first-of-its-kind recycled footwear donation program. give back your worn-out crocs shoes to be recycled into new shoes and they will be donated to people in need around the world”.

Run the Planet also has a list of 16 additional global programs at their web site where you can donate your used athletic shoes.

Although many shoe recycling programs only accept athletic shoes, many non-profit organizations also accept dress shoes, accessories and dress clothes to provide to individuals for job interviews who are either in transition or otherwise not afford them.

If you know of other shoe recycling programs, directories or web sites, please feel free to leave a comment below.

By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, Clothing, Play, Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, School | Comments (3)
Nov 11 2008

Day 128- Lose Your Accent

November 11, 2008 – 9:44 am
By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, $1- $99, Lighting, Reduce | Comments (4)

No, I’m not talking about how you say things, but about how you light your home. Accent lights are pretty when there are guests, but not very practical on a daily basis. The lights that I am talking about are the ones in your china cabinet, curio cabinet, the niche above the fireplace, the one spotlighting wall art, and other non-essential lighting.

Your porch lights and other outside house lights may be excluded because they also provide security as well as add aesthetic beauty to your home. Just make sure that you use energy efficient bulbs, timers, dusk to dawn sensors, solar lights and/or other energy saving methods in conjunction with your outdoor lights.

I used to have the niche, curio and china cabinet lights on timers, but I found that I was going to the specialty lighting store every couple of months just to get new bulbs. I will turn them back on when we have people over for dinner around the holidays, but I just assume to leave them off on a regular day to day basis. It not only saves on electricity, it also saves in the amount of light bulbs that we go through since there are typically fixtures that do not accept energy efficient bulbs.

Since switching to energy efficient bulbs and watching what we leave on, I have seen a drop in our energy bills.

By Greg Anderson | Posted in $0- Free, $1- $99, Lighting, Reduce | Comments (4)