J is for JUNK

Whether we like to admit it or not, we all have JUNK.  And according to Marla Cilley, or  FlyLady as she is affectionately called, (www.flylady.net), you can't organize clutter, aka junk. As an on again, off again member of the Flylady website,  I've definitely learned some wonderful tidbits, you may want to check it out too!

But back to JUNK...we've all heard the saying, "One woman/man's junk is another woman/man's treasure"...so in order to keep "junk" out of the landfills, there are several options which basically feed into the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle message. 

1.  If we REDUCE what we consume, or rethink what we think we need, we'd all have less junk in our homes and lives to begin with!  Of course this is very difficult for those of us that enjoy "retail therapy", but I'm trying to retrain my brain to think...."do I need it, or want it", and if I do want it, how badly do I want it...badly enough to get rid of something else to free up space?  I'm trying to ingrain the thought, "Simplify" into my brain..."Simplify to Create Serenity" (ie. less junk!).  If I do make new purchases, I want to donate something else to free up space....which leads to number 2...

2.  Commit to finding re-uses for things.  Most of us already "reuse" clothes by handing them down to friends or family, and some people have yard sales, which helps keep many things out of the landfill (to me, yard sales are too much time and energy for me to bother with for the minimal yield.)  My preferred mode of re-using things is to donate them, or as Flylady says, "blessing others".  We donate books, clothes, tools, household items, furniture, etc via www. freecycle.org, local charities, and through our church.  I have to admit, that I'm often astounded at the items that people toss out to the curb when there are others who need and could use them.  I'm not sure if it comes down to disposal laziness, or not knowing where, or how to donate items, but it really couldn't be easier!  There are donation bins in tons of locations, and organizations such as Big Brother Big Sister that pick-up from your house, and when you Freecycling items, people pick up items from your doorstep.  There are many options to keep massive amounts of things out of landfills, and it feels great to help out others :)   http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/04/recycle-reuse-reshare-with-big-bro-big.html   http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/03/spring-cleaning-day-23-24.html
http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/06/d-is-for-donate.html
http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/05/closet-philanthropist.html


There are also young entrepreneurs, like those at TerraCycle who are thinking outside the box to reuse juice box pouches, corks, chip bags, cookie packaging, candy wrappers and much, much more.  I'm surprised that more companies have not followed in the green footsteps of TerraCycle to use waste to create products.  It's ingenious really, keeping waste out of the landfills; the waste becomes the raw material, and in the end, a product is made and sold.   TerraCycle also believes in number 3...

3.  Recycling - Hopefully by now everyone knows they should recycle their paper, glass, plastics, aluminum, etc.  And then there are those "15 Totally Recyclable Materials That Most of Us Keep Forgetting About"?
http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/05/15-totally-recyclable-materials-that.html  
http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/05/so-i-got-to-thinking.html 

But what peaks my interest is learning about companies that have come up with creative ways to recycle materials, and there are examples near and far.  On a recent vacation to St. John, we learned about The Art  Center (of Recycling) at Maho Bay Camps.  What a treat! Check out the beautiful, creative ways they recycle glass into beautiful, useful objects at http://www.maho.org/.  They also recycle old bed sheets by batiking them, and making them into table cloths, coasters, bags, table runners, etc.  But to date, one of the most interesting innovative eco-entrepreneurial companies that has captured my attention is Terracycle, based out of NJ because they keep multiple waste streams out of the landfills, work cooperatively with schools, and design great products http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/08/terracycle-on-tv.html .


Junk aka clutter can either weigh us down, or we can set it free by reducing, reusing, or recycling.  I'm working on simplifying.....and looking forward to serenity and at the same time watching for creative companies that keep junk out of the landfills and instead up-cycle it to the next level via innovation.   

Garbage Moguls

While flipping through the channels tonight, we found a show on National Geographic (NatGeo) Channel called Garbage Moguls featuring Terracycle, a company I previously highlighted in the blog. http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/04/time-has-come.html The show takes you behind the scenes to show how they take garbage and make it into products...and that is the key, being able to recycle things into products that are affordable, and a worthwhile product that someone would want to buy.  On the show I watched, Pedigree Dog Food contacted them and challenged them to use their dog food bags, and dog food pouches (trash that would otherwise end up in the garbage) to design usable pet products.  They have designed and sold many other products made from chip bags, cookie wrappers, Capri Sun bags, and much more.  Check out their cool lunch box made from Capri Sun bags. 


If you get a chance to check it out, I think you'll be as impressed as I am.  http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/garbage-moguls-4314/Overview

Dual-flusher wins approval

Well, the HydroRight Dual-flush wins approval, even from the kids! I can't believe they actually like one of the home improvement changes we've made ;)   http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/08/h-is-for-home-improvements.html


Now that Home Depot is carrying them, we were able to find a 3rd flusher at our local Home Depot and it was $7 less, at $17.98! So now, all 3 toilets will be saving us water, and money when they are used. 


So we'll chalk this home improvement up to a Dual-Flush-Dual-Win; parents are happy about conserving water, and the reduced water bill, and the kids are happy with the neat two button flush!   Who would've guessed? 

I is for Irrigation

Irrigation ditch

Irrigation is defined as:  To supply (dry land) with water by means of ditches, pipes, or streams; water artificially.  

I don't know about where you live, but here in MA, many towns have either total outdoor water bans or bans allowing watering on alternating days.  As a result, there are many brown lawns.  But the flowers and the garden need water to be viable. So we set our timers to irrigate the flowers and gardens.  Luckily irrigation today is much different than how humans used to irrigate :)


It's not hard to figure out that irrigation goes way back to when humans first began to settle areas and grow their own food.  Humans most likely began irrigating by filling buckets in rivers or lakes, and carrying it on their head, or on poles to water crops.  But water is heavy, and even with the help of donkey or oxen, it is too difficult to carry enough water to irrigate large fields. So humans figured out ways to make irrigation easier. 

Historians know that ancient Egyptians built mud-brick reservoirs to trap and hold the water from the Nile River.  They also had a network of irrigation canals that filled with water during the flood and were refilled from the reservoirs.  Egyptians built shadufs to lift the water from the canal up to the fields.  A shaduf is a large pole balanced on a crossbeam, a rope and bucket on one end and a heavy counter weight at the other. The rope lowered the bucket into the canal were it was filled with water, then the farmer raised the bucket, swung the pole around and emptied the bucket onto the field.

Example of terracing

Aztecs also had sophisticated irrigation systems, allowing them to farm dry lands. They formed shallow lakes by scooping up mud and forming islands called chinampas. These islands provided very fertile land that was suitable for growing crops.


The Incas created artificial lagoons, and carved out terraces into the steep mountains.  The terracing helped the Incas to take advantage of gravity, and water flowed down the terraces to irrigate the crops. 

Roman aqueduct

Romans are famous for their aqueduct systems which were used for irrigation as well as drinking water.  Aqueducts are man-made conduits to carry water.  Their systems used tunnels within the hillsides to bring water for irrigation to the plains below. The elaborate system that served the capital of the Roman Empire, really is a major engineering achievement. 11 aqueducts were built over a period of 500 years (312 BC to AD 226), and brought water to Rome from as far away as 57 miles.  A portion of the aqueduct system crossed over valleys on stone arches, but most of the system was underground conduits made of stone and terra cotta pipe, but also of wood, leather, lead, and bronze.  Water flowed to the city by the force of gravity alone and usually went through a series of distribution tanks within the city.  But I digress!

spray irrigation

I was shocked to learn that about 39 percent, of all the fresh water used in the United States goes to irrigate crops. Today, farmers prefer to use more sophisticated methods than flooding fields, and relying on gravity.  While modern irrigation methods are more efficient, they also require energy to pump the water and to force it through pipes to where it is needed.  Drip irrigation methods, which deliver water through plastic pipes (with holes in them) is one common method.  Spray irrigation is also widely used, and is similar to how lawns are watered (when there aren't water bans).  These systems have a long tube fixed at one end of the water source, and water is pumped through a tube and shot out by a system of spray-guns.  Although a large area can be watered, this method is inefficient in windy and arid areas where a lot of water evaporates or blows away before it hits the ground.      

drip irrigation

So what can be done to irrigate home gardens and flowers when facing water bans, or if you just want to reduce your water use, and water bill?  Timers are helpful to make sure that areas are not over or under-watered.  Soaker hoses are an option to reduce water use by about 90% compared to conventional watering.  Some are made from recycled materials.  Although I have used soaker hoses in the past for flower beds, I have had problems with pin holes that quickly become geysers, and I'm not sure I would want to use them in the garden since they are made from recycled tires, and may leach heavy metals, lead, cadmium, etc., into the soil like the recycled tire mulches.  


Many gardening catalogs have fancy but expensive rain barrels, which can collect from 50-100 gallons of water from rainwater.  Water collects from rainwater that pours down the roof into the gutters, down the drainpipe, and into to the water barrel.  I'm not sure if during the quick trip down the rooftop if any chemicals from the shingles would cause problems or not, so it may be best to use the collected water for flowers and not for veggies.  At any rate, I've been wishing for a rain barrel and looking up how to make your own rain barrel online, and there are quite a few options, even some that are made from trash can.  I'd love to reduce our water use, still be able to water the flowers, and capturing free rainwater instead of paying the water company! 

rain barrel

This past weekend, my wish came true and while visiting family in NH and walking around the  local  "Olde Home Weekend" where I spied rain barrels.  So of course I had to check out the booth. To my delight, there were directions and parts to make a rain barrel from food grade barrels available locally.  I asked about buying the parts from the young man at the booth and he offered to make one while we watched.  I couldn't believe my luck!  The rain barrels are being promoted by the New Hampshire Coastal Protection Partnership to help reduce nitrogen levels in the Lamprey River and the Great Bay Estuary (to learn more, check out info at www.nhcoast.org or www.lampreyriver.org.)  Increases in nitrogen levels have negative impacts on drinking water, fish, animals, plants, and their economy.  So it felt great to make a donation for the rain barrel constructed while we watched, and knowing that it goes to a great environmental cause.

I is for inspiring causes such as the New Hampshire Coastal Protection Partnership, and ingenious irrigation...using rainwater collected in a recycled rain barrel, made in NH and now residing in MA!


sources: http://www.allabouthistory.org/aztec-civilization.htm  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incan_agriculture 
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/egypt/farming.htm
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/economy/farming/irrigation.htm 
http://www.crystalinks.com/romeaqueducts.html
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/irmethods.html

H is for Home Improvements

Of course I mean green home improvements!  Over the last few months we've been doing some green home improvement projects that are helping us reduce our carbon footprint and save money in the process. One of our favorites comes in the form of a fluuuuuuusshhhh :) 

As Ed Begley, Jr. likes to say, we've been "picking the low lying fruit" and doing simple things that don't cost a lot of money, but in the end are better for the planet and our pocketbook.  Since we began our green journey, we've taken the following home improvement babysteps.  We started with:

• outlet insulation gaskets http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/02/outlet-small-changes-big-results-day-11.html and kept on going, 
• replacing our old showerheads with low flow heads http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/03/water-water-everywhere-day-26.html, 
• replacing bulbs that burn out with either CFLs (please recycle them back to Home Depot or Lowes when they are spent) http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/03/cfls-day-15.html or LEDs, which are more expensive, but result in huge savings in the long run, then, 
• Hubby figured out how to rewire and replaced an electric eye on our front entry lights instead of buying new lights and adding to the landfill http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/04/picking-low-lying-fruit.htm and saving us money by only having the lights on when it is dark.
• Back in the spring, we made "lemonade out of lemons" when our basement rec room was flooded after New England was deluged with rain and we suffered our first flood; when we redid the room we used biodegradable paint trays http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/04/who-wouldve-guess.html, 
• chose carpet made from 100% recycled PET from plastic bottles and chose an eco-pad to go underneath it  http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/04/lemonade-from-lemons.html  
• When it was time to replace the gross matt in the mud room, I was excited to find a green mat...I mean we are talking babysteps here, so each time we step into the house I smile at that green choice, http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/05/ecstatic-over-ecomat.html  
• One of my favorite home improvement projects this year has been the installation of the clothesline.  Not only are we saving energy, but it is kinda therapeutic hanging out the laundry listening to the birds and the crickets...I do have the kids helping me to hang, and take down the laundry, and while they don't like how the towels turn out ("they are crunchy mom!"), they have done a good job of helping with it, and believe it or not, it's good exercise reaching and pulling on the line to move the clothes along!  http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/06/c-is-for.html  We've also saved quite a bit of energy with this home improvement, and I hope I can continue to dry clothes outside well into the fall http://peaceloveplanet.blogspot.com/2010/07/e-is-for-electricity-and-energy.html.  

Our most recent home improvement project that hubby embraced, researched, and installed (I'm soooo lucky to have such a wonderful, handy, guy who is supportive of the green babysteps we've been taking), is a dual-flush system for the toilet!  When he first tried to find it locally he couldn't and when we were on the road recently he found it at Home Depot in NJ (they told him they'd just started carrying it).  It's called HydroRight Smarter Flush Technology by MJSI, Inc.  This system replaces the regular flusher mechanism inside the tank and the outside flusher as well.  The upper button is to "flush liquids and paper with less water", errr or #1, and the lower button is to "flush with more power", err or for #2.  The HydroRight claims it will saves up to 15,000 gallons after one year ("the equivalent of stacking water bottles 45 miles high"....yikes they used disposable water bottles as their example...heaven forbid!) and result in savings of about $100 in water/sewer costs each year.   At $24.98 per dual-flusher, we plan to install two more for even more savings, because with a family of 6 our septic gets a workout and we'd love to trim our water bill even more.   http://www.gomjsi.com/dual-flush-hydroright/?utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=us&utm_term=hydroright%2Bdual%20flush%20converter&utm_campaign=hydrorightdualflush&gclid=CIvU4rXOsaMCFRafnAodkDLuVA

Stay tuned to find out what our next green home improvement project will be! 

G is for Glass

Good old glass…glass has been used for centuries for storing many liquids including medicines, olive oil, wine, and of course foods such as pickles, mason jars full of beets, relishes, tomatoes, berries, etc.  Today, glass is still used for those items, as well as spaghetti sauce, soda, juices, liquors, perfume and much more.   One reason I like glass is that it doesn’t leach into your food the way plastic does and it can be recycled infinitely.  Of course the drawbacks are that it is heavier and more breakable than plastic.  Luckily, glass containers are 40 percent lighter than when they were 20 years ago, and I don’t know about you, but I prefer my food without leached chemical additives.  This is also the reason I prefer to reheat in the microwave with glass/Pryrex instead of plastic.  

Glassmakers have always known about the properties that allow glass to be recycled, but over the years, glass recycling has grown in part due to the increased curbside recycling efforts, and in part due to consumer demand for recycled glass in varying products.  Currently only a small fraction of all glass (especially bottle glass) is actually recycled - something like 2.5 million tons of the 17 million tons of glass in the waste stream is actually reused by bottle makers each year. The US does not mandate the recycling of glass like Europe does, so its up to the individual and industry to make sure the glass gets recycled. While statistics vary on the amount of glass recycled, the EPA reports that 34.5 percent of glass beer and soft drink bottles and 28.1 percent of all glass containers were recycled in 2007.  Today, Americans recycle nearly 13 million glass jars and bottles every day.  But, we can and should do better, and surprisingly there is a greater demand for glass than what is actually recycled; a whopping 1 million tons!

Because glass recycling is not required in the US, recycling rates vary widely, from 15% to 80% depending on the state.  California, boasts a glass-recycling rate near 79 percent.  But what about the glass that is not recycled?  It has been estimated that every month, we throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper.  Those glass bottles and jars would take 4000 years or more to decompose -- and even longer if it's in the landfill.  

If we were to recycle 50% more glass than we are currently recycling here in the US, we would save enough energy to power 45,000 homes for an entire year, which is the size of a small town! Put in another way, the energy saved from recycling just ONE glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours or a compact fluorescent bulb for 20 hours.  A recycled bottle also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.  One thing to note is that while recycling programs will accept glass containers and bottles, they will not take drinking glasses, light bulbs, and Pyrex because they are treated when manufactured and that processing would contaminate the other recyclable glass. 

So, after the glass is collected, what happens to it?  SMAAASH!  The glass is crushed into material called “cullet”.  Then glass manufacturers mix sand, soda ash, limestone, and cullet and heat the mixture to a temperature of 2,600 to 2,800 degrees F.  Then it is molded it into the desired shape. Using cullet saves manufacturers money and helps the environment; cullet is less costly and melts at lower temperatures than raw materials, and as a result, less energy is needed to produce the new glass and that helps reduce greenhouse gases.   As mentioned above, the need for cullet overshadows the amount deposited for recycling by over 1 million tons each year.

Speaking of recycled glass, 90 percent of recycled glass is used to make new bottles and containers, and 10 percent is being made into new and exciting items daily.  There are examples of beautiful recycled glass items everywhere...I couldn't believe how many interesting things are made from recycled glass!  I was in awe at the recycled glass items I found on the internet: beautiful glass beads, glassware, mulch, jewelry, coasters, sun catchers, tumbled glass for fish tanks or vases, drawer pulls, counter tops, spoon rests, soap dishes, tiles, and more.

I love these glass tiles: https://secure.susanjablonmosaics.com/glass-tile/organiks-100-percent-green-product.html?linkid=lsl and these beautiful countertops: http://www.curava.com/products

I had never heard of glass mulch before, but it looks neat: http://www.closetheloop.com/products/gardenglassmulch.html   There lots of interesting glass gifts at:http://find.uncommongoods.com/?q=recycled  , and lovely glassware at:http://www.potterybarn.com/products/casa-recycled-glassware/?pkey=x|4|1||10|casa%20recycled||0&cm_src=SCH

Beautiful coasters by Aurora Glass

However, one of my favorite sites, http://www.auroraglass.org has amazingly beautiful, useful gifts which caught my eye.  But it is their noteworthy humanitarian mission that really captured my attention.  The Aurora Glass Foundry is a waste-based business that not only recycles glass, but funds the charitable works of St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, OR.  All profits from Aurora are returned to the community in the form of assistance for homeless and low-income people through emergency services, housing, jobs, training, and other charitable endeavors.  In my book, that's about as GREEN as it gets! 

Source: http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html
http://www.solidwastedistrict.com/stats/glass.html
http://www.texasglass.com/glass_facts/history_of_Glass.htm
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/calling-all-americans-we-need-to-recycle-more-glass.php

F is for Footprint...Carbon footprint

The original idea for this blog came from wanting to help my family learn to reduce our carbon footprint, and the goal is to take babysteps to get us there.  Some of the steps have seemed painful to my kids, but they are getting a little bit more "greenwashed" each day.  

 According to Wikipedia, one's carbon footprint is:
"the total set of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event or product" ^[1]. For simplicity of reporting, it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent of other GHGs, emitted."

The goal of many, including myself is to reduce the carbon footprint of an individual, family, company, town, country, or the world.  The development of alternative energy projects to promote carbon offsetting, such as solar, geothermal, wind energy, and reforestation, are ways to reduce one's carbon footprint.  On a smaller scale, not idling the car while in the carpool line, or riding your bike for local errands will also reduce your carbon footprint.  

When you think about it, every choice we make can have an impact on our carbon footprint.  For example, whether I choose to buy produce that is trucked or flown from far away (this results in emissions and thus my carbon footprint), or buy from a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), or grow my own vegetables does impact my carbon footprint.  And although I am only one person, who is trying to teach the other 5 family members, and who chats about the changes we've made to family and friends, I'd like to think that the ripple effect of positive changes will make a difference.  

If you are interested in finding out more about CSAs in your area, Google CSA + your town or state, or check out this link  http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml  You can't beat fresh local produce, it tastes better, you support your local economy, AND you are helping to reduce your carbon footprint!  Every little green babystep counts! 
 
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_footprint, July 19, 2010