Bamboo...so you hear all about how "green" it is; it's categorized as a grass, literally it's green, and it's the environmentally friendly kinda "green" as well.
In terms of "green", bamboo is extremely sustainable because it can grow between 1-2 feet a day. It does not need to be replanted after harvesting because it has an extensive network of roots, and spouts new shoots continually. Bamboo perpetually converts greenhouses gases as it grows, filters the air while making oxygen, and doesn't need pesticides or fertilizers to grow at amazing rates. This is one rugged, useful, rigid, sustainable grass!
Bamboo is used for many things; for flooring, cutting boards and other kitchen items, and fabric to name a few. I recently purchased a Scotch-Brite cleaning cloth made from 60% rayon from bamboo, and 40% cotton. The cloth is very soft and works well. I've also seen clothing made from bamboo fabric that is marketed as green and sustainable, and that got me thinking....bamboo almost seems too good to be true...so I did a bit more research specifically on fabric made from bamboo and sadly it is not as sustainable as it may seem due to the processing. The processing to make bamboo into fabric can be accomplished in two ways, either mechanically or chemically.
"The mechanical way is by crushing the woody parts of the bamboo plant and then use natural enzymes to break the bamboo walls into a mushy mass so that the natural fibers can be mechanically combed out and spun into yarn." Fabric made with the mechanical process may be called bamboo linen, but it is a very labor intensive and costly process.
"Chemically manufactured bamboo fiber is a regenerated cellulose fiber similar to rayon or modal. Chemically manufactured bamboo is sometimes called bamboo rayon because of the many similarities in the way it is chemically manufactured and similarities in its feel and hand. Most bamboo fabric that is the current eco-fashion rage is chemically manufactured by “cooking” the bamboo leaves and woody shoots in strong chemical solvents." The solvents can be harmful to the workers, causing neurological and breathing problems, and because of the potential health risks and damage to the environment adjacent to manufacturing facilities, bamboo fabric manufactured in this way should not be considered sustainable or environmentally supportable.
source:http://organicclothing.blogs.com/my_weblog/2007/09/bamboo-facts-be.html
After researching the process of bamboo fabric manufacturing I felt a bit bamboozled because I took it for granted that bamboo rayon/fabric was green...now that I know the processing is not green due to the chemicals, I still think that bamboo has great potential as a sustainable resource for several types of products, and in the end is more sustainable than many other options even in light of the processing.
So it's that time of year when Juniors are looking around at colleges, and besides SAT scores, tuition, room and board, fees, student body makeup, etc., your teen might be interested to know some information about the "green-ness" of their prospective college. The Princeton Review's Guide to 286 Green Colleges is chock-full of information about 286 college's and Green Facts about each. Information such as waste diversion rate, % of school energy from renewable resources, % of school grounds maintained organically, % food budget spent on local/organic food, and whether the school has a sustainability committee, etc. are included.
One example is Bentley University in Waltham, MA. In the book, Bentley highlights and boasts about the Bentley Green Society, a student run organization with over 200 students, that 50% campus buildings have Energy Star rating of 69% or higher, and about a solar wall on outside of their gym center which saves 116,000 kilowatt hours of energy/year, and more.
You can check out The Princeton Review's Guide to 286 Green Colleges at http://www.scribd.com/doc/30197111/The-Princeton-Review-s-Guide-to-Green-Colleges .
For today's eco-conscious teens and their families, this compilation of information just may tip the scales on which school they end up calling home for 4 years and their Alma mater, and will hopefully lead to eco-wise future leaders, eco-savvy businesses, eco-aware citizens, and ultimately a peaceful, planet-loving world.
What do you mean your blog is "carbon neutral"?
Let me start by saying that I had never considered that my blog contributed to CO2 emissions. How is that possible? I learned that the emissions are mostly attributed to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, servers, and their cooling systems. Well, I’d never really thought about it like that, but it makes sense. Some highly frequented blogs contribute as much as 8lbs of CO2 emissions in a year!
How does a tree neutralize my blog's carbon footprint?
I was happy to stumble upon a German group that has an initiative called “My Blog is Neutral” (http://www.kaufda.de/umwelt/carbon-neutral/what-we-do/ ). After reading about the initiative, I learned that their goal is to re-plant forests in northern CA that have been destroyed by fires while simultaneously “erasing” the carbon foot-print of ever popular bloggers. A tree can absorb about 11lbs of CO2 in a year, and can continue to absorb CO2 as long it lives, therefore it is estimated that over the life of the tree, it can "neutralize" the emissions of a blog. For each participating blog-domain, the German group who is partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation, will plant one tree, and each of those blogs will include a small logo indicating that their blog is neutral. The trees will be planted in Plumas National Forest in Northern California.
It's genius, and it’s a win-win situation!!! I’m happy for the chance to participate and help make the world a little greener as well as neutralize my blog's carbon footprint.
Today I inadvertently found something neat while shopping for new shoes for the 4 kids. Darn it their feet keep growing! Well, as it turns out when shopping for shoes, I ended up looking too, and got a new pair that I think may become a favorite :) They are Teva Mush sandals. The black mush is so soft and cushy, it made me wonder if the rubber is recycled like the rubber on some tracks and courts.
What I did find out was that the Teva parent company has some green roots! I figured it out when I noticed an insert in the box (which would be used to hold the shoes up on a rack). At first I thought uggh, how wasteful, but then I read it, and lo and behold, "this hanger is biodegradable"!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I though, NO WAY!!!! So then I checked out the shoe box that states that the box is "printed on recycled materials, 100% recyclable, please recycle all packaging" The box also states that the company is also a supporter of Waterkeepers alliance that protects the Earth's waterways (www.waterkeeper.org).
So, I went to the Teva website to learn more, and found that their parent company, Deckers has done quite a nice job of limiting their footprint! AhhhHAHA, they should market themselves about their reduced carbon "footprint". Get it? :) You can check them out at http://www.deckers.com/esc/distribution.aspx Wouldn't it be great if all companies walked in their footsteps?
Ok one word comes to mind regarding the Census...SENSELESS. It is BEYOND ridiculous to be wasting the time and money of the American people, not to mention precious resources! Again, I'm not against the census, what I'm incensed about AGAIN is yet ANOTHER mailing! The first mailing told me to expect my formal census in about a week. Then my census came in the mail about a week later. Of course I dutifully filled it out. Now a THIRD mailing came to tell me I should have gotten the census in the mail.
OMG, let's list of the senseless waste that has occurred that I can think of (I'm sure there is way more, but this is just off the top of my head: postage and paper wasted have been wasted; green house gases have polluted the Earth in order to deliver the mail 3x (2 unnecessary mailings); human resources that could have done some positive work was wasted and paid to do multiple mailings; tons of paper that probably ended up in a landfill instead of being recycled x3 was wasted; and of course the MONEY wasted on senseless,unnecessary multiple mailings.
BOTTOM LINE: the government needs to establish better policies regarding resources, waste, recycling, global warming, and be the BEST example to the American Public instead of the WORST offender! The multiple mailings regarding the Census is WASTEFUL, contributes to pollution, and global warming, and I doubt it will make any difference in the outcome. If the government wants to have an impact, they could have a positive green impact by not wasting trees, money, resources, and preventing green house gases.
Mark your calendar for this Saturday, March 27th, 2010, from 8:30-9:30 pm, it's Earth Hour!
Earth Hour began in 2007 in Sydney, Australia, when 2.2 million homes and businesses turning off their lights for one hour as a “vote” FOR the earth, and a “vote” AGAINST global warming. By 2009, even more people, hundreds of millions joined in to "vote". The Sydney Opera House, Rome’s Colosseum, The Eiffel Tower in Paris, The Parthenon in Greece, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, the Las Vegas Strip and New York City’s Times Square participated.
Earth Hour is organized by WWF; their mission is to "stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and build a future where people live in harmony with nature."
Let's hope that even more people from all around the world will switch off their lights, and other items that use electricity. No matter where you live, no matter your political views, regardless of what religion you are, we all depend on our planet for life.
It's a perfect time to turn off the lights, discuss global warming and the importance of “being green” as a family, and consider taking actions to assure that we aren’t polluting our earth and overusing resources in our everyday lives. Unplug, celebrate together time, play a game, and reconnect by the light of candles. Enjoy!
Check out to www.earthhour.org
I'm doing much better about remembering my Eco Friendly Reusable Bags :) Hubby happily reported in that he too remembered to use an Eco Bag the other day! I actually received a really nice nylon Eco Bag as a gift, and it is so small and light that I keep it in my purse. Today I saw some neat Eco Bags and I think they will make perfect gifts for family and friends; and the best part of the gift will be motivating others to be greener as well.
Still learning the whole blogging thing....I don't know what happened but the blog for February 24, so I will do my best to recreate it because I wrote about how proud I am of my daughter Rosebud and her green design.
Did I mention that I'm VERY proud of Rosebud? She is participating in an eco-design event using her creative talents to REcreate, REdesign, and REuse materials to make stylish clothing. Today when we were at the fabric store for a zipper for her green garment, she discovered some really neat buttons made from recycled plastic and recycled cotton. Besides the zipper and thread, her garment is made of re-purposed and recycled materials, making it very eco-friendly, and although I may be biased, I think the garment is gorgeous as well.
Today I enlisted the troops to help me with the window blinds. I'm hoping to make this into a good habit they can all help with :)
Opening and closing the blinds (we have double cell blinds) helps to conserve energy in the winter and in the summer. During the winter, opening the shades to take advantage of the sun's rays helps to warm the house. Then towards the evening, we close the shades to keep the heat in. During the summer, keeping the shades closed during the heat of the day helps to reduce cooling costs. Since I don't like to feel like I'm in a cave, I keep the shades closed on the sunny east side of the house in the morning, and open the shades on the west side to let light in. Then in the afternoon when the sun bakes on the west side of the house, those shades are closed, and those on the east side are opened. So enlisting the troops to help keep things open and shut will definitely help with the bottom line and conserve energy in the process.
Today, Hubby, Rosebud, Sweet Pea and I watched An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. At first the girls grumped a bit, but by the end the movie seemed to have made an impression. The information about the melting glaciers and rising sea levels was eye opening. The girls were sad about the plight of the polar bears, and also found ice cube analogy interesting. Now to get the other 1/3 to watch it with me :) Babysteps, babysteps!
For better or for worse, my awesome family will be taking this green journey with me :) With their help, I think we will all learn and grow along the way. It seems like only yesterday that our 4 children came into our lives, but just like flowers, they are growing, and blooming before our eyes. Within my blog I will fondly refer to my always encouraging and witty husband as "hubby", and I've lovingly nicknamed each of the children with a flower name. My oldest daughter, "Tiger-Lily" is 14, my second daughter, "Rosebud" is 13, my third daughter, "Sweet Pea" is 11, and my son, "Rhody" (short for Rhododendron) is 9.
Today Tiger-Lily and I took baby step #1 when we defrosted and unplugged our extra freezer! I can't wait to see the positive impact it has on our electric bill :)
For as long as I can remember, my favorite color has been GREEN. I remember being asked why I liked the color green, and the answer was a simple one, "because I like green trees and grass".
Today, green is still one of my favorite colors, but it is more than just a color to me now. Of course I still love green grass and trees, but now the word green means much more to me. It means Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling, it means Respecting the environment, and it means teaching my kids Responsibility for taking care of our planet.
It might be a little bit geeky, but if my family and I can take some green "baby steps" to reduce our carbon "footprint", and encourage our family and friends to do the same, and if they in turn encouraged their family and friends to be greener, what a wonderfully green snowball we'd have rolling!
Bamboo...so you hear all about how "green" it is; it's categorized as a grass, literally it's green, and it's the environmentally friendly kinda "green" as well.
