Archive for the ‘Living Green’ Category

Finally we are getting some rain. Oh, I know some parts of the country are getting way more than they need but for those of us in parts of the country where rain is scarce, we welcome every drop.

It’s time to think about how to capture this precious water any way we can, so that we can reuse it and disperse it in our gardens when the rain is not so forthcoming. The best way to do this I found is to use a Rain Barrel. I found this really attractive one over at the Garden Supermart, it has a Crown Planter that allows you to put a plant on top for a more attractive look than an average planter, it comes in two versions a 50 gal one and a 65 gallon one, with a spigot at the bottom, a connector with shut-off valve and a 6′ garden hose. Many more tips on Living Green can be found at the Garden Supermart.

Another way to save water during the rainy season is to have a rain sensor on your sprinkler system. So many times do I see sprinklers going on in the middle of a rain shower, what a waste. If you are not home to monitor when your sprinklers go off, a rain sensor will do that for you, so you don’t have to watch water and money go down the drain.

Collected rain water can not only be used for watering plants but also for washing driveways, cars, walkways, dogs, gardening tools. Use your imagination and I am sure you can come up with many other uses recycling rain water.

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Modernize your life by taking control of your stuff. Monitoring the mail you receive is a great way to cut down your clutter. You’ll have less to dispose of, you’ll feel less overwhelmed, and you’ll take a step towards helping to save our environment.

We recommend these services to help you cut down on your personal paper consumption.

41pounds.org

41pounds.org will contact 20 to 30 direct mail companies on your behalf to stop the majority of your bulk mail. With just a few minutes and $41, you’re finished — for five years! You can sit back and enjoy the benefits —

Save trees. More than 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail. 42% of timber harvested nationwide becomes pulpwood for paper.
Reduce global warming. The energy used to produce and dispose of junk mail exceeds 2.8 million cars.
Save water. About 28 billion gallons of water are wasted to produce and recycle junk each year.
Save time. You waste about 70 hours a year dealing with junk mail.

Plus, 41 pounds will donate to an important environmental charity of your choice. Choose from Earth Share member charities and other important organizations.

Visit them online: www.41pounds.org

Catalog Choice

Each year, 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers. Catalog Choice reduces the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, by freely providing the Catalog Choice services to both consumers and businesses.

Sign up. Fill out our online registration form using your name and primary mailing address.
Find your catalogs.Find and decline your catalogs, using the Catalog Choice search facilities. We’ll then contact the catalog providers on your behalf, requesting that your name be removed from their mailing lists.
See the results. It can take at least ten weeks to process your request, after which time you should no longer receive your declined catalog.Catalog Choice is designed for your continued use. Upon receipt of additional unwanted catalogs, return here to decline them.
You can find them online: www.catalogchoice.org

Ways to Shorten the Office Paper Trail

Though many companies are already recycling their office paper, you can clean up your office by employing and encouraging some of these money-saving practices.

Copy on both sides of the paper. This is especially efficient for internal documents and drafts.Reduce documents to fit two pages onto one. Use for circulating rough drafts or file copies of documents.

Use lighter weight paper. Lighter paper requires less energy and fewer raw materials when it’s manufactured.

Consider purchasing ecoEnvelopes. These envelopes were recently approved by the United States Postal Service and can cut your mail costs 15% to 45% — by eliminating the need to print, store, handle, insert, track and include a separate reply envelope. Reusable envelopes send an important message that you care about the environment. Learn more: www.ecoenvelopes.com

Use your e-mail and other tech-savvy alternatives whenever possible. Instead of printing out e-mails, organize the folders in your inbox for good record keeping and easy access.

“Earth Share, a federation of America’s leading non-profit environmental and conservation charities, promotes environmental education and charitable giving in workplace employee giving campaigns. For more tips and to find out how your workplace can help the earth, visit www.earthshare.org or call 1.800.875.3863″

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If you are planning a trip to Europe or any other place in the world and would like to make it a green vacation, why not consider biking through your destination. Many countries are bicycle friendly but especially Europe and there are hundreds of tours that can be taken, from seaside rides to mountain top climbs. You can arrange tours that provide you with the rented bicycles. There are self-guided tours or completely guided tours depending on your budget and preference. Just Google “European Bike tours” for example and you’ll find many tour companies that will provide many choices.

Contact a travel agent that can hook you up with some cheap hotels, and one of the hundreds of bike tours available throughout Europe. Just imagine yourself on a bike through Venice, or the beauty of the Tuscan hills and vineyards. Landscapes that can only truly be appreciated on two feet or two wheels. And at the end of a fruitful ride ending up in one of the beautiful Roma hotels.

There is no better way to enjoy the sights than doing it up close and personal. There is so much that we miss while touring in a car. But I realize that we cannot possibly get everywhere we want to go on foot or on a bike. So a drive and bike plan can work when we are considering long distances. Nowadays they even make bikes that you can fold up and stick in the trunk for just that kind of situation.

Being green on vacation can be a fun adventure, it can be a healthy way of seeing the world, and it’s environmentally friendly. What better way to go.

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My previous post covered public transportation and how the gas prices of the day are pushing people to look for alternatives to driving. In this post we will cover even greener ways of transporting oneself.

Let’s look at walking. What happened to the days when people walked everywhere. We have gotten so lazy that the thought of walking to the corner store makes us break out in a sweat. We would rather spend a couple bucks, in gas, so that we don’t have to move so much. But the consequences stemming from our inactivity is catching up with us. Obesity is rampant in our society, look at these Obesity Statistics:

USA Obesity Rates Reach Epidemic Proportions

• 58 Million Overweight; 40 Million Obese; 3 Million morbidly Obese
• Eight out of 10 over 25’s Overweight
• 78% of American’s not meeting basic activity level recommendations
• 25% completely Sedentary
• 76% increase in Type II diabetes in adults 30-40 yrs old since 1990

Now that looks scary to me. If we could only understand that regular physical activity is essential to good health and that simply walking can get us there, will benefit our pocketbooks, and is better for the environment too, we’d all be better off.

Another option is something a reader over at Swiss Bikes brought up to me which is the Drive and Cycle commuting option. In situations where it is too far to bike all the way but there is a possibility to drive part of the way and then bike the other part, why not take advantage of that. It kills three birds with one stone. You can take care of your daily dose of exercise, save money on gas and help save the environment.

Again this is something that is commonly done in Europe, where gas prices are double that of the US. In England for example, parking is very popular and sought after. People park their cars somewhere, pull out their fold up Swiss Bike from their trunk and ride the rest of the way on their bikes.

Those are my thoughts on greener and healthier forms of transportation.

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With the price of gas going through the roof the importance of public transportation is now becoming a topic of conversation among drivers. Their pocketbooks are getting hit so hard that they are beginning to consider alternative ways of getting around. Like taking the bus or the underground, something that many people have never done in their lives.

We are just now seeing the economic toll our dependence on foreign oil is taking and we are scrambling for cheaper ways to get around. But in many cities, the alternative is not there, or it’s just not efficient. In large cities, like NY, Chicago,San Francisco or Los Angeles, there are mass transit systems in place. But if you live in the medium to small size cities, then you might be in for an adventure. I know for example in my small beach town in Florida, it takes me twenty minutes to drive to Daytona, but if I want to use public transportation, I would have to take 4 buses and it would take me 2 and 1/2 hours one way. Now I don’t know of too many people that have 4 hours to spare in their day.

In Europe, public transportation is number one. The price of gasoline in Europe is about double the price we pay, and it’s been like that for years. And so they have learned to make transportation a priority. If you’ve ever been in England you’ll notice that London Garages are very popular. People would rather leave their cars in the garage and take a bus or a train, one because it’s cheaper and two because it’s more efficient. Like Europe, we need to step up public transportation. As cities make it easier and cheaper for people to get around, people realize the advantages of using public transportation and will start leaving their cars at home.

The use of public transportation, will not only diminish our dependence on oil, but also help the environment by taking more cars off the road. If you are one of the lucky ones to have it available to you try it out, you’ll not only be helping your pocketbook but also your stress level.

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Life is hard enough as it is. Without having to deal with some crazy man that wants to play God, such as the ruler of cyclone hit Myanmar formerly known as Burma. By his latest actions it is obvious that his main concern is for himself and the preservation of his power over the Burmese people and not their welfare. “Myanmar’s government claims that it needs no help in efficiently providing and distributing food and aid to victims, but UN agencies, independent observers, and international and local humanitarian workers speak with growing urgency of deteriorating conditions for hundreds of thousands of people displaced by Cyclone Nargis.” from Amnesty International.

How you can help…

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Next time you think about remodeling any part of your home or maybe even building your new home, Think Green first. Whether you will be putting down a new foundation or changing the Blinds in your home there is always a Green alternative. Here’s a checklist that can help jog your imagination.

• In the Bathrooms, use high performing shower heads which use 1-1.5 gallons per minute/ 60% less than traditional shower heads.
• Thinking of repainting the house? Think No-VOC Paints. VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds which are toxic.
• Keep your attic cool by installing a radiant barrier to keep the heat out.
• If you are building new or gutting rooms, remember proper Insulation is key to energy savings.
• Taking into consideration your window coverings is often overlooked, but good Blinds or room darkening curtains can help keep the heat out and keep you cooling bills down.
• Remodeling the kitchen? How about a recycling center in the kitchen making it easy and a good habit for everyone to learn. These can usually be installed right in the cabinets. And if you want to get fancy there are even Kitchen Composters out there.
• Changing your flooring? Consider engineered wood, especially ones that use recycled materials.
• Redoing the landscape? Think water conservation in your new garden. Use indigenous plants whenever possible, and consider a drip system to compliment your sprinkler system for those areas that don’t need quite that much water. Check out Xeriscaping and also remember to capture and reuse rainwater.
• Consider a Tankless Water Heater. They heat water on demand rather keeping the whole tank of water hot constantly. A lot of savings there.
• Use Solar Energy where you can, even for heating the pool.

Please leave any other suggestions in the comments…Thanks…

http://www.smithandnoble.com/sn/home.jsp

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Every little bit that we can do to conserve helps the environment and saves money too. Here are some tips for Greening your machines.

• Power Management: he power consumption from leaving our computers on all the time, is staggering. If your in the habit of turning off the computer when you go home from the office that’s great, but we forget about the energy that is still being used when the computer is not being used, while you go to lunch, or are doing something else. “the biggest savings come from enabling Monitor Power Management (MPM) and Computer Power Management (CPM) to put monitors and PCs into low power states when not in use. This saves between $20 and $100 per PC per year, and requires little staff time and capital expenditure.” Read More
  • Tips for reducing power consumption in computers and peripherals: from EDTECH.com
  • Check your computer manual to find out how to turn on your energy-conservation settings.
  • Screen savers do not reduce energy use for monitors. Instead of screen savers, automatically switch to sleep mode or manually turn off monitors to save power.
  • Energy Star computers and monitors only save energy when power management is activated on the computer.
  • To maximize power savings with notebook PCs, put the AC adapter on a power strip that can be turned off because the transformer in an AC adapter draws power even when the notebook PC is not plugged in.
  • Don’t forget peripherals and components — printers, copiers, scanners, processors, motherboards and power supplies all have potential energy-saving features
• Bamboo, Crank and Solar Powered cell Phones: With all the millions of cell phones out there only about 10% get recycled.
  • How about a phone made out of sustainable Bamboo with a cranking charger
    • The case of the phone is totally degradable, after removing the battery, antenna and the print board it can be thrown in the compost bin. The “Bamboo” is made out of bio-plastics of renewable raw materials such as corn, and bamboo which is also a renewable resource.
    • The battery can be recharged with muscle power. It comes equipped with a cranking charger and a monochrome display for maximum efficiency. Read More
    • Check out this great Solar Powered Charger
• Energy Star Appliances: When you need to replace appliances, of course go with the Energy Star Label, it will save you about a third on your energy bill. That’s a significant savings.
• How good is your HDTV at saving Energy: Before you buy your new HDTV, consult the following chart to see how energy efficient the new TV will be. HDTV power consumption compared
• Get Paid to Recycle Electronics: There are companies out there that will pay you for mailing in old electronic devices and others have buy back program. Here is a list of a few.
  • BuyMyTronics
  • SecondRotation
  • CellforCash
  • SimplySellular
  • SellYourCell
• Mail-In Program Free of Charge: The Post Office has come out with a pilot program that allows customers to recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge. Check it out: USPS
• Find a Responsible Recycler: Recycle your old electronics with an Environmentally Responsible Recycler:
  • Electronics Take Back Coalition

That’s all for now…

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Eco Tripping / Ecotourism, also known as ecological tourism, is a form of tourism that appeals to ecologically and socially conscious individuals. Generally speaking, ecotourism focuses on volunteering, personal growth, and learning new ways to live on the planet; typically involving travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions.(According to Wikipedia)

If your looking for that cushy vacation with all the comforts of home, Eco Tripping may not be right for you. But if you are into roughing it and enjoying nature at it’s most pristine, than this is the thing for you. There are companies out there that can provide you with the adventure of your life, to ecologically fragile areas that maintain a healthy respect for the footprint that we leave as tourists.

The goal of Eco Tripping is to connect communities with conservation and sustainable travel. Responsible Ecotourism and tourists make sure that their experience not only has a minimal impact on the environment, but also provides a fabulous experience for both the tourists and the community, while providing financial benefit for conservation, and the community as a whole by using as many local services as possible. Building on the awareness about the environment and the cultures of those countries is helping natural areas that are under threat and also helping combat poverty in many of these impoverished areas.

Eco Tripping is available in many corners of the world, it might be worth consideration next time when planning a vacation.

Some Resources for Ecotourism:

• Ecotourism.org
• Planeta.com
• GoNomad.com
• Gapadventures.com
• Ecotourism Associations Worlwide

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In honor of Earth Day: Take a few Green Steps…

Give the Earth Some Love…

Walk to work or play. With the price of gas these days, taking this step won’t be as difficult as it seemed before. Take a walk on the wild side, walk to work, the grocery store, the library, the kids school. Who knows maybe you will like it, and will continue the trend, it’s not only good for the environment, but also good for your health.

Earth Day Footprint : Want to know what kind of a footprint you are leaving on this earth? Check out the Ecological Footprint Quiz over at Earthday.net, and here is a version of a Ecological Footprint Quiz for Kids over at Kidsfootprint.org

Buy Local but watching what you buy is just as important: If your food comes from afar, you can be sure that energy was spent to get it to you, but also the type of food you eat can make a difference… Check out this article over at GreensSAHM.com ” it’s not so much where your food comes from, it’s what you’re eating.”

Read Green and Make Some Money while your at it: Intriguing book by author David Bach discussed over at TheGoodeLife.com covers 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth (and Get Rich Trying)!

Save Gas: Don’t Turn Left: Huh????? Groovy Green has a story on how UPS saves gas…UPS-No Left Turns Allowed

It’s not all about “Good Energy Policy” : Follow the reasoning of the “No Impact Man” for whether Individual Lifestyle Changes will make a difference.

Get rid of those water bottles: give up convenience for the environment. Here are 5 good reasons to give them up on Earth Day… from LighterFootstep.com

Lose those Hazardous Chemicals : Learn to identify hazardous chemicals and replace them with greener, healthier ones that do the job just as well. Clean Green to Stay Healthy and Save Money

Earthday is the perfect day to start a garden, an Organic Garden at that. Here are some great tips for doing just that.

Put the Three R’s to work: How about Reduce,Reuse, and Recycle. Salvage Yard finds are a great place to start putting some Green Style in your home…

Noise Pollution: Imagine a world without noise. GreenLivingTips.com makes some great points on the effects of Noise on the Environment. Make Earth Day your No Noise Day…

Anything you and I can do, will help…

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This Earth Day Live Lighter, Live Happier.

This spring in honor of Earth Month, why not adopt some new habits to help to lighten your impact on the environment?Try our tips to cut down on your paper, plastic and water consumption - we promise you won’t miss it. Plus, you’ll do a world of good!

Celebrate National Reusable Bag Day with Earth Share on April 21!
Help Earth Share and Earthwise Bag Company promote the use of reusable bags in honor of the second annual National Reusable Bag Day!Many grocery stores have implemented bag recycling programs, but transportation of these bags to and from stores requires valuable resources. And 99% of the 100 billion plastic shopping bags used in the U.S. are never recycled, with a single bag taking up to 1,000 years to fully break down. What can you do?
Bring your own cloth or fabric bags when you shop! If you grocery shop once a week, in five years you’ll have kept about 250 to 1,000 grocery bags out of our landfills. When one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, the energy equivalent of 11 barrels of oil is saved! Look for Earthwise reusable bags in more than 2,000 retail locations across the country throughout the month of April - your purchase of these bags will help support Earth Share. Learn more: www.reusablebagday.org
Re-use the plastic bags you already have: - Old bags make great in-car trash containers. - Use them as shoe protectors in the garden. - Re-use them to clean up kitty litter, or to pick up dog droppings when walking your pet. - Use them in your smaller waste bins around the house. - Fill a few with shredded paper and tie them off for cheap, reusable packing materials. They’re also a handy way to maintain the shape of your favorite tote. - Cut a slit in your bags and use them to protect clothes from dust, moths, and other pests. - Take them with you for easy disposal of diapers.

Don’t Wallow in Water Waste
	Try implementing these handy water-related energy tips at home. These quick fixes take little to no time at all!In the shower - If you have to mix your hot water with cold, your thermostat is up too high and you are wasting energy. Why heat up water just to cool it down? Simply adjust the thermostat in your water heater to your perfect temperature. In the washing machine - Using cold water instead of warm cuts down on energy use by 90%! In fact, using cold water is often better for your clothes.
In the bottle - Buy a water filter and drink water from the tap in a reusable bottle — that’s where 40 percent of all bottled water comes from anyway. The average American drinks 22.6 gallons of bottled water a year. Making all that plastic releases over four pounds of carbon dioxide per person and consumes a surprising amount of petroleum (.005 barrels, or nearly a quart of oil per person).

 

Organic & ‘Eco-Chic’ Gifts for Mother’s Day or Any Day!
			Tulips bring lasting joy to that special someone! Reflecting the vibrancy of nature, our tulips are also certified organic. With each purchase of any tulip bouquet Organic Bouquet will include a FREE vase plus give a 10% donation to Earth Share when you visit through this link: www.organicbouquet.com/earthsharetulips Rarity within Reach.Renaissance Diamonds offers a beautiful and earth-friendly alternative to traditionally mined diamonds and is a proud supporter of Earth Share! Find out about jewelry made with lab-grown Gemesis Cultured DiamondsTM. www.earthshare.org/marketplace.html

Earth Share, a federation of America’s leading non-profit environmental and conservation charities, promotes environmental education and charitable giving in workplace employee giving campaigns. For more tips and to find out how your workplace can help the earth, visit www.earthshare.org or call 1.800.875.3863″

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I was watching today a show on the DIY channel called From Junky to Funky. What they do on the show is find what some would consider junk and repurpose those items into something useful. Like in the picture above from MyGreenGarden.ca What a great idea to recycle old items and wouldn’t it be great if we all did that, it would sure keep a lot out of the landfill. So this is the first of the Junky To Funky Series and we will start in the garden.

When you think about redesigning your Garden, start with the 3R’s of the environment. Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. Go around the house, the garden and all the sheds you have and look at everything with a fresh eye. Look at all the “stuff” you have and ponder what you could use it for that maybe it was not designed for.

• An old pile of bricks, could be turned into a new patio/dining area or maybe a path.
• An extra piece of wood fencing could be turned into a table top.
• Old chipped flower pots that are no longer pleasing to the eye, could still be used as planters, but bury them in the ground instead for easy planting and removal of annuals.
• Old pressure treated fence posts could be used to mark the perimeter of planting beds, or used as steps in an incline.
• Old Patio furniture can be revamped with new Garden Furniture Cushions and a little paint.
• Old wrought iron fencing can be used as a trellis to train vines or as decoration on an outside wall.
• Old tires can be reused as planters.
• Turn an old hose into a soaker hose, simply use a whole punch to punch wholes in it at different intervals, lay it in a planting bed around the flowers, then turn the water on, on a timer.
• Broken up concrete can be used as stepping stones.
• If you hand your clothes out to dry, use an old bleach bottle with a handle and cut a big opening opposite the handle. Place your clips in there and before you put up your line, thread the line through the handle of the bottle , and now you have the clips handy as you are hanging the laundry.
• Another use for used plastic water bottles, is to cut the bottoms off, leave the cap off and bury upside down next to water thirsty plants, that way the water goes straight to their roots and you wont need to water so often.
• Spare wood can be turned into bird houses.
• Hang an old mirror on the side of a shed, it will give the garden a new perspective.
• Old paint cans can be decorated,, filled with sand and used for keeping your small gardening tools in so that they don’t get rusty.
• Create a Compost bin out of some old wood, anything organic can be thrown into the compost pile.
• Save old sheets for those freezing winter nights to protect you more delicate plants.
• An old wooden ladder can be used to decorate the side of a raised planting bed or hung up on a wall for architectural interest.
• Large pieces of broken colored glass can be used as a rain chain. Just wrap thin wire around the glass at different intervals then hang from a corner of the house of shed. Don’t forget to put something under it to collect the rain.
• Use old wine barrels to collect rain.

Put your noodle to work and you will find uses for all those old things, and make your garden more interesting to look at while helping out the environment at the same time.

If you have any other ideas please share them with us, in the comments…

http://www.customcushions.net/chair.aspx

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Earth Hour Goes Global

Today is the day

Join the rest of the world

When millions of people turn off their light

On March 29th at 8pm

join the movement against Global Warming

by turning your lights off for one hour

Turn out for Earth Hour

Earth Hour Lights Out America

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Everyone loves to spend time outside and living green. And when our experience is in line with nature, it is all the more enjoyable. Even in our own little haven, our garden, we must conduct ourselves in a way that preserves and reduces any impact we have on our resources and our little environment.

When gardening , the predominant thought should be, if it didn’t come from the earth, it shouldn’t be going in the earth. In other words, pesticides and fertilizers are really poison to the earth and the ground water. They are manufactured chemicals that, yes, might make your grass greener or makes those pesky pests go away, but what are they doing to the earth under your feet and do you realize that all those chemicals eventually end up in the ground water.

The same goes for the hardscapes that we use in our gardens. Using products that have a minimal effect on the environment, like Sunbrella Outdoor Cushions on your patio furniture, choosing the right decking that uses recycled materials, and finding different uses for objects that would otherwise end up in the landfill is important.

Here are some steps we can all take to get closer to Living Green in our Garden:

• Reduce the area that you use for a lawn, lawns are water hogs.
• Plant more native and drought tolerant plants.
• Collect rain water.
• Learn to Compost, and use that to enrich and fertilize your soil.
• Use Mulch to help maintain moisture in your plant beds.
• Group plants together with the same water needs.
• Learn about using Beneficial Insects, instead of Pesticides
• Put old objects to new uses in the garden.
• Remember the 3R’s, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, also apply to gardening.
• Use recycled and environmentally materials in your hardscapes.

http://www.cushion.com/

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Don’t forget about Lights out America, and Earth Hour

March 29th 8-9 pm, turn out your lights, for just one hour!!!

Join the World…

Earth Hour Lights Out America Lights out movement

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In case you haven’t heard yet, Lights Out America and Earth Hour are events that started last year where many cities throughout the U.S. and the world turned off their lights simultaneously for one hour. It was a great success and a trend has begun.This year the event will be happening on the same day, March 29th world wide…If you would like to join the Global Lights Out Movement, all you have to do is turn your lights off for one hour on March 29th, from 8-9pm, wherever you are.

Check out all the cities involved: Is your City Involved?

Sponsor a candlelight dinner at home or better yet your favorite restaurant, invite your family and friends. Make it fun… Make it every year, make it more often…

If you’d like to get more involved in this and other projects, Sign up at Earth Hour, Join the world…

Tell your friends…send them this link: Join Lights Out Movement.

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Composting is not only a great way to fertilize your garden, save money by making your own natural fertilizer, but most importantly you are keeping all this stuff out of the landfills, which is becoming a problem in cities all over. It is in our best interest to learn how to composts, it’s part of the Three R’s of recycling.

If you are an avid gardener you understand the value of composting. But most of us regular folks who just dabble in gardening once a week, haven’t taken the time to fully understand what composting can add to the environment and keep away from the landfills.

Here are some of the benefits of composting:

• Using composting helps improve the structure, texture and aeration of soil, and helps in improving water retention in the soil.
  • Clay Soil : If you have Clay soil you know very well how hard it is to handle. It’s is extremely hard soil composting can help break up clay soil.
  • Sandy Soil: With sandy soil you know that the water just slips through, composting can help retain some of that water.
• Composting provides food for the microorganisms which help keep soil healthy and balanced.
• Nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus are produced by composting which eliminates the need to be adding other amendments to the soil, especially keeping out chemicals.
• Almost any organic material is food for the compost pile.
• Easy, just takes a little time investment.

For more information on how to start your own composting bin check out these resources:

• Compost Guide: A complete guide to composting
• U.S. EPA- Basic Information on Composting

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The price of oil is at an all time high of $105 a barrel. Opec’s decision not to increase production has not helped along with the steady decline of the U.S. dollar. The price oil is about 75% higher than it was a year ago. If that is not enough impetus to move in the direction of alternative energies, I don’t know what is.

We are being held hostage to our own addiction to oil, it is our drug of choice. Let’s at least admit that. We send billions of dollars to foreign nations to purchase oil, money that could otherwise be put to work right here. While the middle east is experiencing an economic boom due mostly to high oil prices, the U.S. and Europe are facing recession. Didn’t the same thing happen back in the 70’s. I was a kid but I remember the lines, do you? By not addressing our dependence on oil, the story repeats itself and here we are again in the same place we were almost 40 years ago. We didn’t fix the problem then , and the problem is still not fixed. What are we waiting for? Can we muster the vision that the last generation didn’t have?

The House of Representatives has passed bill H.R.5351 adding $18 billion dollars in new taxes on the biggest Oil companies over a 10 year period, which comes to $1.8 billion dollars a year. Sounds like a lot of money, but lets not forget the oil companies earned $123 billion just last year. The purpose of the extra taxes is to put them to work on renewable energy industries, keeping jobs and the money here helping the economy. The bill also gives credits for more efficient homes and Plug-in Gas/Electric Hybrid cars. Read More.

Unfortunately it now has to pass the Senate and then Bush is already expected to Veto it. A similar bill passed the House last year but stalled in the Senate.

How about we give it a push, let’s let the Senate and the president know how we feel about our dependency on foreign oil.

E-mail your Senator… Your Senator Here

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bibi

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As I was stumbling around the net yesterday, I came upon the story about the arson on the Street of Dreams development. It really made me sick. Sick to think that someone can be so engulfed in their own thoughts and beliefs that they would think that doing what they did is acceptable and will further their cause somehow. Do they not realize that they did more harm than good to the environmental cause. They might have made happy the few extremist crazy enough to do the same, but the average person who believes in protecting their environment will condemn their actions.

Violence gets you more violence, that’s all. If a person or group believes so fiercely in their cause enough to commit violence to get their point across, then let them claim their actions. By hiding in anonymity only shows how much of a coward they are and how little their cause deserves to be examined.

Every instance of violence diminishes the importance of the cause that they are trying to bring to light, in the eyes the average observer. Instead of trying to force your views down the throats of others, invite them for a drink, sit them down and talk to them. Convince people that your way is best. Change the laws, vote the law makers out, do protests, petitions, referendums, get the word out, go online, go on TV. But if violence is all you know, then expect no more sympathy than Osama bin laden gets. A terrorist is a terrorist. Do the rest of us environmentalists a favor, and stay home.

environmental terrorist extremists street of dreams

bibi

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The fluctuations in the weather worldwide make you think…

• Feb 19: Kuwait Dust storm disrupts air and port traffic for the second time in 2 days. Read More
• Feb 19: 72 people die of Cholera after floods ravage Mozambique since late January. Read More
• Feb 20: Flash Floods kill 26 in the Philippines. Read more
• Feb 22: UN study says that World fishing grounds are affected by climate change. Read More
• Feb 22: Madagascar Cyclone Kills 29, leaves 70,000 homeless. Read More
• March 1: Severe drought in China causes drinking water shortage for millions. Read More
• March 2: Hurricane strength winds cross Europe killing 13 people. Read More
• March 3: Flooding in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 4 killed/ 3 missing. Read More

extreme weather worldwide

bibi

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