Posts Tagged ‘CFLs’

Challenge Idea: Find News Online Or Swap Paper Editorials Friday, February 26th, 2010 It’s nice to be on the email lists of various bloggers.  Reduce Footprints, which I have mentioned in previous posts, is one of my favorites.  Many of the “green” sites today can have a pompous air, but Reduce Footprints is humbled in its approach.  It provides its readers with a doable weekly challenge cleverly dubbed, Change The World Wednesdays. Last week, I came up with a Challenge idea based on one of Reduce Footprints’ interesting posts.  They liked it so much, they took advantage of it: This week’s challenge was suggested by our bloggy friend Heather, from Earth Promise, after reading Monday’s post on books. I think it’s a fantastic idea! Here’s her challenge: Think of all that we read on a daily basis, whether it be magazines, newspapers, books, etc. I propose that for one week we do not purchase a newspaper, magazine, book, but rather swap with someone or find your news online…… It’s a wonderful challenge! Thanks, Reduce Footprints!  Here are just a smattering of the responses received: • Maurie Kirschner accepted the challenge but then, the current issue of Vegetarian Times came out … and well … she caved! However, she did a few other Eco-friendly activities that day which you can read about HERE.  Maurie says she failed and succeeded, all in less than an hour. I think the successes won! • EcoGrrl  joined us. Once she realized that it took her 10 minutes to get through a $5.00 magazine, she decided to stop buying them. She’s also tired of receiving those unwanted news supplements so she’s calling the Oregonian and asking them to stop delivering them. • Ange  found a blog that swaps magazines. She received two vintage Martha Stewart’s in exchange for a couple of French magazines … and she is offering to swap French magazines with anyone who is interested. How cool is that! She also suggested putting up a sign in a local café to start a book swap club … members swap books and hold occasional meetings to discuss what is being read. Great idea … and sounds like fun! To read all of the fabulous comments and ideas received on Reduce Footprints, click here. Here is a peek at the next Challenge: Let’s jump right into this week’s challenge! We’re going to do one more paper-reducing challenge and then, we’ll move onto something else next week (I can hear you cheering … lol). Here you are:  Receiving and paying paper bills is a lot of paper and a lot of waste … not to mention resources getting the bill to and from one’s home. So, this week sign up to receive at least one paperless bill and pay it online. If you’re not sure how to do this, contact the biller for instructions. Or … If this is something you already do, please write a post about all the benefits of paying bills online. Are you willing to give it a go? Tags: carbon footprint, CFLs, change, changes, climate change, disposal, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-blogger, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green challenge, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, mercury, nature, organic, recycle, reduce, reduce footprints, reuse Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

What You Need To Know About Food Labels and Certifications Friday, September 25th, 2009 Walking into a grocery store is becoming more and more daunting.  Since companies have jumped on the “green” bandwagon, food packaging is adorned with a variety labels that can be utterly confusing.  Which ones are legitimate?  Which ones are simply green-washing to make a buck? Both Tree Hugger  and Organic Fair Trade Coffee Company  provide simple, concise listings (with the logo) of the multitude of food certifications and labels.  Hopefully, this will make your shopping experience a little bit easier. Here are just a few from Tree Hugger:   Image credit: TransFair USA Fair Trade Just about everything that an environmentally focused certification does for the planet, Fair Trade certification does for people. The standard aims to provide, safe, healthy, sustainable working conditions for farmers and farm workers; the standards aim to ensure that farmers and farm workers in developing nations receive a fair price for their product; have direct trade relations with buyers and access to credit; and encourage sustainable farming methods, without the use of a dozen of the most harmful pesticides, and forced child labor. To earn the label, products must be grown by small-scale producers democratically organized in either cooperatives or unions. In order to use the Fair Trade Certified label, the buyer must also be willing to pay up to 60 percent of the purchase in advance for some products, including coffee, tea and cocoa, with added premiums for social development projects, including health care, educational and capacity-building projects that can improve quality of life for farming communities. You’ll see the Fair Trade certification on coffee, tea, tropical fruits (bananas, pineapples, and mangoes, for example), rice, sugar, and chocolate products like cocoa, cocoa powder, and chocolate bars. Learn more about Fair Trade certification from TransFair USA.   Image credit: Salmon Safe Salmon Safe Salmon Safe certification is designed to recognize farm and other land use operations that contribute to restoring stream eco-system health in native salmon fisheries. Farms producing products that carry the Salmon-Safe label have been evaluated for the use of agricultural practices that promote healthy streams and wetlands, including water use, erosion control, chemical management, and proper animal farming. The criteria to earn certification is designed to protect the salmon streams from farm run-off through good soil, water, and vegetation management that reduce chemical use and sustain resources. Products that carry the Salmon Safe certification include fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, meats, and wine. Learn more about the certification from Salmon Safe.   And here are some other label information and thier logos from Organic Fair Trade Coffee Company : Certified Naturally Grown What it means: An alternative to the USDA’s organic program, CNG is a nonprofit for small-scale, direct- market organic farmers. The CNG certification uses National Organic Program growing practices; the primary difference is certification costs due to farmers and paperwork requirements. Since CNG certified farmers nust agree to sell their produce only locally and directly to food stores and restaurants, it’s considered a nationally branded local foods label. Where you’ll find it: Fruits, vegetables, dairy,meat, eggs, and some jam How it’s verified: The SNG program uses other organic or CNG farmers as inspectors, and they randomly test 10% of members’ products for pesticides Find out more http://www.naturallygrown.org/   Protected Harvest What it means: Affiliated with the World Wildlife Fund, the Protected Harvest Program certifies crops that have been raised with integrated pet management. To qualify for the seal, specific crop management practices must be employed and reduce use of toxic pesticides, improve sail and water quality, and protect wildlife habitat. Where you’ll find it: Fruit, vegetables and wine how it’s verified:  By contracted, independent third party inspectors. Find out more  http://www.protectedharvest.org/ Eco-friendly food is a great way to not only stay healthy, but to help the environment.  Food production takes a huge toll on our ecosystem and with these label guidelines, you can then choose a sustainable brand. Tags: carbon footprint, certifications, certified naturally grown, CFLs, change, change the world, changes, children, climate change, disposal, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-blogger, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, fair trade, food certifications, food packaging, global warming, green, green challenge, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, greenwashing, kids, labels, mercury, nature, organic, Organic Fair trade Coffee Compnay, protected harvest, recycle, reduce, reuse, salmon safe, tree hugger Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Eco-Activities To Do With Your Children Thursday, September 24th, 2009 Opening my email on Wednesdays is a treat. I just love receiving the Change the World Wednesday  challenges.  I’ve blogged about this fabulous site, Reduce Footprints back in July.  Not only does Reduce Footprints have pertinent bits of environmental-changing info, but it offers an experimental contest of sorts every Wednesday. (Don’t worry, you usually have a week to complete the challenge!) This eco-challenge is  driven by the  belief that “if we all do the same green activity during the same week, we’ll have an (enormous) impact.”   When I first came across this blog-site, I knew Reduce Footprints and  Earth Promise were a perfect match.  Their weekly challenge’s ideology parallels to Earth Promise’s goal: “One small Earth Promise that a person makes can grow with the care and attention that is needed. Let’s say, you promise to use recycled paper. On its own, it does not appear to be much. But what if 100 people made that same promise? What about 1,000 people? Or 1 million? Or we can think of it differently. What if you told ten friends about the promise you made and then they told ten friends and so on. That can turn into a lot of people. In both instances, this one single promise has a very positive impact on the environment. That is powerful.” Here is yesterday’s Change the World Wednesday challenge:   This week we’re all about kids … after all, they will take the “green torch” and become environmental “Olympians”. So this week, your challenge is to do an environmentally friendly activity with your kids (or grand kids or neighbor kids or nieces/nephews, cousins, etc). Get them involved. Need some ideas? Here you go: Awesome Activities Kaboose Kids Links (Teaching Green) Gardening for Kids Once you’ve done the activity, we want to know about it … so come back here and leave a comment (either with the activity or a link to a post) … or if they did something fun during the summer like an Eco-Camp, tell us about that. We’d also be interested in little Eco-Stars … kids who have taken it upon themselves to come up with green living ideas. Or … If you don’t have any accessible kids to have “green” fun with, then write an article about ways that we can get kids involved in an Eco-friendly lifestyle. So what do you think? Can you do it? No problem!  Being that I have 2 children and I often write about green activities to do with children, this challenge was a good one for me repost some of Earth Promise’s eco-child centered ideas.   Friends for Change: Project Green Zero-Trash Lunch Concepts Follow the Lead of an 11-year Old Change the World One Pair of Jeans at a Time Young Green Philanthropists It’s Time to Reconnect With Nature A Green Hour Every Day For Our Kids One great activity that we did as a family this past Saturday, was the International Coastal Cleanup Day. Spending a few hours one morning picking up trash from the beach may not have made a prominent impact on the oceans, but it did have an weighty influence on those who participated. My daughters initially complained (a bit) since we had to wake up bright and early on a Saturday morning to clean up a small section of a beach.  Seeing, collecting, and documenting the abundance of plastic and trash for ourselves reminds us that the problem is real, not just something we hear and read about, and the solution is up to us. Join the Change the World Wednesday challenge, and tell us what environmental kids’ activities you have participated in. Tags: Add new tag, carbon footprint, CFLs, change, change the world, changes, children, climate change, disposal, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-blogger, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green challenge, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, kids, mercury, nature, organic, recycle, reduce, reduce footprints, reuse Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Change The World Wednesday Friday, July 3rd, 2009 Yes, I know today is not Wednesday!  Reduce Footprints , though, encourages a positive weekly challenge: Change The World Wednesday.   This eco-challenge  is  driven by the  belief that “if we all do the same green activity during the same week, we’ll have an (enormous) impact.”   When I first came across this blog-site, I knew Reduce Footprints and Earth Promise were a perfect match. Their weekly challenge’s ideology parallels to Earth Promise’s goal: “One small Earth Promise that a person makes can grow with the care and attention that is needed. Let’s say, you promise to use recycled paper. On its own, it does not appear to be much. But what if 100 people made that same promise? What about 1,000 people? Or 1 million? Or we can think of it differently. What if you told ten friends about the promise you made and then they told ten friends and so on. That can turn into a lot of people. In both instances, this one single promise has a very positive impact on the environment. That is powerful.” So here’s this week’s Change The World Wednesday Challenge from Reduce Footprints: Earlier this week, President Obama announced a plan to make lighting our homes and businesses more energy efficient. So, let’s do our part: Replace at least one incandescent bulb in your home with either a CFL or LED bulb. Since lighting accounts for close to 20 percent of the average home’s electric bill, it is a no brainer to switch.  According to Energy Star,  compact fluorescent lights (CFL’s) “last up to 10 times longer, cost little up front, and provide a quick return on investment. If every home in America replaced just one incandescent light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL, in one year it would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes. That would prevent the release of greenhouse gas emissions equal to that of about 800,000 cars.” The majority of my traditional bulbs have been replaced in my house.  I’m just waiting for the last few energy gulping incandescent bulbs to burn out to make the lighting in my home fully energy saving .  Since I began the bulb swap a few years ago, I’ve recently encountered the disposal dilemma: CFLs contain mercury, which complicates their disposal.  Although there is a small amount of mercury compared to the traditional incandescent bulb, the CFL’s should truly be recycled rather than sent to the landfill where the bulb will most likely break, and this is where the mercury will be released into the air or water. You may be surprised to learn that your local recycling program may offer separate pick-up for CFL’s, Flourescent bulbs, batteries, oil, etc.  Give them a call to find out.  You can also try to locate a recycling drop-off center on Earth911 (found in the middle of the Earth Promise home page.)  Conveniently, many stores, including IKEA, Home Depot and ACE Hardware will take your burnt out CFL’s to recycle.  This seems like an easy enough assignment even for the neophyte greenie!  If all your lights have been switched, then make a point of spreading the word to join the Reduce Footprints  challenge.  Use word of mouth, send a Tweet, update your FaceBook status; just imagine the impact we can make working together.  As citizens we share this important responsibility. Tags: carbon footprint, CFLs, change, changes, climate change, disposal, earth, earth promise, earthpromise, eco-blogger, eco-friendly, energy, environment, environmental, environmental footprint, environmental issues, global warming, green, green challenge, green changes, green future, green living, green practice, green practices, green revolution, green tips, mercury, nature, organic, recycle, reduce, reduce footprints, reuse Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Energy Audits For Your Home Friday, February 13th, 2009 With unemployment at a very high level, people are scrambling to save money in any way they can.  One change you can make it to get an energy audit — an assessment of your home’s energy consumption and identifying problem areas to help make your home more energy efficient.  You can perform the audit yourself or have a professional service do the job.  Either way, this detailed examination will save you an abundance of money over time. To do the energy audit yourself, a comprehensive checklist will, no doubt, save you money.  Some of the items on the checklist should include: ·         Air Leaks (electrical outlets, switch plates, mail slots, window frames, weather strips around doors, fire-place dampers) ·         Insulation (Heat and air conditioning loss through ceilings and walls) ·         Make sure your air conditioning and heating units are kept in tip top shape.  Having an annual tune-up service will allow the units to work more efficiently and thus save you bundles ·         Be sure to change your incandescent bulbs to the  Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) For a detailed checklist, visit, http://www.mcgill.ca/files/mse/Guidelines_on_Energy_Audit_Simplified_Version.pdf or http://www.nicor.com/en_us/commercial/planning_needs/build_strategy/energy_audit.htm For a more thorough energy audit, have a professional service come into your home.  Unlike the do-it-yourself audit, the professional service will use special equipment to get a more inclusive result of your home’s energy efficiency—or lack thereof.  Energy Audit Directory  is an easy to use site.  Contacting your local utility company is another good bet; they may even offer a discount or do the service for free. By making an Earth Promise to change a handful of things in your home, you are committing to making your home more energy efficient.  Here are some first steps you can make: To keep the fireplace damper closed unless I am making a fire. An open damper can let an average of 8% of heat in your home escape.  The summer months, cool air escapes as well causing your electric bill to rise. To wrap the water heater in an insulation blanket to store heat. This can save a whopping 25% on your electric bill. To replace regular windows with double-paned windows. This keeps more heat inside your home, thus saving you money. To plant trees around my home to create shade.  Once the trees are large enough, it will reduce the need for air-conditioning.   Become an Earth Promise member and track the energy auditing changes you can make. If you want to receive Earth Promise blogs by email, click here               Tags: carbon footprint, CFLs, change, climate change, eco-friendly, energy, energy audit, energy efficient, energy saving, environment, global warming, green, green changes, green economy, green living, green my home, green practice, green practices, green tips, Green$ense, unemployment Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »